1- Why study operations management? Furthermore, what is the difference between the terms "production management" and "operations management"?
2- How would you determine whether a company has an operations and supply chain strategy? What specific questions would you ask, and what information would you gather?
3- Describe an operation where higher quality will cost more. What is your definition of quality? What does higher quality cost more? If you use a different definition of quality, will higher quality cost less?
4- How can the modular design concept control production variety and at the same time allow product variety?
5- Why are assembly-line processes usually so much more efficient but less flexible than batch processes? Give three reasons.
6- Suppose that a firm is considering moving from a batch process to an assembly-line process to better meet evolving market needs. What concerns might the following functions have about this proposed process change: Marketing, finance, human resources, accounting, and information systems?
7-Why is a stable master schedule desirable for a lean production system? What is the effect if it is not stable?
8-All of us have been to restaurants and visited doctors offices. Much of the complaints I hear is waiting time to be seated or seen. Identify some of the seven forms of waste in the following situations (found on Table 7.1 of Chapter 7) and your recommendations for eliminating the waste.
a. Restaurant
b. Doctor's office
9-Recall a bad service experience you recently had. What led to the service failure? Consider such dimensions as tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, or empathy.
10- What measures can be taken to provide more capacity at a bottleneck work center?
11- What is the difference between a requirements philosophy and a replenishment philosophy of inventory management? Why is this difference important?
12- Compare and contrast the management of finished goods inventory in a manufacturing firm with that in a retail or wholesale firm.