CPIM APICS Certified in Production and Inventory Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary output of the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) process?
- Sales forecasts by product family
- Planned order releases and action messages (Correct answer)
- Capacity utilization reports
- Customer order acknowledgments
Correct answer: Planned order releases and action messages
MRP produces planned order releases and exception action messages to direct purchasing and production.
Question 2: A company experiences high variability in customer demand. Which inventory replenishment policy best adapts to this variability?
- Fixed order quantity (FOQ)
- Fixed order interval (FOI)
- Min-max system (Correct answer)
- Lot-for-lot (LFL)
Correct answer: Min-max system
A min-max (reorder point) system triggers replenishment when stock drops below a minimum level, adapting to demand variability.
Question 3: Which master scheduling input directly converts customer orders and forecasts into specific end-item production quantities?
- Rough-cut capacity plan
- Available-to-promise (ATP) logic
- Demand management process (Correct answer)
- Distribution requirements plan
Correct answer: Demand management process
Demand management consolidates forecasts and customer orders into the demand signal used to build the MPS.
Question 4: Under the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model, what happens to the optimal order quantity if annual demand doubles?
- It doubles
- It increases by approximately 41% (Correct answer)
- It remains the same
- It decreases by 50%
Correct answer: It increases by approximately 41%
EOQ is proportional to the square root of demand, so doubling demand increases EOQ by √2 ≈ 1.41.
Question 5: Which scheduling rule gives priority to the job with the least amount of time remaining until its due date?
- Shortest processing time (SPT)
- Earliest due date (EDD) (Correct answer)
- Critical ratio (CR)
- First come, first served (FCFS)
Correct answer: Earliest due date (EDD)
Earliest due date prioritizes jobs by their due date, minimizing the number of late jobs.
Question 6: What does 'available-to-promise' (ATP) tell a sales representative?
- The current on-hand inventory balance
- The uncommitted supply that can be allocated to new customer orders (Correct answer)
- The reorder point for finished goods
- The maximum production rate for the period
Correct answer: The uncommitted supply that can be allocated to new customer orders
ATP is the quantity of supply not yet committed to customer orders, enabling accurate delivery promises.
Question 7: Which type of production environment is best suited for a repetitive manufacturing process with a continuous flow?
- Job shop
- Batch process
- Flow shop (line) (Correct answer)
- Project
Correct answer: Flow shop (line)
Flow shops arrange resources in a fixed sequence matching the product's routing, ideal for repetitive high-volume production.
CPIM APICS Certified in Production and Inventory Management 3
What is the primary output of the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) process?