INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Tutorial Questions

Feb 2019 Semester 2

1) Joanna has a part-time "cottage industry" producing seasonal plywood yard ornaments for
resale at local craft fairs and bazaars. She currently works 8 hours per day to produce 16
ornaments.

a. What is her productivity?

Productivity – (Units Produced)/(Labour Hours Used)
- 16/8
- 2 Units/labour-hour
b. She thinks that by redesigning the ornaments and switching from use of a wood glue to a
hot-glue gun she can increase her total production to 20 ornaments per day. What is her
new productivity?
Old Productivity – (Units Produced)/(Labour Hours Used)
- 16/8
- 2 Units/labour-hour
New Productivity – (Units Produced)/(Labour Hours Used)
- 20/8
- 2.5 Units/labour-hour

c. What is her percentage increase in productivity?

Percentage Increase = (NP – OP)/OP
= (2.5-2.0)/2.0
= .5/2.0
= 25%

2) Michaels Janitorial cleans chemical tank cars in the Bay St. upper St Andrew area per
month. The firm typically cleaned 70 chemical tank cars per month. They utilized 10 gallons
of solvent, and two employees worked 20 days per month, 8 hours a day. The company decided
to switch to a larger cleaning machine. Last April, they cleaned 60 tank cars in only 15 days.
They utilized 12 gallons of solvent, and the two employees worked 6 hours a day.

1. What was their raw material and their labor productivity with the standard equipment?
- Raw Material = 70/10 = 7 LabourHr
- Productivity = 70/320 = 0.22 tank car/LabourHr

2. What is their raw material and their labor productivity with the larger machine?
- Raw Material = 60/12 = 5 LabourHr
- Productivity = 60/180 = 0.33 tank car/LabourHr

3. What is the change in each productivity measure?

ANS: Raw Material – (5-7) = -2/-28.5%
Productivity – (0.33-0.22) = .11/ 50%
3) Sue's pottery spent $4000 on a new kiln last year in the belief that it would cut energy
usage 25% over the old kiln. This kiln is an oven that turns "greenware" into finished pottery.
Sue is concerned that the new kiln requires extra labor hours for its operation. Sue wants to
check the energy savings of the new oven, and also to look over other measures of their
productivity to see if the change really was beneficial. Sue has the following data to work with:

Last Year This Year

Production (finished units) 4000 4000
Greenware (pounds) 5000 5000
Labor (hrs) 350 375
Capital ($) 15000 19000
Energy (kWh) 3000 2600

Were the modifications beneficial?

ANSWER:
LAST THIS CHANGE % CHANGE
LABOUR: 4000/350 = 11.43units/hrs 4000/375 = 10.67 - 0.76 -6.7%
CAPITAL: 4000/15000 = 0.27units/$ 4000/19000 = .21 - 0.06 -22.2%
ENERGY: 4000/3000 = 1.33units/kWh 4000/2600 = 1.54 0.21 15.8%

4) The learning curve for a product is 90 percent. The first unit took 10 hours to complete.
The manufacturer wants to determine how many hours the fourth unit will take by using the
logarithmic method. The coefficient b for that calculation is approximately.
ANSWER: T1 = T1(Nb)
T4 = (10)(4LOG.9/LOG2) = -0.046/0.301 =0.1528
T4 = (10)(4(-0.1520))
T4 = 8.1 hours

5) The first unit of a product took 832 hours to build, and the learning curve is 75%. How
long will it take to make the 10th unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the
logarithmic approach.)
ANSWER: T1 = T1(Nb)
T10 = (832)(10LOG.75/LOG2) = -0.125/0.301 = 0.415
T10 = (832)(10(-0.415)) = 0.385 * 832
T10 = 320.32 hours

6) If it took 1000 hours to produce the first unit of a product, and the learning curve is 70%,
how long will it take to produce units 26 through 50?
ANSWER:
T1 = 1000
Learning Rate = 70%
T N = T1 * C
T26 = 1000 * 8.404 = 8,404
T50 = 1000 * 12.307 = 12307
Answer: 12307-8404
 Answer: 3,903 hours

7) A small manufacturer that offers "hand crafted" furniture has developed a new style of
desk that they believe will be very successful in the marketplace. It is expected that the first desk
will take about 60 hours of craftsmen's time to complete. They expect a 90% learning curve for
this desk.
How long will it take to make the 20th desk? The firm is considering accepting an order for 25
desks. How many hours of labor will this require for all 25?

ANSWER:
T1 = 60
Learning Rate = 90%
T N = T1 * C
T20 = 60 * .634 = 38.04/38
T25 = 60 * 17.713 = 1062.78/1063

8) What is SWOT analysis? List its four elements and describe its purpose.

9) Are strategies static or dynamic? What are the forces that lead to this result?

10) Identify and explain the four basic global operations strategies. Give an example of each
strategy.