Q&A Hero

Q: Table 7.5 Activity Predecessor Time (days) A -- 8 B -- 6 C -- 3 D A,B 10 E C 8 F A 5 G D,E 3 H G 4 Disaster strikes and activity F takes 20 days instead of the anticipated 5 days. Using Table 7.5, how much longer will the project last than initially estimated? A) 15 days B) 0 days C) 7 days D) 3 days

Q: Table 7.5 Activity Predecessor Time (days) A -- 8 B -- 6 C -- 3 D A,B 10 E C 8 F A 5 G D,E 3 H G 4 Using Table 7.5, what is the earliest that activity D can be finished? A) 18 days B) 8 days C) 13 days D) 25 days

Q: Table 7.5 Activity Predecessor Time (days) A -- 8 B -- 6 C -- 3 D A,B 10 E C 8 F A 5 G D,E 3 H G 4 Using Table 7.5, what is the latest start time for activity E? A) day 8 B) day 10 C) day 12 D) day 14

Q: Table 7.5 Activity Predecessor Time (days) A -- 8 B -- 6 C -- 3 D A,B 10 E C 8 F A 5 G D,E 3 H G 4 Using Table 7.5, what is the earliest completion time of this project? A) 23 days B) 25 days C) 27 days D) 29 days

Q: Table 7.4 Activity Predecessor Time(weeks) A -- 8 B A 6 C -- 4 D C 9 E A 11 F B 3 G D, E, F 1 Using Table 7.4, what is the slack associated with activity B? A) 1 week B) 2 weeks C) 3 weeks D) None of these is the correct activity slack for B.

Q: Table 7.4 Activity Predecessor Time(weeks) A -- 8 B A 6 C -- 4 D C 9 E A 11 F B 3 G D, E, F 1 Using Table 7.4, what is the latest finish time for activity C? A) week 4 B) week 6 C) week 8 D) week 10

Q: Table 7.4 Activity Predecessor Time(weeks) A -- 8 B A 6 C -- 4 D C 9 E A 11 F B 3 G D, E, F 1 Using Table 7.4, what is the early start time for activity D? A) week 9 B) week 4 C) week 7 D) week 0

Q: Table 7.4 Activity Predecessor Time(weeks) A -- 8 B A 6 C -- 4 D C 9 E A 11 F B 3 G D, E, F 1 Using Table 7.4, what is the minimum number of activities that would have to be crashed to cause a decrease in the project's earliest completion date? A) one activity B) two activities C) three activities D) four or more activities

Q: Table 7.4 Activity Predecessor Time(weeks) A -- 8 B A 6 C -- 4 D C 9 E A 11 F B 3 G D, E, F 1 Using Table 7.4, what is the largest amount of slack that any activity in the project has? A) zero weeks B) two weeks C) four weeks D) six weeks

Q: Table 7.4 Activity Predecessor Time(weeks) A -- 8 B A 6 C -- 4 D C 9 E A 11 F B 3 G D, E, F 1 Using Table 7.4, what is the earliest completion time for this project? A) 18 weeks B) 19 weeks C) 20 weeks D) 21 weeks

Q: A project manager should stop crashing a project if the time budget has been met or if the crash costs have exceeded the savings in indirect and penalty costs.

Q: The normal cost is the amount of money it normally takes to complete an activity faster than its normal time.

Q: Phoebe B. Beebee is constructing a canal for the annual canoe races and has identified eleven activities that are required to complete this important project. She calculated early and late start times and early and late finish times but spilled coffee all over her printout. Use the remaining information to reconstruct the table for Phoebe B. Beebee and her new canoe canal. Activity Predecessor Length Early Start Late Start Early Finish Late Finish A -- 12 B A 20 C A D B, E 42 E C 28 42 F E 42 50 G D 53 53 H G 70 I G 72 J F 4 K H, I, J 81 91

Q: Why do managers want to know the slack of activities?

Q: Explain the importance of the critical path in project management.

Q: ________ is the maximum length of time that an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project.

Q: The ________ is the sequence of activities between a project's start and finish that takes the longest time to complete.

