Q&A Hero

Q: The Hawkins Company randomly samples 10 items from every large batch before the batch is packaged and shipped. According to the contract specifications, 5 percent of the items shipped can be defective. If the inspectors find 1 or fewer defects in the sample of 10, they ship the batch without further inspection. If they find 2 or more, the entire batch is inspected. Based on this sampling plan, the probability that a batch that meets the contract requirements will end up being 100 percent inspected is approximately .0746.

Q: Which of the following is a core philosophy of Six Sigma? a. Achieving cycle time reduction b. Increasing non-value-added activities c. Avoiding errors per million opportunities as a standard metric d. Increasing variation in cash flow

Q: Identify a true statement about kaizen. a. It is based on the concept of continuous improvement. b. It focuses on short-term impact. c. It is performed on a part-time basis. d. It involves a huge financial investment.

Q: _____ are targets and tolerances determined by designers of goods and services. a. Defects b. Specifications c. Units of work d. Costs of quality

Q: A company has 20 copy machines and every day there is a 5 percent chance for each machine that it will not be working that day. If the company wants to calculate the probability of, say, 2 machines not working, it should use the Poisson distribution.

Q: Which of the following statements is true of Gap 3 in the GAP model? a. It can be minimized by making senior managers work in frontline jobs a few days every year so that they keep in contact with customers and frontline employees. b. It is where the customer judges quality and makes future purchase decisions. c. It can be minimized by advertising. d. It recognizes that manufacturing and service delivery systems must execute quality specifications well.

Q: A direct marketing company believes that the probability of making a sale when a call is made to an individual's home is .02. The probability of making 2 or 3 sales in a sample of 20 calls is .0593.

Q: _____ is a business improvement approach that seeks to find and eliminate causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and service processes by focusing on outputs that are critical to customers, resulting in a clear financial return for the organization. a. Six Sigma b. The GAP model c. Poka-yoke d. A kaizen event

Q: Which of the following statements is true of the Deming cycle? a. It institutes a top-down management style, in which the leadership comes from the executives, and all other levels of employees must follow their commands. b. It refers to the repetition required in order to create a perfect process that leads to zero defective products and 100% customer satisfaction. c. It involves a series of trials, after which the best process is selected. d. It guides teams to develop an improvement plan, try it out, examine the results, and institute changes, then repeat the cycle.

Q: One difference between the binomial distribution and Poisson distribution is that the binomial's upper bound is the number of trials while the Poisson has no particular upper bound.

Q: Gap 3 in the GAP model is the discrepancy between: a. the customer's expectations and perceptions. b. management's perceptions of what features constitute a target level of quality and the task of translating these perceptions into executable specifications. c. quality specifications documented in operating and training manuals and plans and their implementation. d. customer expectations and management perceptions of those expectations.

Q: Which of the following statements is true of SERVQUAL? a. Quality is simply ensuring that goods and services consistently conform to specifications. b. It is designed to apply to all service industries. c. It uses 15 dimensions of service quality performance. d. Empathy is the ability to provide what was promised, dependably and accurately.

Q: The distribution for the number of emergency calls to a city's 911 emergency number in a one-hour time period is likely to be described by a binomial distribution.

Q: The board of directors at Blaine Glassworks want their company's products to be of higher quality than the products of other companies in the market, and think that they are hitting this target. However, a recent survey found that customers rate the company's products as below average due to the inferior process design specifications in the company. This is an example of _____ in the GAP model. a. Gap 2 b. Gap 3 c. Gap 4 d. Gap 5

Q: The Nationwide Motel Company has determined that 70 percent of all calls for motel reservations request nonsmoking rooms. Recently, the customer service manager for the company randomly selected 25 calls. Assuming that the distribution of calls requesting nonsmoking rooms is described by a binomial distribution, the probability that fewer than 5 customers will request smoking rooms is approximately 0.09.

Q: _____ improvement refers to discontinuous change, as opposed to the philosophy of kaizen. a. Dynamic b. Procedural c. Benchmarking d. Breakthrough

Q: The principles of customer focus, leadership, engagement, process approach, improvement, evidence-based decision making, and relationship management support the _____. a. Gap model b. Deming philosophy c. Crosby's Absolutes of Quality Management d. ISO

Q: The management of Breedlove Communications, a wireless headphone manufacturing company, wants all employees in the organization to contribute to the quality of the firm by setting a long-term goal to make small, gradual, and frequent improvements without a large financial investment. Given this information, Breedlove Communications embraces an approach known as _____. a. the Gap model b. kaizen c. Six Sigma d. the 5-Why Technique

Q: A run chart is a line graph in which _____. a. data are plotted over time b. data are constantly moving forward c. data charted is from a long time period d. data is considered dynamic

Q: When using the binomial distribution, the maximum possible number of success is the number of trials.

