What is lot sizing, what is its goal, and why is it an issue with lumpy demand?

A newly formed firm must decide on a plant location. There are two alternatives under consideration: locate near the major raw materials or locate near the major customers. Locating near the raw materials will result in lower fixed and variable costs than locating near the market, but the owners believe there would be a loss in sales volume because customers tend to favor local suppliers. Revenue per unit will be $185 in either case. Using the following information, determine which location would produce the greater profit.

Many of a bank’s customers use its automatic teller machine to transact business after normal banking hours. During the early evening hours in the summer months, customers arrive at a certain location at the rate of one every other minute. This can be modeled using a Poisson distribution. Each customer spends an average of 90 seconds completing his or her transactions. Transaction time is exponentially distributed. Determine: a. The average time customers spend at the machine, including waiting in line and completing transactions. b. The probability that a customer will not have to wait upon arriving at the automatic teller machine. c. The average number waiting to use the machine.

How do ocean currents affect air temperature in coastal areas?

Summarize effective communication strategies in organizational hierarchies, and review the role and relevance of the organizational grapevine.

Two operators handle adjustments for a group of 10 machines. Adjustment time is exponentially distributed and has a mean of 14 minutes per machine. The machines operate for an average of 86 minutes between adjustments. While running, each machine can turn out 50 pieces per hour. Find: a. The probability that a machine will have to wait for an adjustment. b. The average number of machines waiting for adjustment. c. The average number of machines being serviced. d. The expected hourly output of each machine, taking adjustments into account. e. Machine downtime represents a cost of $70 per hour; operator cost (including salary and fringe benefits) is$15 per hour. What is the optimum number of operators?

Go to www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/sat.html, Big Dog’s Instructional System Design (ISD) page. This website is an excellent resource that describes all aspects of the ISD model. Click on “Learning” and scroll to the concept map or list of terms under the map. Click on “Learning Styles” and take the Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic (VAK survey. What are the implications of your learning style for how you learn best? What type of learning environment is best suited for your style? Be as specific as possible.

How many work cycles should be timed to estimate the average cycle time to within 2 percent of the sample mean with a confidence of 99 percent if a pilot study yielded these times (minutes): 5.2, 5.5, 5.8, 5.3, 5.5, and 5.1? The standard deviation is .253 minutes per cycle.

Outline the team effectiveness model and discuss how task characteristics, team size, and team composition influence team effectiveness.

Name some reasons why methods analyses are needed. How is methods analysis linked to productivity improvements?

A manager must determine requirements for waiting space for customers. A priority system is used to process customers, who are assigned to one of two classes when they enter the processing center. The highest-priority class has an arrival rate of four per hour; the other class has an arrival rate of two per hour. Both can be described as Poisson-distributed. There are two servers, and each can process customers in an average of 15 minutes. a. What is the system utilization? b. Determine the number of customers of each class that are waiting for service. c. Determine the average waiting time for each class. d. If the manager could alter the assignment rules so that arrival rates of the two classes were both 3/hour, what would be the revised average waiting time for each priority class?

Why do workers sometimes resent time studies?

A worker-machine operation was found to involve 3.3 minutes of machine time per cycle in the course of 40 cycles of stopwatch study. The worker’s time averaged 1.9 minutes per cycle, and the worker was given a rating of 120 percent (machine rating is 100 percent). Midway through the study, the worker took a 10-minute rest break. Assuming an allowance factor of 12 percent of work time, determine the standard time for this job.

Break into groups of four to five students. Assign half of the groups the role of Owner and the other half the role of Contractor. Owners: After saving for many years you are about to hire a contractor to build your “dream home.” What are your objectives for this project? What concerns or issues do you have about working with a general contractor to build your home? Contractors: You specialize in building customized homes. You are about to meet with prospective owners to begin to negotiate a contract for building their “dream home.” What are your objectives for this project? What concerns or issues do you have about working with the owners to build their home? Each Owner group meets with another Contractor group and shares their objectives, concerns, and issues. Identify what objectives, issues, and concerns you have in common and which ones are unique. Discuss how you could work together to realize your objectives. What would be the keys to working as partners on this project?