Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management 13th edition by Jay Heizer Test ba

Answer: 
(a) Workers are active for eight hours per day; labor productivity is 10 valves/hour
(b) If productivity rises by 20 percent, to 12 valves/hour; output would be 12 × 8 × 20 = 1920
(c) New productivity is 1800 / (20 × 8) = 11.25 valves/hour
(d) Gibson did not gain the desired 20 percent increase in productivity, but they did gain 12.5%, without extra equipment or energy, and without increasing the labor cost.
Diff: 3
Objective:  LO 1.6 Compute single-factor productivity
AACSB:  Analytical thinking
Learning Outcome:  Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization
 

42) A local university is considering changes to its class structure in an effort to increase professor productivity. The old schedule had each professor teaching 5 classes per week, with each class meeting an hour per day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each class contained 20 students. The new schedule has each professor teaching only 3 classes, but each class meets daily (Mon.-Fri.) for an hour. New classes contain 50 students.
(a) Calculate the labor productivity for the initial situation (students/hour).
(b) Calculate the labor productivity for the schedule change (students/hour).
(c) Are there any ethical considerations that should be accounted for?
(d) Suppose that each teacher also is required to have 2 hours of Office Hours each day he/she taught class. Is the schedule change a productivity increase?
Answer: 
(a)  Professors teach 100 students in 15 hours or 6.67 students/hour.
(b) Professors teach 150 students in 15 hours or 10 students/hour.
(c)  Responses should focus on honoring stakeholder commitment and can include students per professor ratio, class sizes, quality of education, etc.
(d) Initial productivity is 100 students in 21 hours or 4.76 students/hour. New productivity is 150 students in 25 hours or 6 students/hour, an increase or 1.24 students/hour.
Diff: 3
Objective:  LO 1.6 Compute single-factor productivity
AACSB:  Analytical thinking
Learning Outcome:  Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization
 
43) A grocery chain is considering the installation of a set of 4 self-checkout lanes. The new self-checkout lane setup will replace 2 old cashier lanes that were staffed by a cashier and bagger on each lane. One cashier mans all 4 self-checkouts (answering questions, checking for un-scanned items, taking coupons, etc). Checkout on the new lanes takes 2 minutes (customers bag their own orders) while checkout with the old lanes took only 45 seconds. In addition, the electricity costs for both setups are $0.05 per checkout while bagging (material) costs are $0.10 per checkout with the old system and $0.15 for the new system. The new lanes also require $100/shift in capital costs. Assume that the lanes are always in use for 8 hours per day (1 shift) and that a worker makes $10/hour.
(a)  How many checkouts did the old system provide in a shift?
(b) How many checkouts does the new system provide?
(c)  What is the multifactor productivity for each system?
Answer:  (a)      (2 lanes)(8 hours)(3600 seconds/hour)(1 checkout/45 seconds) = 1280 checkouts
(b) (4 lanes)(8 hours)(60 minutes/hour)(1 checkout/2 min) = 960 checkouts
(c)  Cost for the old system = (4 workers)(8 hours)($10/hour) + ($0.10)(1280) + ($0.05)(1280) = $512. Cost for the new system = (1 worker)(8 hours)($10/hour) + ($0.15)(960) + ($0.05)(960) + $100 = $372. Multifactor productivity for old system = 1280 checkouts / $512 = 2.5 checkouts/$. Multifactor productivity for new system = 960 checkouts / $372 = 2.6 checkouts/$.
Diff: 3
Objective:  LO 1.7 Compute multifactor productivity
AACSB:  Analytical thinking
Learning Outcome:  Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization
 
44) A swimming pool company has 100,000 labor hours available per summer and with a labor productivity of 5 pools per 4,000 hours.
(a) How many pools can the company install this summer?
(b) Suppose the multifactor productivity was one pool per $25,000. How much should the company expect to spend this summer constructing the pools?
Answer: 
(a) 100,000 hours × 5 pools/4000 hours = 125 pools
(b) 125 pools × $25,000/pool = $3,125,000
Diff: 2
Objective:  LO 1.6 Compute single-factor productivity
AACSB:  Analytical thinking
Learning Outcome:  Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization
 
45) An industrial plant needs to make 100,000 parts per month to meet demand. Each month contains 20 working days, each of which allows for 3 separate 8 hour shifts.