Q: Which one of the following conditions violates the assumptions of PERT/CPM networks? A) Some activities can have zero variance. B) Costs increase linearly as activity time is reduced below its normal time. C) Two activities tied together by an arc are overlapping and can be worked on simultaneously. D) There can be more than one critical path in a network.

Q: Figure 7.2 Which one of the following statements regarding Figure 7.2 is true? A) Activity S cannot finish until activity T finishes. B) Activity T cannot begin until activity U is completed. C) Activity U cannot begin until activities S and T have been completed. D) Activity V cannot begin until activity S has been completed.

Q: Figure to accompany Table 7.1 Table 7.1 Activity Activity Time Earliest Start Earliest Finish Latest Start Latest Finish Slack A 2 0 0 2 0 B 1 2 3 3 4 1 C 3 2 5 2 5 0 D 7 3 10 4 11 E 3 5 8 11 3 F 5 11 5 11 0 G 4 11 15 11 15 0 Using the information shown in Table 7.1, what is the project duration? A) 15 B) 14 C) 12 D) 10

Q: For the network shown in Fig. 7.1, what is the project duration? A) 6 B) 15 C) 13 D) 14

Q: Figure 7.1 For the network shown in Fig. 7.1, which of the following is the critical path? A) ABCDEF B) ABEF C) ACDF D) ACEF

Q: Which one of the following best describes the critical path of a PERT/CPM network? A) the sequence of activities between a project's start and finish that takes the longest time to complete B) the sequence of activities between a project's start and finish that has the maximum amount of activity slack C) the set of activities that has no precedence relationships D) the sequence of activities that has the lowest normal activity cost

Q: Activity slack is defined as: A) latest start time minus earliest start time. B) earliest start time minus latest start time. C) earliest finish time minus latest finish time. D) latest finish time minus earliest start time.

Q: Assume that activity G has the following times: Early start time = 7 days Early finish time = 13 days Late start time = 15 days Late finish time = 21 days Which of the following statements is true about activity G? A) Activity G takes 14 days to complete. B) Activity G has a slack time of 8 days. C) Activity G is on the critical path. D) Activity G takes 2 days to complete.

Q: The earliest start time for an activity is equal to the: A) smallest earliest finish time of all of its immediate predecessors. B) largest earliest finish time of all of its immediate predecessors. C) smallest late start time of any of its immediate predecessors. D) largest late finish time of all of its immediate predecessors.

Q: A project has three paths. A-B-C has a length of 25 days. A-D-C has a length of 15 days. Finally, A-E-C has a length of 20 days. Which one of the following statements is true? A) A-D-C is the critical path. B) A-B-C has the most slack. C) The expected duration of this project is 25 days. D) The expected duration of this project is 25 + 15 + 20 = 60 days.

Q: A Gantt chart is a project schedule that superimposes project activities on a time line.

Q: To obtain the latest start and latest finish time in a network diagram, we must work forward through the network.

Q: The earliest start time is never the same as the latest start time.

Q: A critical path is any sequence of activities between a project's start and finish.

Q: Following the project defining and organizing phase, project planning involves five steps. List and briefly describe these five planning steps as applied to writing a term paper for an Operations Management class.

Q: ________ determines the sequence for undertaking activities.

Q: The ________ is a statement of all work that has to be completed.

Q: Activity times for a project are estimated by all except which of the following methods? A) the use of dowsing rods B) managerial opinions based on similar prior experiences C) statistical methods based on actual past experience D) estimates using learning curve models to improve replications and estimate accuracy

Q: In a network diagram, an activity: A) is the largest unit of work effort consuming both time and resources that a project manager can schedule and control. B) is the smallest unit of work effort consuming both time and resources that a project manager can schedule and control. C) should always be something the company has had experience with. D) must always have a single, precise estimate for the time duration.

Q: A relationship that determines the sequence for undertaking activities is a precedence relationship.

Q: The network diagram is a planning method that is designed to depict the relationships between activities.

Q: The work breakdown structure is a statement of all work that has to be completed.

