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Managing operations > Session 1-5 > Flashcards

Session 1-5 Flashcards

(73 cards)

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1
Q

What is the “1.0 definition” of operations management?

A

The study of how organisations produce and deliver goods and services

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2
Q

What is the “2.0 definition” of operations management?

A

The activity of directing/designing/delivering/developing the resources and processes that produce and deliver products and services

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3
Q

Which are the three levels of operations analysis?

A
  1. Supply network
  2. Operation
  3. Individual processes

(these are nested, with supply network being the top level)

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4
Q

Which are the four Ds?

A

Design (the operation’s products/services)
Direct (the overall operation strategy)
Delivery (planning/controlling it)
Develop (process performance)

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5
Q

What is the course definition of operations strategy?

A

The pattern of decisions and actions that shapes the long term capabilities of the operation and its contribution to overall business strategy, through the on-going reconciliation of market requirements and operations resources.

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6
Q

What is the definition of a bottleneck?

A

Part of a process that constrains the capacity of the whole system

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7
Q

Which are the four rules of bottlenecks

A

Devote proportionately more management attention to it

Take away all non essential activities from the bottleneck

Ensure that no substandard work passes through the bottleneck

Ensure that only essential work passes through the bottleneck

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8
Q

What is Little’s Law?

A

Throughput time = Work in progress * Cycle time

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9
Q

Name four advantages of long-thin

A

More controlled flow

Simple materials handling

Lower capital requirements

More efficient operation

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10
Q

Name four advantages of short-fat

A

Higher mix flexibility

Higher volume flexibility

Higher robustness

Less monotonous work

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11
Q

What is a pull system?

A

A system where material is moved only when the next stage wants it

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12
Q

What is a push system?

A

A system where material is moved on to the next stage as soon as it has been processed

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13
Q

Describe drum, buffer and rope control

A

The bottleneck is the drum, setting the beat for the rest of the process to follow

Place a buffer of inventory in front of it - makes sure it will always work

Have a communication rope between the bottleneck and the input process

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14
Q

Which are the three laws explaining how processes behave?

A
  • Little’s law
  • The law of bottlenecks
  • The relationship between variability, utilization and waiting time
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15
Q

What is the course definition of design?

A

To conceive the looks, arrangement and workings of something before it is created

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16
Q

Which are the four Vs, in which processes differ?

A

Volume
Variety
Variation in demand
Visibility

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17
Q

Which conditions facilitate low cost processes?

A

Generally high volume together with low variety, variation and visibility facilitate low cost processes

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18
Q

Name the characteristics of supply networks

A

Complex, large (wide boundaries), constantly changing

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19
Q

How should processes be defined?

A

In any way we want

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20
Q

What is the difference between “operations” and “operational”?

A

Operational is the opposite of strategic; it means detailed, localized, short-term, day-to-day. Operations are the resources that produce products and services.

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21
Q

What should an operations strategy do?

A
  1. Provide a vision for how the operation’s resources can contribute to the business as a whole.
  2. Define the exact meaning of the operation’s performance objectives.
  3. Identify the broad deci- sions that will help the operation achieve its objectives.
  4. Reconcile strategic decision with performance objectives.
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22
Q

How does the business model differ from the operating model?

A

A ‘business model’ is the plan that is implemented by a company to gener- ate revenue and make a profit.

An ‘operating model’ is a ‘high-level design of the organization that defines the structure and style which enables it to meet its business objectives’. It focuses more on how an overall business strategy is to be achieved.

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23
Q

What is the long-term objective of operation strategy?

A

The long-term objective of operation strategy is to build operations-based capabilities.

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24
Q

What is the resource-based view’s counterpart to “barriers to entry”?