Q: According to Philip B. Crosby's Absolutes of Quality Management philosophy, _____. a. quality means conformance to elegance b. there is no such thing as a quality problem c. there is no such thing as zero defects d. the only performance measurement is the economics of quality

Q: Ace Computer Manufacturer buys disk drives in lots of 5,000 units from a supplier in California. The contract calls for, at most, 3 percent of the disk drives to be defective. When a shipment arrives, a sample of n = 15 parts is selected. If zero defects are found in this sample, the shipment is accepted. If 3 or more defects are found, the shipment is rejected and sent back to the supplier. If the number of defects found is 1 or 2, a second sample of 15 parts is selected. If this sample yields 1 or fewer defects, the shipment is accepted; otherwise the shipment is rejected. Based on a binomial distribution, the probability that Ace will reject a shipment of parts that meets the contract requirements is approximately 0.0355.

Q: Luca, the operations manager a company that produces ground coffee beans, wants to know the sequence of the production process in the company to determine if any process can be combined or eliminated. In this case, a _____ will suit Lucas requirement. a. run chart b. flow chart c. checksheet d. histogram

Q: A pizza restaurant uses 7 different toppings on its pizzas. At lunch time it has a pizza buffet and makes pizzas with 2 toppings. If it wants to serve every possible combination of 2 toppings, it would need to make 14 different pizzas.

Q: Josephines T-Shirts faced a lot of complaints from customers when its recent batch of long-sleeved shirts was dispatched. The employees at Josephines T-Shirts, hence, had to rework on the returned items, and in some cases, the company had to even replace the faulty goods. In this case, the costs incurred by Josephines T-Shirts are an example of _____ costs. a. prevention b. appraisal c. internal failure d. external failure

Q: Each week American Stores receives a shipment from a supplier. The contract specifies that the maximum allowable percent defective is 5 percent. When the shipment arrives, a sample of 20 parts is randomly selected. If 2 or more of the sampled parts are defective, the shipment is rejected and returned to the supplier. Assume that a shipment arrives that actually has 4 percent defective parts and the distribution of defective parts is described by a binomial distribution. The probability that the shipment is accepted is approximately 0.81

Q: _____ costs are costs expended to keep nonconforming goods and services from being made and reaching the customer. a. Prevention b. Appraisal c. Internal failure d. External failure

Q: _____ in the GAP model is the discrepancy between actual manufacturing and service-delivery system performance and external communications to the customers. a. Gap 1 b. Gap 2 c. Gap 3 d. Gap 4

Q: Which of the following definitions of quality is proposed by Joseph M. Juran? a. Quality means conformance to requirements. b. Quality is fitness for use. c. A product or a service possesses quality if it helps somebody and enjoys a good and sustainable market. d. A product or a service possesses quality if it consistently exceeds customer expectations.

Q: One of the characteristics of the binomial distribution is that the probability of success for each trial depends on whether the previous trial was a success or not.

Q: Bill Price is a sales rep in northern California representing a line of athletic socks. Each day, he makes 10 sales calls. The chance of making a sale on each call is thought to be 0.30. The probability that he will make exactly two sales is approximately 0.2335.

Q: _____ costs are costs incurred as a result of unsatisfactory quality that is found before the delivery of a good or service to the customer. a. Prevention b. Appraisal c. Internal failure d. External failure

Q: Six managers at a company all enjoy golf. Each Saturday, four of the six get together for 18 holes of golf. They have decided to set up a schedule so that the same foursome does not play twice before all possible foursomes have played. The number of weekends that will pass before the same group would play twice is 15.

Q: In the context of SERVQUAL, _____ is the caring, individual attention a firm provides to its customers. a. responsiveness b. reliability c. assurance d. empathy

Q: A construction company has found it has a probability of 0.10 of winning each time it bids on a project. The probability of winning a given number of projects out of 12 bids could be determined with a binomial distribution.

Q: Isa is head of housekeeping services at the Ashworth Hotel, a luxury hotel and resort. Last week, she received 29 customer complaints. A total of 428 guests had stayed in the hotel that week. Given this information, find out the errors per million opportunities. a. 400 errors per million opportunities b. 23,456 errors per million opportunities c. 67,757 errors per million opportunities d. 14,758,620 errors per million opportunities

Q: The Ace Construction Company has entered into a contract to widen a street in Boston. The possible payoffs for this project have been determined by management. The probabilities for these payoffs could be determined using a binomial distribution.

