Operations & Performance Optimization Flashcards

A plant's assembly line is limited by one slow machine. According to the Theory of Constraints, what should the manager do FIRST?

Answer: Identify the constraint

The first of the Five Focusing Steps is to identify the system's constraint before taking any other action.

Which Lean waste (muda) is best illustrated by producing 500 units when customers ordered only 300?

Answer: Overproduction

Overproduction, making more than is demanded, is considered the most serious of the seven wastes because it causes the others.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is calculated as:

Answer: Availability × Performance × Quality

OEE multiplies availability, performance rate, and quality rate to show the share of planned time that is truly productive.

A manager wants a metric that shows how many days of sales are tied up in stock. Which should she use?

Answer: Days of inventory on hand

Days of inventory on hand converts inventory value into the number of days of sales it covers.

In a Six Sigma DMAIC project, which phase focuses on verifying that gains are maintained through control charts and process ownership?

Answer: Control

The Control phase institutionalizes improvements using monitoring tools such as control charts and response plans.

Which approach sets the performance targets of a business unit by comparing its processes against best-in-class organizations, even in other industries?

Answer: Generic benchmarking

Generic benchmarking compares a process with the best performers regardless of industry.

A call center's average handle time fell 20%, but customer complaints rose sharply. What is the most likely problem with the KPI?

Answer: It was optimized in isolation from quality measures

Single metrics optimized alone can drive behavior that harms other outcomes, so balanced measures are needed.