Explain how higher quality can lead to lower costs

Assignment Help Operation Management
Reference no: EM13857262

Question 1-

a. Why is it good or bad to operate an IT support services system (help desk) on a strictly, first come, first-served basis?

b. Explain how higher quality can lead to lower costs.

Question 2- Barbara Herdman is the manager of the marketing research department of J.E. Hall, Inc. She recently collected demand data for the last six years of a special product and then asked one of her associates, Mr. Brown, to forecast the data for the same past six years using the sales force composite method. The following data provide the details for Mr. Brown's forecast:
Year Actual demand Mr. Brown's forecast

Year

Actual demand

Mr. Brown's forecast

1

490

492

2

510

503

3

535

512

4

560

578

5

590

580

6

630

620


Complete the following:

1. Forecast the demand for the seventh year using the exponential smoothing method with alpha = 0.4. Show all details clearly. Use the initial forecast for the first year (492).

2. Which of the above methods is more accurate using mean absolute deviation (MAD) criteria?

3. Barbara performed a regression analysis on the six-year data and established the following equation:

Demand = 456 + 28x(t) where t is the code for the year (t = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6)

Forecast the demand for the seventh year using Barbara's equation above.

Question 3-During registration at a university, students have their courses approved by the adviser. It takes the adviser an average of 2.8 minutes (exponentially distributed) to approve each schedule, and students arrive at the adviser's office at the rate of 20 per hour (Poisson distributed).

Complete the following:

1. Compute the average time a student spends in the waiting line.

The registrar has received complaints from students about the length of time they must wait to have their schedules approved. The registrar is considering several ways to reduce the waiting time.

2. One way to reduce the waiting time is to assign some assistants to the adviser. Each such assistant would reduce the average time required to approve a schedule by 0.2 minutes, down to a minimum of 1.0 minutes. If this option is followed, how many assistants should the registrar assign to the adviser if he feels that a waiting time of 10 minutes is not unreasonable?

3. It has been noted that about one-fifth of the students fall under routine cases which they can themselves identify as routine. These routine cases take 1 minute to be served with negligible variance. Hence, one other way to reduce the waiting time is to provide an assistant who handles routine cases, while non-routine cases are handled by the adviser. Will this option be acceptable?

4. Yet another way is to provide additional advisers. Assuming that the average service time for each adviser is the same, how many advisers will be needed to bring the waiting time to 10 minutes or less?

Question 4- Complete the following: Deming's 14 Points for Implementing Quality Improvement

Which three of Deming's 14 points do you feel are the most critical to the success of a total quality management (TQM) programme? Why?

Question 5- For this part (question4), you will need to use the POM-QM for Windows software:

1. Read Appendix IV of the Operations Management (Heizer& Render, 2011) textbook.

2. Launch the POM-QM for Windows software and from the main menu select Module, and then Forecasting.

3. Next, select File, New, and Least Squares - Simple and Multiple regression.

Use the forecasting module that you opened in the POM-QM for Windows software to solve the case study on page 146 of the Heizer and Render (2011) textbook (Southwestern University). For this case study, you are required to build a forecasting model. Assume a linear regression forecasting model and build a model for each of the five games (five models in total) by using the forecasting module of the POM software.

Answer the three discussion questions for the case study, except the part requiring you to justify the forecasting as linear regression would be used.

Case Studies Southwestern University: (C)*

The popularity of Southwestern University's football program under its new coach, Bo Pitterno, surged in each of the 5 years since his arrival at the Stephenville, Texas, college. (See Southwestern University: (A) in Chapter 3 and (B) in Chapter 4.) With a football stadium close to maxing out at 54,000 seats and a vocal coach pushing for a new stadium, SWU president Joel Wisner faced some difficult decisions. After a phenomenal upset victory over its archrival, the University of Texas, at the homecoming game in the fall, Dr. Wisner was not as happy as one would think. Instead of ecstatic alumni, students, and faculty, all Wisner heard were complaints. "The lines at the concession stands were too long"; "Parking was harder to find and farther away than in the old days" (that is, before the team won regularly); "Seats weren't comfortable"; "Traffic was backed up halfway to Dallas"; and on and on. "A college president just can't win," muttered Wisner to himself.

