College of Administrative and Financial Sciences

FINAL EXAMINATION Fall Semester

MGT 530: Operations Management

Time: 120 Min. Max

Marks: 20
Name:__________________________________________________
I.D.NO:___________________________CRN: ________________
Branch: __________________________ Date:
________________
EXAM GUIDELINES:

1. Write your name and ID in the respective boxes above.

2. The exam is closed book and closed notes.
3. Make sure you turn off your mobile phone (Not silent) and keep it in your pocket.
4. Calculators are permitted.
5. Answer using your pen not your pencil.
6. Answer all the Questions on the same question paper.
7. Make sure your answers are readable.
8. If there is no space on the front of the page, feel free to use the back of the page.
Make sure you indicate so.

SECTION I: _______ 10

SECTION II: _______ 10

______________________________

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TOTAL POINTS: _______ 20

SECTION I

Mark the right answer from following multiple choice questions: (200.75 = 15 Marks)

1. The two general approaches to forecasting are _____________________ and

_____________________.

a. Mathematical, statistical
b. Qualitative, quantitative
c. Judgmental, qualitative
d. Historical, associative
e. Precise, approximation

2. Having facilities, personnel, and operations located around the world is called
_____________________.

a. Nondomestic operations
b. Diversified operations
c. Globalization
d. Worldwide presence
e. Virtual organization

3. Product design and choice of location are examples of _____________________decisions.

a. Strategic
b. Tactical
c. Operational
d. Customer-focused
e. Design

4. Gantt charts are most closely associated with _____________________.

a. JIT
b. PERT
c. MRP
d. MRP
e. Six Sigma
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5. Scheduling personnel is an example of an operations management known
as_____________________.

a. Mission implementation
b. Operational decision
c. Organizational strategy
d. Functional strategy
e. Tactical decision

6. The advantage a precedence diagram has over a Gantt chart its _____________________.

a. Ability to reveal relationships among activities

b. Difficulty in depicting networks
c. Complexity
d. Simplicity
e. Lack of riskiness

7. Suppose a four-period weighted average is being used to forecast demand. Weights (wt) for
the periods are as follows: wt-4 = 0.1, wt-3 = 0.2, wt-2 = 0.3 and wt-1 = 0.4. Demand observed
in the previous four periods was as follows: At-4 = 380, At-3 = 410, At-2 = 390, At-1 = 400.
What will be the demand forecast for period t?

a. 402
b. 399
c. 393
d. 403
e. 397

8. When choosing a forecasting technique, a critical trade-off that must be considered is that
between _____________________and _____________________.

a. Time series, associative

b. Seasonality, cyclicality
c. Length, duration
e. Simplicity, complexity
e. cost and accuracy

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9. The more novel a new product or service design is, the more forecasters have to rely on
_____________________.

a. Subjective estimates
b. Seasonality
c. Cyclicality
d. Historical data
e. Smoothed variation

10. Which of the following features would not generally be considered common to all
forecasts?

a. Assumption of a stable underlying causal system

b. Actual results will differ somewhat from predicted values
c. Historical data is available on which to base the forecast
d. Forecasts for groups of items tend to be more accurate than forecasts for individual items
e. Accuracy decreases as the time horizon increases

11. Accuracy in forecasting can be measured by _____________________.

a. MSE
b. MRP
c. MPS
d. MTM
e. MTE

12. Given forecast errors of 4, 8, and -3, what is the mean absolute deviation?

a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 6
e. 12

13. The assessment of the environmental impact of a product or service throughout its useful
life is called _____________________.

a. Flow diagramming
b. Life cycle analysis
c. Service blueprinting
d. Quality function deployment
e. Process mapping

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14. For service firms such as banks and supermarkets, location decisions are critical elements
of _____________________ strategy.

a. Marketing
b. Pricing
c. Promotional
d. Efficiency
e. Effectiveness

15. Outsourcing some production is a means of _____________________ a capacity

constraint.

a. Identifying
b. Modifying
c. Supporting
d. Overcoming
e. Repeating

16. In regards to supply chain management and the location decision, a primary challenge is
to address _____________________ distribution.

