ME or MEng Master of Engineering Master of Engineering Management 3

Question 1

A company's supply chain is frequently disrupted by single-source suppliers. The most effective long-term risk mitigation strategy is to:

Accepted Answer

Qualify multiple alternative suppliers for critical parts

Answer

Supplier diversification eliminates single-point-of-failure risk and creates competitive pressure without the capital intensity of full insourcing.

Question 2

In Lean engineering management, 'Muda' refers to:

Accepted Answer

Any activity that consumes resources without adding customer value

Answer

Muda means waste — the seven wastes (overproduction, waiting, transport, over-processing, inventory, motion, defects) consume resources without creating value.

Question 3

When calculating a project's Schedule Performance Index (SPI), an SPI of 0.85 indicates:

Accepted Answer

The project is progressing at 85% of the planned rate

Answer

SPI = Earned Value / Planned Value; SPI < 1.0 means the project is behind schedule, earning only 85 cents of planned value per dollar of planned work.

Question 4

A Design of Experiments (DOE) approach helps engineering managers by:

Accepted Answer

Systematically identifying factor interactions affecting product performance

Answer

DOE allows efficient exploration of multiple input factors simultaneously, revealing main effects and interactions that one-factor-at-a-time testing misses.

Question 5

The 'make-or-buy' decision in engineering management should primarily be driven by:

Accepted Answer

Total cost, strategic capability, and supply risk analysis

Answer

Make-or-buy analysis weighs total lifecycle cost, whether the capability is a strategic core competency, and supplier reliability and risk.

ME or MEng Master of Engineering Practice Test

ME or MEng Master of Engineering Practice Test

ME or MEng Master of Engineering Master of Engineering Management 3