Product Management Production Management Knowledge 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which forecasting method assigns exponentially decreasing weights to older historical data?
- Simple Moving Average
- Exponential Smoothing (Correct answer)
- Linear Regression
- Naive Forecasting
Correct answer: Exponential Smoothing
Exponential smoothing uses a smoothing constant (α) to weight recent observations more heavily than older ones.
Question 2: In JIT manufacturing, what is the primary role of a kanban card?
- Authorize overtime production to build safety stock
- Signal downstream demand to trigger upstream production or replenishment (Correct answer)
- Record quality inspection results for traceability
- Schedule preventive maintenance activities
Correct 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.
Question 3: What does 'safety stock' protect against in inventory management?
- Physical theft and damage to stored goods
- Variability in demand and lead time uncertainty (Correct answer)
- Price inflation of purchased materials
- Equipment breakdowns during production
Correct 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.
Question 4: 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)?
- 0.5
- 1.0 (Correct answer)
- 1.5
- 2.0
Correct answer: 1.0
Cp = (USL - LSL) / (6σ) = (56 - 44) / (6 × 2) = 12 / 12 = 1.0.
Question 5: Which work measurement technique uses random observations to estimate the proportion of time workers spend on various activities?
- Time Study
- Work Sampling (Correct answer)
- Predetermined Motion Time Study
- Standard Data Method
Correct answer: Work Sampling
Work sampling takes random snap observations over time to statistically estimate activity percentages without continuous observation.
Question 6: What is the key difference between 'job shop' and 'flow shop' production environments?
- Job shops are automated; flow shops are manual
- Job shops process custom low-volume orders through varied routes; flow shops process high-volume products through fixed sequential steps (Correct answer)
- Job shops use pull scheduling; flow shops use push scheduling
- Job shops produce services; flow shops produce goods
Correct 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).
Question 7: In the context of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), what does 'autonomous maintenance' require?
- Fully automated robots performing all maintenance tasks
- Operators performing routine maintenance tasks on their own equipment (Correct answer)
- Outsourcing all maintenance to third-party contractors
- AI systems predicting and scheduling maintenance automatically
Correct 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.
Product Management Production Management Knowledge 5
Which forecasting method assigns exponentially decreasing weights to older historical data?