A

Barriers to imitation

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25
What characterizes a strategic resource, according to the resource-based view?
Scarce Imperfectly mobile (difficult to move out of the firm) Imperfectly imitable or substitutible
26
The "value net" sees any business as being surrounded by four types of players – which are they?
Suppliers Customers Competitors Complementors
27
What is the difference between outsourcing and offshoring?
Outsourcing means deciding to buy-in products or services rather than perform the activities in-house. Offshoring means obtaining products and services from operations that are based outside one’s own country.
28
Name five typical categories that are used when evaluating potential locations
Capital requirements Market factors Cost factors Future flexibility Risk factors
29
Name the five manufacturing process types, starting at high volume & low variety
Project processes Jobbing processes Batch processes Mass processes Continuous processes
30
Name the three service process types, starting at high volume & low variety
Mass services Service shops Professional services
31
Define "throughput rate" (or "flow rate")
The rate at which units emerge from the process, i.e. the number of units passing through the process per unit of time
32
Define "throughput time"
The average elapsed time taken for inputs to move through the process and become outputs
33
Define "work in progress"
The number of units in the process
34
Define "utilization"
The proportion of available time for which the re- sources within the process are performing useful work
35
How can visibility be included as a factor in process mapping?
By drawing "levels of visibility" in the map, and placing process stages accordingly
36
Define "task precedence"
Defining which activities must occur before others, because of the nature of the task itself
37
Define "process balancing"
Attempting to allocate activities to each stage as equally as possible
38
How can process balancing be visualized?
As bar charts corresponding to the utilization or capacity of each stage
39
How can the five performance objectives be classified into two categories?
By classifying them as qualifiers and order-winners
40
What is the gist of the process perspective?
The process perspective analyzes businesses as a collection of interrelated processes
41
What is the "need to know" when it comes to the three levels of operations analysis?
The role of each unit (operation/process/resource) in the network/operation/process, and the relationship between them
42
Which alternative to "grouping processes by function" is proposed in the book?
End-to-end, which processes being grouped as chains that satisfy particular customer needs
43
All operations should be expected to contribute to their business by…
…controlling costs …increasing revenue …making investment more effective …growing long-term capabilities
44
Which of the four D:s is most relevant to strategy?
Direct
45
What is the most important short-term objective of operations strategy?
Satisfying market requirements
46
What is the purpose of operations strategy?
To improve the business’s performance relative to that of its competitors in the long term
47
What is the gist of the resource-based view?
Businesses with an ‘above average’ strategic performance are likely to have gained their sustainable competitive advantage because of their core competencies (or capabilities). So: The way an organization inherits, or acquires, or develops its operations resources will, over the long term, have a significant impact on its strategic success
48
What are the potential upsides of reducing the number of suppliers?
Reduced transaction costs Enriched supplier relationships
49
Name four advantages of being small
Allow businesses to locate near to ‘hot spots’ that can tap into local knowledge networks Responding rapidly to regional customer needs and trends by basing more and smaller units of capacity close to local markets Taking advantage of the potential for human resource development by allowing staff a greater degree of local autonomy Exploring radically new technologies by acting in the same way as a smaller, more entrepreneurial rival
50
All supply chain management shares one common, and central, objective - which one?
To satisfy the end customer
51
How is the success of capacity management generally measured?
The success of capacity management is generally measured by some combination of costs, revenue, working capital and customer satisfaction
52
State the exact definitions of the 4 D:s
Directing the overall strategy of the operation Designing the operation’s products, services and processes Planning and controlling process delivery Developing process performance
53
Name the two central design tasks
1. Conceiving the overall shape or nature of the process | 2. Conceiving the detailed workings of the process
54
State examples for each of the layout types
Fixed: open-heart surgery Functional: maternity ward Cell (serial functional layouts): hospital (wards grouped by function) Product: car factory
55
State examples for each of the process types
Project: most construction companies Jobbing: furniture restorers Batch: parts for assembly line production Mass: coca-cola Continuous: energy company
56
State examples for each of the service types
Professional services: consultants Service shops: banks Mass services: airlines
57
Which are the two types of variability?
Input variability & process variability
58
State the questions for each of the balanced scorecard measures
To achieve strategic impact, what aspects of performance should business process excel at? To achieve strategic impact, how should we be viewed by shareholders? To achieve strategic impact, how should we be viewed by customers? To achieve strategic impact, how will we build capabilities over time?
59
State the four-step procedure of improvement
1. Measure current performance 2. Compare it with others 3. Set performance targets 4. Prioritize improvement
60
What does DPMO stand for?
Defects per million opportunities
61
What is the basic idea behind BPR?
Underlying the BPR approach is the belief that operations should be organized around the total process that adds value for customers, rather than the functions or activities that perform the various stages of the value-adding activity.
62
Supplier relations can be plotted across which continuum?
The transactional - partnership continuum
63
Which are the three broad techniques used in SCOR?
Business process modeling Benchmarking performance Best-practice analysis
64
Which are the five basic components of the SCOR model?
Plan (manage supply links) Source (procurement/delivery) Make (adding value) Deliver (customer-facing fulfillment) Return (reverse logistics)
65
State the four factors determining capacity level
Product/service mix Duration over which output is required Specification of output Capacity "leakage"
66
Which are the factors in the 2x2 table of capacity variation?
*  Predictability - unpredictable | *  Demand - capacity
67
When is yield management useful?
When… …capacity is relatively fixed …the market can be fairly clearly segmented …the service cannot be stored in any way …the services are sold in advance …the marginal cost of making a sale is relatively low.
68
Which are the four types of inventory?
Pipeline, safety, anticipation, cycle
69
What is the gist of EOQ?
Order inventory such that total costs (comprised of ordering and holding costs) are as low as possible with acceptable customer satisfaction
70
What is the gist of EBQ?
Like EOQ, but with gradual replenishment
71
Name two ways of matching supply more precisely with demand
Pull control Kanbans
72
Name three ways of reducing variability
Level scheduling Level delivery schedules Adopt mixed modeling where possible
73
Describe the difference between short-term utilization and long term utilization in Lean synchronization
Resource utilization in sacrificed first, then regained through variability reduction

Managing operations (3 decks)

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