a. Insourced versus outsourced

b. Strategic versus tactical
c. Local versus global
d. Centralized versus decentralized
e. Anticipatory versus reactive

17. Which of the following is the last step in the procedure for making location decisions?

a. Determine the evaluation criteria

b. Identify important factors
a. Develop location alternatives
d. Evaluate alternatives and make a selection
e. Request input regarding alternatives

18. The method for evaluating location alternatives that minimizes shipping costs between
multiple sending and receiving locations is called _____________________.

a. Locational cost-profit-volume analysis

b. Transportation model analysis
c. Factor rating analysis
d. Linear regression analysis
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e. MODI analysis

19. A popular tool for planning and scheduling simple projects, and for initial planning on
more complex projects, is the _____________________.

a. Activity-on-arrows network
b. Activity-on-nodes network
c. Gantt chart
d. Critical path method
e. Program evaluation and review technique

20. In a project network, the critical path is the sequence of activities which has the
_____________________.

a. Most activities
b. Most nodes
c. Most events
d. Longest duration
e. Greatest variance

SECTION-II
Attempt any three of the following question. (35 = 15 Marks)

1. What are the main advantages that quantitative techniques for forecasting have over qualitative
techniques? What limitations do quantitative techniques have?

ANSWER: The advantages for quantitative techniques when it comes to forecasting are the forecast is
more objective, based on historical data, which can provide for a more accurate prediction of the future.
Quantitative forecasting does not have the subjective element that qualitative forecasting can have
therefore it tends to be more predictable. The limitations of qualitative forecasting are really centered
around two important factors:
1. The possibility, if there is limited historical data to work with, forecasting that can be in
question in terms of its outcome or accuracy.
2. An absence of a subjective focus which might include, views, opinions, experiences,
and sometimes a gut feel for what a manager or company should do next. It isnt
always just in the numbers.

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2. Regarding supply chain management, management needs to understand the entire picture of the
information technology to determine how best to use it to suit the needs of the organization and
make the supply chain more efficient. Keeping in mind that managements understanding of the entire
picture and the users understanding can be two different things, explain some of the concerns with an
IT system to consider so that supply chain management is easier with information technology.

ANSWER: It is imperative that if information technology is integrated into supply chain management, the
people who will be responsible for using the system must be properly trained in how the system works.
Furthermore, they should have a good understanding of why the technology is being used and what the
savings are by using the system.
As with all information technology systems, such as internet, email, network access, etc., when the
system is in place people start to rely on that system for production. However, as nice as it would be to
have that system functional twenty-four hours per day, every single day of the year, the reality is that
sometimes technology fails. Servers need to be maintained and upgraded, which can require scheduled
outages. Power outages and cut fiber optic lines can cause unexpected interruptions in technology
services that the organization has learned to depend upon. It is imperative to have a back-up plan in
place for instances such as this where the production must continue but the use of the technology is
unavailable.

3. Describe the operations function and the nature of the operations managers job.

ANSWER: The operations function is a series of tasks and activities that brings together raw materials
with production processes to make products or provide services that customers need. It also involves
processes that share ideas across the company about how to improve what the company does, with a
focus on cost savings, and overall operational optimization.
The nature of an operations managers job can vary in degree, depending on the size of an organization,
but fundamentally, an operations manager is focused on getting the work done. This would include the
management of people, processes and materials, while applying managerial skills in the areas of
planning, forecasting, and capacity, inventory and quality management, the use of technology and
quality improvement techniques.

4. List some factors that can affect productivity and some ways that productivity can be improved.

ANSWER: Productivity can be affected in countless ways from poor planning, ineffective or unnecessary
processes, inaccurate forecasting, poor capacity management, a lack of inventory management and
controls, a failure to emphasis the need for quality and effective metrics and measurements. Productivity
can be improved in numerous ways from accurate planning, the use of effective forecasting tools and
techniques, apply effective capacity management concepts and principles, making people part of the
production and service processes, so there can be opportunities for improvement, emphasizing quality
and promoting open communications so problems are recognized and solutions.

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 GOOD LUCK

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