General Concepts Flashcards
What are the five Performance Objectives?
Quality Speed Dependability Flexibility Cost
What are the five Performance Objectives?
Quality Speed Dependability Flexibility Cost
Define Qualifier
A qualifier is a product/service, or any part thereof, that needs to have a certain level to even be considered by customers
Define Order winner
An order winner is a product/service or any part thereof that provides a significant advantage for customers
What, other than performance objectives, should be taken into account when formulating an operations strategy?
The firm’s corporate objectives (profit maximization, revenue growth, survival, risk minimization, etc.)
What is variability of demand?
It is a measure of the number of different inputs an operation or process can receive. Higher variability means many different possible inputs
What is Little’s law?
Throughput time = Work in progress x cycle time
TPT = WIPxCT
What is throughput rate?
Throughput rate = 1/Cycle time
TR = 1/CT
Define bottleneck
A bottleneck is the part of a process or operation that constrains the capacity of the system as a whole
Define a balanced operation/process
A balanced operation/process is one in which each of the processes/tasks takes the same amount of time, thus eliminating idle time
Define short fat operations
A short fat operation is one where there are several lines that all perform several tasks/functions that achieve the same outcome.
Define long thin operations
Long thin operations have divided tasks/functions and placed them in ‘line’ so that each stage is specialized.
What are the advantages of long thin operations?
More controlled flow
Simple materials handling
Lower capital requirements
More efficient (due to specialization)
What are the advantages of short fat operations?
Higher mix flexibility
Higher volume flexibility
Higher robustness
Less monotonous work
What is the ‘drum, buffer, and rope control’ concept?
A tool that helps decide where control should occur. The bottleneck is the drum and sets the pace (beat), place buffer in front of the bottleneck to ensure it always is operational, communication ‘rope’ in place between bottleneck and input process to avoid pileups at upstream stages
Describe ‘variability, utilization, waiting time’
The three components that make up the efficiency and effectiveness of an operation. With high variability it is hard to get high utilization, and vice versa. With low variability and high utilization, waiting time is minimized
What are the four V’s?
Variety
Volume
Variation in demand
Visibility
What is variety?
Variety is the number of different products/services that are expected as outcome of an operation
What is variation in demand?
The fluctuations on the customer side of how much of something is needed
What is visibility?
Visibility is the degree to which the customer can see the operation behind a product/service
What are the implications of the four V’s?
That not all operations should be designed the same since there are different needs for differences in the four V’s
What are the five process types?
Project processes Jobbing processes Batch processes Mass production Continuous processes
What is the most basic model of operations management?
Input-Transformation-Output
What are the typical steps in the design process?
Concept generation Concept screening Preliminary design Evaluation & improvement Prototyping and final design
What are the typical steps in the design process?
Concept generation Concept screening Preliminary design Evaluation & improvement Prototyping and final design
Define Qualifier
A qualifier is a product/service, or any part thereof, that needs to have a certain level to even be considered by customers
Define Order winner
An order winner is a product/service or any part thereof that provides a significant advantage for customers
What, other than performance objectives, should be taken into account when formulating an operations strategy?
The firm’s corporate objectives (profit maximization, revenue growth, survival, risk minimization, etc.)
What is variability of demand?
It is a measure of the number of different inputs an operation or process can receive. Higher variability means many different possible inputs
What is Little’s law?
Throughput time = Work in progress x cycle time
TPT = WIPxCT
What is throughput rate?
Throughput rate = 1/Cycle time
TR = 1/CT
Define bottleneck
A bottleneck is the part of a process or operation that constrains the capacity of the system as a whole
Define a balanced operation/process
A balanced operation/process is one in which each of the processes/tasks takes the same amount of time, thus eliminating idle time
Define short fat operations
A short fat operation is one where there are several lines that all perform several tasks/functions that achieve the same outcome.
What are some strategies to implement ‘chase demand’ capacity?
Scheduling work shifts Flexible contracts Cross-training Overtime Temporary staff Outsourcing Increased customer participation Adjustable capacity
What are the advantages of long thin operations?
More controlled flow
Simple materials handling
Lower capital requirements
More efficient (due to specialization)
What are the advantages of short fat operations?
Higher mix flexibility
Higher volume flexibility
Higher robustness
Less monotonous work
What is the ‘drum, buffer, and rope control’ concept?
