Operations Management Assignment______________________
Leadstar College of Management and Leadership
Tutor Marked Assignment (TMA) for Operations Management
Assignment Weight: 50%
General Directions:
Attempt each of the following questions according to their respective instructions and
provide detailed explanations and show all the necessary computations as needed.
The assignment should be only completed individually and copying from others
disqualifies results.
Assignment submission format: Assignment must be submitted in both hard copy and in
soft copy. The soft copy should be e-mailed to [email protected].
Assignment due date: Final exam date
TMA 01
Instructions
Attempt the following comprehensive questions from all chapters.
Follow the instructions carefully for each question.
Part I: Multiple Choice Questions (1 pt each)
Choose the Best answer from the following Questions
Q1. One advantage of Just-In-Time (JIT) management of stocks is
a. it reduces the need to plan and organize
b. it removes the need for delivery Quality Control
c. it reduces the costs of holding stock within the factory
d. it works very well with competitive tendering
Q2. 'Kaizen' is
a. a word meaning 'continuous improvement'
b. a method of stock control
c. a modern way of operating a production line
d. another word for Quality Circles
Q3. A firm is productively efficient when
a. it is producing its product or service at the lowest unit cost that it can
b. it is selling at the lowest price possible
c. it has the highest labor productivity that it can
d. it is making what its customers want
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Operations Management Assignment______________________
Q4. Most operations produce a mixture of both products and services. Which of the
following businesses is closest to producing “pure” services?
a. IT company
b. Steel company
c. Counsellor/therapist
d. A Restaurant
Q5. All of the following are examples of economies of scale, except
a. being able to employ specialist staff efficiently
b. the effective division of labour
e. c. having better communications.
d. bulk buying
Q.6. Which of the following functions is not a core function of an organization?
a. The product/service development function
b. The marketing (including sales) function
c. The accounting and finance function
d. The operations function
Q7. Operations can be classified according to their volume and variety of production as
well as the degree of variation and visibility. Which of the following operations would
be classified as high volume, low variety?
a. A family doctor
b. A carpenter
c. A front office bank
d. A fast food restaurant
Q8. Which of the following activities is not a direct responsibility of operations
management?
a. Planning and controlling the operation
b. Determining the exact mix of products and services that customers will want
c. Designing the operation’s products, services and processes
d. Developing an operations strategy for the operation
Q9. Operations can be classified according to the degree of variation in demand and
visibility of the operation as well as their volume and variety of production. Which of
the following operations would be classified as high variation and high visibility?
a. A carpenter
b. A family doctor
c. A fast food restaurant
d. A front office bank
Q10. Which of the following would not normally be considered a general characteristic
of a service?
a. Production and consumption can always be spatially separated
b. Production and consumption are simultaneous
c. Many services involve both tangible and intangible outputs
d. Low contact services can often be made more efficient than high contact services
e. Production and sales cannot easily be separated functionally
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Operations Management Assignment______________________
Q11. Which of the following would not be normally considered as a key feature of
Operations Management?
a. Most new technology is implemented in Operations areas
b. Operations is the part of an organization which creates wealth through the
management of the transformation process
c. Operations researches mathematical techniques for optimizing processes
d. Operations is the area of a business where most people work
e. World class Operations can give an organization competitive advantage
Q12. Which of the following is the least likely decision to be made by Operations
Managers?
a. Designing and improving the jobs of the workforce
b. Selecting the location and layout of a facility
c. Deciding which market areas to manufacture products for
d. How much capacity is required to balance demand
e. How to use quality techniques to reduce waste
TMA 02
Instructions
Attempt the following essay type questions. Your answer shall be clear, concise, and
more of practical. You are supposed to answer for each question based on your
understanding, judgment and practical experience .
1. Take a given hospital in Ethiopia and define hospital operations management as a
transformation process. Consider all the inputs, processes and the outputs in the
hospital operations system and explain each of them. (5 points)
2. What are the competitive dimensions of operations strategy? List and discuss them .
(1 point)
3. Take one service organization in Ethiopia say, Ethiopian Airline, and one
manufacturing organization, say Metahara Sugar Factory. Compare and contrast
their similarities and differences from their operations point of view. (2 points)
4. Briefly describe the historic development of operations management and their
contributors. (1 point)
5. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the three production systems: Job shop,
batch and continuous production systems. (1 point)
6. Briefly describe the following concepts and give examples from Ethiopian firms. (3
points):
a. Modular design
b. Design for disassembly
c. Robust design
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Operations Management Assignment______________________
7. What is Mass Customization mean? How do firms achieve mass customization?
Explain it. (1 point).
8. What are the phases in the new product development process? List exhaustively and
explain with example. (2 points)
9. Compare and contrast, Concurrent engineering, quality function deployment, and
traditional approaches to product design. Give empirical example in the Ethiopian
context for your explanation. (2 points)
10. Explain briefly factors to be considered in location decisions. Support your
explanation with practical example by taking Ethiopian organization(s).(2 points)
11. What is design capacity and how do you measure capacity of a facility? Explain. (2
points)
12. Discuss the various aspects of capacity concepts with example.(2 points)
13. Briefly explain the different types of layout with example. (3 points).
14. What do you know about agile manufacturing? Compare with lean manufacturing
and their strategic orientations.(1 point)
15. Briefly describe factors to be considered in efficient layout design. (2 points)
16. Briefly explain the ergonomics of one of the banking company in Ethiopia. (2 points)
17. What does employee empowerment mean in job design? (1 point)
18. How time standard is determined in the work measurement? Explain the steps with
example. (2 points)
19. What are the different types of incentive plans to be considered in the compensations
system in the operations environment? (2 point)
20. What is the difference between design capacity and effective capacity? Describe their
difference with example. (1 points)
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