Q: What characteristics should be considered when selecting project team members? Briefly describe these characteristics for members of a project team assigned to improve a teller's job in a bank.

Q: What are the primary responsibilities of a Project Manager? Briefly describe these responsibilities for a project manager whose team is purchasing a new machine and installing it in a manufacturing process.

Q: Heidi was part of a project team that retained their roles within the organization and was on loan to the project due to her technical expertise. In effect, she reported to two bosses, one in her functional area and also to the project manager. Heidi is operating within a(n) ________ organizational structure.

Q: A(n) ________ is an interrelated set of activities that has a definite starting and ending point and that results in a unique outcome for a specific allocation of resources.

Q: A project organization structure where team members are assigned to the project and work exclusively for the project manager is called: A) a matrix structure. B) a fixed structure. C) a pure project structure. D) a functional structure.

Q: The project's objective statement should contain: A) slack time and activities. B) scope, time frame, and allocated resources. C) strengths and weaknesses of subcontractors. D) activities, completion times, and incentives.

Q: Scope creep is one of the primary causes of project failure.

Q: A pure project organizational structure houses the project in a specific functional area.

Q: Project managers should be able to organize a set of disparate activities.

Q: Projects, and the application of project management, facilitate the implementation of operations strategy.

Q: Projects often cut across organizational lines.

Q: A project is an interrelated set of activities that has a definite starting and ending point.

Q: 7.1 Defining and Organizing Projects

Q: A ________ is a workstation in which a worker operates several different machines simultaneously to achieve a line flow.

Q: Combining parts or products with similar characteristics into families and setting machines aside for their production is known as: A) the one-worker, multiple machines (OWMM) method of production. B) the standardized component method of manufacturing. C) group technology. D) the flexible workforce approach to manufacturing.

Q: Group technology collects similar parts into families and organizes machine tools into separate cells.

Q: An OWMM arrangement reduces labor requirements but increases inventory.

Q: Options for achieving line-flow layouts in a lean system include assigning one worker to operate several different machines in a line and creating cells to produce similar product groups called families.

Q: One benefit of a lean system is that it reduces space requirements.

Q: A plant's manufacturing process has a takt time of 72 seconds per unit. This results in a process output of how many units per hour?

Q: An item sells at a rate of 600 units per day. If a plant works two shifts per day (480 minutes each shift), what takt time is required for the plant to meet this demand?

Q: What is the output for a process that has a takt time of 1.25 minutes per unit?

Q: An item is used in Process B at a rate of 150 units per day. Process A works one shift per day (480 minutes) and supplies Process B's requirements. What takt time is required in Process A to meet Process B's demand?

Q: A plant's manufacturing process has a takt time of 90 seconds per unit. This results in a process output of how many units per hour?

Q: An item sells at a rate of 240 units per day. If a plant works one shift per day (480 minutes), what takt time is required for the plant to meet this demand?

Q: Briefly discuss the House of Toyota, including its origin and key points.

Q: What are the four underlying principles of the Toyota Production System?

Q: List and briefly define the 5S Practices that serve as an enabler and essential foundation of lean systems.

Q: With respect to lean systems, what is the advantage of standardized components?

Q: Explain the meaning of the term takt time, and use a numerical example to illustrate.

Q: What are some of the approaches used to achieve the high quality levels associated with lean systems?

Q: What is the difference between the "push" and "pull" methods of material flow? Which method does lean systems use?

Q: What are the supply chain implications of the lean system emphasis on small lot sizes?

Q: What are the supply chain implications of the lean system emphasis on close supplier ties?

Q: In the Toyota Production System, all work must be completely specified as to ________, ________, ________ and ________.

Q: The pathway for every service and product in the Toyota Production System must be ________ and ________.

Q: All improvements to the Toyota Production System must be made using the ________ method.

Q: ________ practices include early testing of machine parts that may need to be replaced and making workers responsible for routine minor maintenance of their own equipment.

Q: The list of five S practices includes ________, ________, ________, ________ and ________.

Q: ________ is a methodology consisting of five workplace practices that are conducive to visual controls and lean production.

Q: A ________ assembly line produces a mix of models in smaller lots.