Operations Management- Steeds

Question 1

What does STEEPLE stand for?

Answer 1

Social, political, economic, ethical,political, legal, environmental factors

Question 2

What is the difference between product and market orientation?

Answer 2

Product- develops products that its good at

Market- responds to customer needs/ wants

Question 3

Difference between invention and innovation?

Answer 3

Invention-creation of a product or first introduction of a process
Innovation-improving or making a contribution to an existing product, process or service

Question 4

What is research and development?

Answer 4

The process that enables the creation of new and improved products to meet the needs of customers.

Question 5

Factors that effect R&D

Answer 5

Level of competition, product, external environment, state of economy, specific issues

Question 6

What is job production? Ad/dis

Answer 6

Each product is individually made
Ad- higher quality, charge more, flexible, motivation for workers, directly meets customer needs
Dis-slow, higher costs, need skilled workers, no eos

Question 7

Batch production+ ad/dis

Answer 7

When goods are made in batches- similar items made together
Ad- lots made at same time, lower costs, eos, handle unexpected orders, meets customer needs, some flexibility
Dis- greater error risk, boring for workers, higher initial costs, down time,cash flow issues

Question 8

Flow production+ ad/dis

Answer 8

Continuous movement of items through production
Ad-quicker, lower cots, eos, large quantities, no down time, less training and skills needed
Dis- high initial costs, demotivated workers, inflexible, lots of resources stored, less differentiation

Question 9

What is lead time?

Answer 9

The time between ordering and receiving goods

Question 10

What is process production?

Answer 10

A series of processes which raw materials go through, end product is a large amount of a finished product

Question 11

Cell production+ ad/dis

Answer 11

Flow production split into self contained units with each having a particular task.
Ad- improved communication, adaptable/ motivated workers, improved quality
Dis- invest in new tech, machinery not fully used, trust and participation from workers needed,has to have sufficient demand

Question 12

Formula for productivity

Answer 12

Output/ input

Question 13

What is productivity?

Answer 13

Is the output per unit of input which can be applied to any factor of production

Question 14

Division of labour

Answer 14

Occurs when production is broken down into many separate tasks

Question 15

What is the critical path?

Answer 15

The path where the activities have the same EST and LFT

Question 16

What is total float?

Answer 16

The longest time which an activities start may be delayed without effecting the length of the project as a whole.

Question 17

What is free float?

Answer 17

It is the effect upon the next activity and not the project as a whole .

Question 18

What are Gantt charts?

Answer 18

It is a chart that can be used to calculate how long a project will take, which activities are dependant on others and which activities should be completed at any given time.

Question 19

What are the benefits of using critical path analysis?

Answer 19

It is a simple visual representation, knowing EST allows JIT to be used, it shows managers the consequences of delay, it identifies which method is critical.

Question 20

What are the limitations of critical path?

Answer 20

It depends on the accuracy of the activity times, knowing that some activities are critical may cause rushing which reduces quality, it only considers the time not the cost.

Question 21

What are the benefits of Gantt charts?

Answer 21

It can be used to easily monitor progress, activities that should be happening can be seen at a glance, it shows time and resource allocation.

Question 22

What are the limitations of Gantt charts?

Answer 22

It doesn’t show which activities are critical, it doesn’t show at a glance EST and LFT, calculation of floats isn’t straightforward.

Question 23

How do you calculate PERT?

Answer 23

Optimistic time+4 x likely time+ pessimistic time /6

Question 24

Advantages of PERT?

Answer 24

More realistic including the pessimistic time, simple formula to apply, able to see critical path within activities, a lot of data can be represented visually

Question 25

Disadvantages of PERT?

Answer 25

Gauging the optimistic time is hard unless done before, gauging pessimistic time is guesswork, complicated to use.

Question 26

What are economies of scale?

Answer 26

A reduction in unit costs as the scale of production increases.

Question 27

What are diseconomies of scale?

Answer 27

An increase in unit costs as production increases.

Question 28

What is capacity utilisation?

Answer 28

Using the resources in a effective and efficient way.

Question 29

What is capacity management?

Answer 29

It is concerned with usage of resources

Question 30

How do you calculate capacity utilisation?

Answer 30

Actual or current level of output/ maximum possible output x 100

Question 31

Benefits of operating at full capacity?

Answer 31

The average unit cost will fall, economies of scale, less wastage of resources, opportunities of bonus payments or overtime for employees, more competitive due to reduced costs.

Question 32

What are disadvantages of operating at full capacity?

Answer 32

There is no time for maintenance, additional orders are impossible, employees may become stressed, the level of quality may be effected.

Question 33

Benefits of holding stock?

Answer 33

Satisfying demand, coping with fluctuations of demand, buffer stock to meet late deliveries, cost savings due to economies of scale.

Question 34

Costs of holding stock?

Answer 34

Storage costs, opportunity costs, depreciation costs, security costs, administrative costs, insurance costs, out-of-stock costs