A tool that helps decide where control should occur. The bottleneck is the drum and sets the pace (beat), place buffer in front of the bottleneck to ensure it always is operational, communication ‘rope’ in place between bottleneck and input process to avoid pileups at upstream stages
Describe ‘variability, utilization, waiting time’
The three components that make up the efficiency and effectiveness of an operation. With high variability it is hard to get high utilization, and vice versa. With low variability and high utilization, waiting time is minimized
What are the strategies to reduce inventory?
Chase demand plan Maintenance Improve forecasting Tighten supply Pull control Smaller, more frequent, deliveries Reduce transportation time Increase speed in the downstream supply chain Reduce setup time Parallel processes Small technology Flexible technology
What is variety?
Variety is the number of different products/services that are expected as outcome of an operation
What is variation in demand?
The fluctuations on the customer side of how much of something is needed
What is visibility?
Visibility is the degree to which the customer can see the operation behind a product/service
What are the implications of the four V’s?
That not all operations should be designed the same since there are different needs for differences in the four V’s
What are the five process types?
Project processes Jobbing processes Batch processes Mass production Continuous processes
What is the most basic model of operations management?
Input-Transformation-Output
What are the components of the most basic model of operations management (Input-transformation-output)?
Input: the ingredients or partly finished products/services that arrive at a new stage
Transformation: the input is transformed to output by the transforming resources. The inputs that are changed to output are often called the transformed resources.
Output: the finished product at the end of the process/operation, ready to move on to the next stage or be delivered/consumed by the customer
What are the typical steps in the design process?
Concept generation Concept screening Preliminary design Evaluation & improvement Prototyping and final design
What are the ‘waterfall’ and ‘parallel’ arrangements
Waterfall design is when the processes involved in designing happen in sequence. A parallel arrangement overlaps all of the processes to a certain extent, thereby reducing time to market
What is an alternative innovation process configuration?
Continuous ‘loop’
What are some key decisions to make when designing a supply network?
How the network should be shaped (# of suppliers, # of tiers, how much of the network to own)
Locations
Long term capacity
What are the different process layouts?
Fixed position
Functional
Cell
Product
What is the efficiency frontier?
The trade-offs made between cost efficiency and variety. If a company is at the efficient frontier it is at the forefront in its industry
What is a trade-off?
A trade-off occurs when performance within one performance objective is sacrificed in order to excel at another performance objective
Define capacity
Capacity is the output an operation can deliver in a defined unit of time
Name three capacity plans
Level
Chase demand
Manage demand
What factors favor high base capacity?
Low fixed costs/inexpensive capacity
Performance objective: service quality, flexibility
High perishability of output
What factors favor low base capacity?
High fixed cost/expensive capacity
Performance objective: cost (utilization)
Ability to store output
What are some strategies to implement ‘chase demand’ capacity?
Scheduling work shifts Flexible contracts Cross-training Overtime Temporary staff Outsourcing Increased customer participation Adjustable capacity
What are som strategies to implement ‘manage demand’ capacity?
Pricing, e.g. happy hour
Constraining customer access
Restricted service at peak (e.g. limited menu)
Advertising and promotion
What is the function of inventory?
To compensate for timing differences between supply and demand
What are the drawbacks of inventory?
Requires space Involves admin costs Can get lost May be hazardous Can become obsolete Hides problems Ties up capital Potential for damage Slows the speed of flow unit
What are the benefits of inventory?
Fills processing pipeline Increase in value (for some operations) Insurance against uncertainty Anticipates future demand Counteracts lack of flexibility Reduces overall costs Take advantage of short-term opportunities
What are the strategies to reduce inventory?
Chase demand plan Maintenance Improve forecasting Tighten supply Pull control Smaller, more frequent, deliveries Reduce transportation time Increase speed in the downstream supply chain Reduce setup time Parallel processes Small technology Flexible technology
What is the ‘procedure’ for performance assessment?
Measure current performance Compare with others (benchmark) Set performance targets Prioritize improvement Close the gap (improvement)
What is the IP matrix?
Importance (for customers)
Performance (relative to competitors)
What is Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)?
A typical ‘breakthrough improvement’ strategy. It is the ‘fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed.’
What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?
A technique to minimize or eliminate in-process failures. Another positive of this approach is that failed products/services never reach the customer.
What is the PDCA cycle?
Plan -> Do -> Check -> Act
Improvement cycle
What is the DMAIC cycle?
Define -> Measure -> Analyze -> Improve -> Control
Six Sigma improvement cycle
What is the Lean cycle?
Plan -> Execute -> Evaluate -> Analyze -> Learn -> Improve