Q: Identify a true statement about Joseph M. Juran's philosophy of quality management. a. He advocated the use of quality cost measurement to focus attention on quality problems. b. He argued that employees at different levels of an organization speak one common language. c. He proposed a major cultural change in the organization. d. He stated that there is no such thing as a quality problem.

Q: In a Florida town, the probability distribution for the number of legitimate emergency calls per day for the Fire Department is given as follows. Also shown is the probability distribution for the number of false alarms:Given this information, the expected number of total calls to the fire department is 1.60 calls.

Q: Identify a true statement about the GAP model. a. It defines quality system standards based on the premise that certain generic characteristics of management practices can be standardized. b. Minimizing gaps 4 and 5 will result in low customer satisfaction. c. Failure to understand and minimize gaps presents the risk of losing customer loyalty. d. It eliminates causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and service processes by focusing on outputs that are critical to customers.

Q: Holmstead Company owns two small engine repair stores. The expected value of the number of complaints received per month at store 1 is 4.5 complaints. Further, the expected number of complaints per month for store 1 and store 2 combined is 13.6. This means the expected number of complaints per month at store 2 must be 9.1 complaints.

Q: The _____ concept characterizes quality performance by defects per million opportunities. a. Deming cycle b. ISO 9000 c. Gap model d. Six Sigma

Q: The Ski Patrol at Criner Mountain Ski Resort has determined the following probability distribution for the number of skiers that are injured each weekend: Injured Skiers Probability 0 0.05 1 0.15 2 0.40 3 0.30 4 0.10 Based on this information, the standard deviation for the number of injuries per weekend is 2.25.

Q: Marin is the manufacturing coordinator of a food and beverage company. Recently, some of the products were rejected by the quality control department because they failed to meet the quality standards. Upon inspection, a number of defects were found at multiple stages of production. Marin wants to identify the defects that have the most impact on the whole production process. In this case, which of the following quality control (QC) tools should she use? a. A flowchart b. A histogram c. A cause-and-effect diagram d. A Pareto diagram

Q: Identify a true statement about International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000. a. It states that generic management practices can never be standardized. b. Its standards do not apply to services such as health care, banking, and transportation. c. It is the first version of the ISO family of standards. d. Its standards apply to all types of businesses, including electronics and chemicals.

Q: The number of no-shows each day for dinner reservations at the Cottonwood Grille is a discrete random variable with the following probability distribution: No-shows Probability 0 0.30 1 0.20 2 0.20 3 0.15 4 0.15 Based on this information, the standard deviation for the number of no-shows is about 0.36 customers.

Q: The number of no-shows for dinner reservations at the Cottonwood Grille is a discrete random variable with the following probability distribution: No-shows Probability 0 0.30 1 0.20 2 0.20 3 0.15 4 0.15 Based on this information, the most likely number of no-shows on any given day is 0 customers.

Q: Six Sigma cannot be applied to service processes.a. Trueb. False

Q: A kaizen event is an approach for mistake-proofing processes, using automatic devices or methods to avoid simple human error. a. True b. False

Q: The Cromwell Construction Company has the opportunity to enter into a contract to build a mountain road. The following table shows the probability distribution for the profit that could occur if it takes the contract: Profit Probability $30,000 0.15 $50,000 0.20 $70,000 0.30 $100,000 0.35 Based on this information, the profit standard deviation for the company if it takes the contract is $11,235.

Q: The GAP model helps managers analyze goods and services and the processes that make and deliver them to identify and close the largest gaps and improve performance. a. True b. False

Q: The Deming cycle is composed of four stages: prepare, deliver, simplify, and achieve (PDSA). a. True b. False

Q: A probability distribution with an expected value greater than the expected value of a second probability distribution will also have a higher standard deviation.

Q: Service quality is consistently meeting or exceeding customer expectations (external focus) and service-delivery system performance criteria (internal focus) during all service encounters. a. True b. False

Q: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a specialized agency for standardization. The term, ISO, is a scientific term that means equal. a. True b. False

Q: Checksheets are special types of data-collection forms in which the results need additional processing in order to be interpreted. a. True b. False

Q: Indicate whether the statement is true or false.The cost of quality refers specifically to the costs associated with avoiding poor quality or those incurred as a result of poor quality.a. Trueb. False

Q: The Colbert Real Estate Agency has determined the number of home showings given by its agents is the same each day of the week. Then the variable, number of showings, is a continuous distribution.

