Production Management Knowledge Flashcards
7 cards from real Product Management practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Production Management Knowledge flashcards as text
Which forecasting method assigns exponentially decreasing weights to older historical data?
Answer: Exponential Smoothing
Exponential smoothing uses a smoothing constant (α) to weight recent observations more heavily than older ones.
In JIT manufacturing, what is the primary role of a kanban card?
Answer: Signal downstream demand to trigger upstream production or replenishment
Kanban cards are visual pull signals that authorize the upstream process to produce or move a defined quantity to the downstream process.
What does 'safety stock' protect against in inventory management?
Answer: Variability in demand and lead time uncertainty
Safety stock is buffer inventory held to cover unexpected demand spikes or supply delays beyond average lead time.
A process has a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 2. The specification limits are 44 to 56. What is the process capability index (Cp)?
Answer: 1.0
Cp = (USL - LSL) / (6σ) = (56 - 44) / (6 × 2) = 12 / 12 = 1.0.
Which work measurement technique uses random observations to estimate the proportion of time workers spend on various activities?
Answer: Work Sampling
Work sampling takes random snap observations over time to statistically estimate activity percentages without continuous observation.
What is the key difference between 'job shop' and 'flow shop' production environments?
Answer: Job shops process custom low-volume orders through varied routes; flow shops process high-volume products through fixed sequential steps
Job shops handle variety with flexible routing (e.g., machine shop), while flow shops use standardized routing for high-volume repetitive production (e.g., assembly line).
In the context of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), what does 'autonomous maintenance' require?
Answer: Operators performing routine maintenance tasks on their own equipment
Autonomous maintenance shifts basic cleaning, inspection, and minor repair tasks to machine operators, freeing specialists for complex work.