At his staff meeting the following Monday, Wisner turned to his VP of administration, Leslie Gardner. "I wish you would take care of these football complaints, Leslie," he said. "See what the real problems are and let me know how you've resolved them." Gardner wasn't surprised at the request. "I've already got a handle on it, Joel," she replied. "We've been randomly surveying 50 fans per game for the past year to see what's on their minds. It's all part of my campuswide TQM effort. Let me tally things up and I'll get back to you in a week."

When she returned to her office, Gardner pulled out the file her assistant had compiled (see Table 6.6). "There's a lot of information here," she thought.

TABLE 6.6 Fan Satisfaction Survey Results (N = 250)

527_Table 6.6.png

Discussion Questions

1. Using at least two different quality tools, analyze the data and present your conclusions.

2. How could the survey have been more useful?

3. What is the next step?

Reference no: EM13857262

Questions Cloud

Estimate the demand function for widgets : Use multiple regression to estimate the demand function for widgets. Is this a good equation overall? (Why) Which variables are significant? (Why) Are widgets normal goods or inferior goods?
A taxpayer can automatically escape the penalty for underpay : A taxpayer can automatically escape the penalty for underpayment of taxes by
Statements about writing job specifications : Which of the following statements about writing job specifications is false
Estimate the steady state mass flux of flavor : The concentration of flavor within the sphere is 100% and mass diffusivity for the flavor compound within the liquid food is 7.8 X 10^-9 m2/s. Estimate the steady state mass flux of flavor into liquid food from surface of time-release sphere. The ..
Explain how higher quality can lead to lower costs : Why is it good or bad to operate an IT support services system (help desk) on a strictly, first come, first-served basis? Explain how higher quality can lead to lower costs
What would be the fraction converted in a half-hour run : A 10-minute experimental run shows that 75% of liquid reactant is converted to product by a half-order rate. What would be the fraction converted in a half-hour run.
Efficiency measures translate into cash flows : efficiency measures translate into cash flows
Explain type of data you plan touse for your dissertation : Explain the type of data you plan touse for your dissertation, and how you plan to collect that data. Describe a type of analysis you might use to analyze your data and explain the reason(s) for your selection.
Which activities are computed differently using : Which activities are computed differently using the two methods of formatting a statement of cash flows?

Reviews

Write a Review

 

Operation Management Questions & Answers

  Distinguish between a minimization and maximization lp model

Distinguish between a minimization and maximization LP model. How do you know which of these to use for any given problem?

  Your views on the duty of epidemiology comprise informative

your views on the role of epidemiology. include informative content about health care in general and public health in

  Fr each of the given scenarios estimate how much value an

for each of the following scenarios estimate how much value an acquisition will create how much of that value will be

  Compute the multifactor productivity measure

Compute the multifactor productivity measure (output in sales dollars) for each week using the data provided below for the production of chocolate bars. Assume 45-hour weeks and an hourly wage of $14. Overhead is 2.5 times the total weekly labor cost..

  How did joe shaughnessy seem to do in achieving

How did Joe Shaughnessy seem to do in achieving the four bottom lines

  Discuss the method used for inventory management

Discuss the method used for inventory management

  Discussion on transducer

What is a transducer? How can we classify transducers? On what principles do the variable inductance type of transducers work? What are uses of LVDT for measurement?

  The project is slightly under budget

You are the project manager of a major IT project in Italy. You review your earned value report and you see that your CPI is .78. What does this mean to you? The project is slightly under budget

  Knox corporation plans to sell 1000 units in 2011 at an

knox corp. plans to sell 1000 units in 2011 at an average sale price of 40 each. cost of goods sold will be 40 of the

  Prepare a crossover chart based on information given

Based first on your analysis of survey data and n on your analysis of crossover charts, give a justification for each location. Give a complete list of reasons for not selecting each of 3 sites. Prepare a crossover chart based on information given.

  North monroe street in quincy is fairly steady

During the day, the traffic on North Monroe Street in Quincy is fairly steady, but the traffic conditions can vary considerably from one hour to the next due to slow drivers and traffic accidents

  Briefly summarize the article

Select an article relating to workplace safety and answer the following questions: 1. Briefly summarize the article 2. What alternatives could the place of business have taken in order to avoid penalties.

Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd