Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

1. In a vision statement, an organization carefully describes its desires concerning

what?

2. Is a highly standardized product usually produced through a make-to-order or

a make-to-stock processing strategy?

3. Does providing customized products generally involve less capital investment

or less skilled labor, when compared to more standardized products?

4. If a product is produced in high volume by a few large organizations, what

phase of the product life cycle is it most likely in?

5. The product life cycle suggests that what will happen to the price of a product
as it ages?

6. At what phase of the product life cycle are the most organizations offering the
product to the customer?

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Minute Answer Questions #1 to 12

PDF A1M020-01
 Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

7. When calculating productivity measures, do higher or lower results indicate

improvement?

8. If two different departments in the same organization each develop strategies

that bring them into competition for the same customer, that organization is
suffering from a problem with what?

9. At what stage of the product life cycle is price competition likely to be the
greatest?

10. Is a core competency believed to be a source of competitive advantage or

corporate vision?

11. If a customer considers a feature a necessity but is not impressed by it, is this
feature an order qualifier or an order winner?

12. In theory, if the total combined value of every output of a system could be
compared to the total combined value of every input to that same system, the
resulting ratio would be called what?

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Minute Answer Questions #1 to 12

PDF A1M020-01
 Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

If the multifactor productivity measure of one electrical generation plant is

12.934, while the same measure when calculated for a second plant is 12.023,
which plant is more productive?

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Quick Start Question #13
PDF A1Q020-01
 Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

In a machine shop, six employees repaired 45 engines during a 5 day workweek.

How would the productivity of the machine shop best be described?

Five Customs and Immigration officers worked 7 hours each to check visas and
stamp the passports of 673 arriving visitors at an airport terminal. What is the
labor productivity of this group of five officers?

Eight part-time workers at an airline catering facility prepared 2,010 meals in 6

hours. What is the labor productivity of the part-time workers at this facility?

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Quick Start Questions #14 to 16
PDF A1Q020-02
 Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

A road-paving crew required 8 hours to repave a 3mile stretch of road, using

$5,000 in materials. The crew consisted of three workers who each earn $25 an
hour. Calculate a multifactor estimate of productivity for this crew.

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Quick Start Question #17
PDF A1Q020-03
 Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

An automobile assembly plant produces 600 cars during a 5day workweek. It

then produced 500 cars the following week, although it only operated 4 days due
to a national holiday. During which week was the plant more productive?

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Ramp Up Question #18

PDF A1R020-01
 Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

One road-paving crew of six people worked 8 hours to pave 25 miles of two-
lane road, while a smaller crew of four people worked 12 hours to pave 15 miles
of four-lane road. Which crew was more productive, and by how much?

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Ramp Up Question #19

PDF A1R020-02
 Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

Two projects of equal value have been evaluated using a multifactor productivity
measure that combined labor-hours at $30 per hour and overhead expense
calculated as 20% of labor expense. The two projects were judged to have been
equally productive, although the first project used twice as many labor-hours. At
what rate was overhead expense being charged to the second project?

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Ramp Up Question #20

PDF A1R020-03
 Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

Links Lumber creates pressure-treated utility poles from pine logs bought from
several surrounding pine plantations. At the Links Lumber operation, a batch
of 100 pine logs yields 85 utility poles with 5 labor-hours required to process the
entire batch. Links Lumber is owned by Artemis Link, whose brother Devious
Link is planning to marry Betty Davis, owner of Northlands Pine Plantation.
Artemis expects that his future sister-in-law will sell him pine logs for the same
price he is paying to purchase them from other growers right now.
The difference in Northlands Pine Plantation logs, however, is that they are
considerably higher quality wood than the logs he purchases from his current
suppliers. If Betty agrees to sell him Northlands Pine Plantation pine logs, each
batch of 100 logs can be expected to yield 100 utility poles, although it will take
an additional 4 labor-hours per batch to process the higher quality wood.
a. What is the current labor productivity at Links Lumber?
b. What will happen to labor productivity at Links Lumber if indeed
Artemis Link is able to purchase Northlands Pine Plantation lumber
from Betty?
c. Suppose that Links Lumber currently buys batches of 100 pine logs for
$40, but Betty will want $60 for a batch of 100 Northlands Pine
Plantation logs. Assuming labor at $30 an hour, what are the
appropriate multifactor productivity measures for production from the
current logs and production from Northlands Pine Plantation logs?

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Scenario Question #21

PDF A1F020-01
 Simpson and Hancocks Practical Operations Management

Archer Contracting repaved 50 miles of two-lane county roadway with a crew of

six employees. This crew worked 8 days and used $7,000 worth of paving
material. Nearby, Bronson Contracting repaved 30 miles of four-lane interstate
roadway working 10 days with a crew of five people using $9,000 of paving
material. Both Archer Contracting and Bronson contracting rented the same
paving equipment to complete their respective assignments, costing each $1,500
a day.
a. Calculate the labor productivity of both Archer and Bronson
contracting. Who is the most productive according to this measure?
b. Assume that both Archer and Bronson Contracting pay their employees
$15 an hour and each employee works 8 hours per day. Calculate the
multifactor productivity of each firm. Now who is the most productive
and by how much?
c. Now assume that both Archer and Bronson contracting pay their
employees $35 an hour and each employee works 8 hours per day.
Calculate the multifactor productivity of each firm. Now who is the most
productive and by how much?
d. Why does the conclusion concerning who is the most productive differ
when employees receive $15 an hour (part b) versus $35 an hour (part c)?

Chapter Two Providing Goods And Services, Scenario Question #22

PDF A1F020-02