Operations Management Flashcards
7 cards from real MEM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Operations Management flashcards as text
A service firm measures productivity as output per labor hour. If 5 employees each work 8 hours and produce 200 service completions, what is labor productivity?
Answer: 5 completions/hour
Total labor hours = 5 × 8 = 40; productivity = 200 / 40 = 5 completions per labor hour.
Which inventory model assumes demand is probabilistic and places a new order when on-hand inventory falls to a predetermined reorder point?
Answer: Continuous review (Q) system
The continuous review (Q) system monitors inventory levels constantly and triggers an order of fixed size Q when stock reaches the reorder point.
In total productive maintenance (TPM), overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is calculated as the product of which three factors?
Answer: Availability × Performance × Quality
OEE = Availability (planned vs. actual uptime) × Performance (actual vs. ideal speed) × Quality (good units vs. total units produced).
A company applies learning curve theory and observes that cumulative average time decreases by 20% each time output doubles. What type of learning curve is this?
Answer: Both A and C
An 80% learning curve means cumulative average time is 80% of the previous level each time output doubles, which is equivalent to a 20% improvement.
Which aggregate planning strategy maintains a constant workforce and uses inventory buildup and backorders to absorb demand variation?
Answer: Level strategy
The level strategy keeps the workforce and production rate constant, using inventory accumulation and backorders to buffer demand swings.
In process design, 'poka-yoke' refers to which concept?
Answer: Error-proofing mechanisms that prevent defects from occurring
Poka-yoke (Japanese for 'mistake-proofing') designs physical or procedural safeguards that make errors impossible or immediately detectable.
A company evaluating two plant locations uses the center-of-gravity method. If demand-weighted coordinates yield x̄ = 40 and ȳ = 60, what do these coordinates represent?
Answer: The optimal facility location minimizing total transportation cost
The center-of-gravity method finds coordinates that minimize total weighted distance (a proxy for transportation cost) between the facility and its markets.