Q: The following six jobs are to be scheduled on a single machine:Job123456Processing time (min.)80130210120150110Suppose the jobs are processed in shortest processing time order. Compute the average flowtime after each job is completed. Round your answer to two decimal places.a. 401.67b. 391.97c. 416.67d. 422.67

Q: Five jobs are ready for processing at time zero through a workstation. The details of the processing time and the due date of completion is provided in the following table.JobProcessing Time (days)Due DateA812B49C36D77E520Using the shortest processing time (SPT) rule, it can be concluded that the average flow time for these five jobs is _____.a. more than 8 but less than or equal to 10 days.b. more than 10 but less than or equal to 12 days.c. more than 12 but less than or equal to 14 days.d. more than 14 but less than or equal to 16 days.

Q: The time required to assemble two components into a finished part is recorded for each employee at the plant. The resulting random variable is an example of a continuous random variable.

Q: When a market research manager records the number of potential customers who were surveyed indicating that they like the product design, the random variable, number who like the design, is a discrete random variable.

Q: In the context of sequencing, _____ is the amount of time by which the completion time exceeds the due date of a job. a. flow time b. makespan c. lateness d. tardiness

Q: The graph of a discrete random variable looks like a histogram where the probability of each possible outcome is represented by a bar.

Q: Gantt charts are used to: a. develop a factory layout. b. track inventory levels over time. c. monitor planned schedules. d. forecast personnel requirements.

Q: When a single value is randomly chosen from a discrete distribution, the different possible values are mutually exclusive.

Q: Albert’s Printing and Pressing Company is a t-shirt printing shop with four processes: printing (P1), pressing (P2), sealing (S), and finishing (F). The arrival time and processing sequence for three upcoming jobs is shown below.JobArrival TimeProcessing Sequence (Processing Time in minutes)10P1(10), P2(20), S(15), F(10)210P1(10), P2(10), S(15)320P1(20), S(5), F(10)Using the FNO rule, what scheduling decision should the dispatcher make at time 45?a. Job 3 should start on the sealing machine.b. Job 2 should start on the sealing machine.c. Job 1 should start on the pressing machine.d. Job 3 should start on the pressing machine.

Q: The random variable, number of customers entering a store between 9 AM and noon, is an example of a discrete random variable.

Q: In the context of operations management, _____ refers to the assignment of start and completion times to particular jobs, people, or equipment. a. scheduling b. appointing c. statistical forecasting d. demand planning

Q: If a random variable is discrete, it means that the outcome for the random variable can take on only one of two possible values.

Q: In the context of sequencing, the earliest due date (EDD) rule: a. minimizes the maximum jobs past due. b. maximizes average flow time of jobs past due. c. maximizes resource utilization of jobs past due. d. minimizes the average processing time of jobs past due.

Q: The only two types of random variables are discrete and continuous random variables.

Q: In the context of sequencing, _____ is the difference between the completion time and the due date of a job. a. flow time b. makespan c. lateness d. tardiness

Q: A random variable is generated when a variable's value is determined by using classical probability.

Q: An electronic gadgets store requires the following minimum number of employees, each of whom is required to have two consecutive days off.Day:Mon.Tue.Wed.Thur.Fri.Sat.Sun.Minimum employees required:9286913If there are no day offs provided on Thursday and Friday, the number of employees required to work on Thursday as per the final employee schedule is _____.a. 9b. 10c. 11d. 12

Q: The managers of a local golf course have recently conducted a study of the types of golf balls used by golfers based on handicap. A joint frequency table for the 100 golfers covered in the survey is shown below:Based on these data, the probability that a player will use a Strata golf ball is:A) 0.15B) 0.20C) 0.18D) None of the above

Q: In the context of sequencing, the shortest processing time (SPT) rule tends to: a. maximize the number of jobs in the system. b. maximize average flow time. c. minimize resource utilization. d. minimize work-in-process inventory.

Q: If two events are independent, then A) they must be mutually exclusive. B) the sum of their probabilities must be equal to one. C) their intersection must be zero. D) None of the above

Q: A movie theater requires the following minimum number of employees, each of whom is required to have two consecutive days off.Day:Mon.Tue.Wed.Thur.Fri.Sat.Sun.Minimum Number of Employees Required1132543Using the staff scheduling method, it is determined that the number of employees required as per the final employee schedule is _____.a. 3b. 4c. 5d. 6

Q: When a pair of dice are rolled, the outcome for each die can be said to be: A) mutually exclusive. B) mutually inclusive. C) dependent. D) independent.