MNO 3701 Exam_Questions_and_Answers

(Terryao1) Benchmarking is the process of learning from others. The activity of comparing methods and/or performance with other processes in order to learn from them and/or assess performance. • Where a company’s operations practices (ways of doing things) are benchmarked against those adopted by another operation – Practice benchmarking • Benchmarking between different levels of achieved performance in different operations – Performance benchmarking • Benchmarking between an operations and other operations in a different organization – External benchmarking • Benchmarking between operations or a part of operations in the same organization – Internal benchmarking (TB 549) (Nishab) Benchmarking is 'the process of learning from others' and involves comparing one's own performance or methods against other comparable operations. It is a broader issue than setting performance targets and includes investigating other organisations’ operations practice in order to derive ideas that could contribute to performance improvement. Its rationale is based on the idea that (a) problems in managing processes are almost certainly shared by processes elsewhere, and (b) there is probably another operation somewhere that has developed a better way of doing things. Benchmarking is essentially about stimulating creativity in improvement practice.  Internal benchmarking is a comparison between operations or parts of operations which are within the same total organisation.  External benchmarking is a comparison between an operation and other operations which are part of a different organisation.  Non-competitive benchmarking is benchmarking against external organisations which do not compete directly in the same markets.  Competitive benchmarking is a comparison directly between competitors in the same, or similar, markets.  Performance benchmarking is a comparison between the levels of achieved performance in different operations.  Practice benchmarking is a comparison between an organisation's operations practices, or way of doing things, and those adopted by another operation. Benchmarking is the process of learning from others and involves comparing one’s own performance or methods against other comparable organisations. It’s a broader issue than setting performance targets and includes investigating other organisations’ operations practise to derive ideas that could contribute to performance improvement. Its rationale is based on the idea that (a) problems in managing processes are almost certainly shared by processes elsewhere and (b) there is probably another operation somewhere that has developed a better way of doing things.  Practise benchmarking is a comparison between an organisation’s operations practises and those adopted by another organisation.  Performance benchmarking is a comparison between the levels of achieved performance in different operations.  External benchmarking is a comparison between an operation and other operations in a different organisation  Internal benchmarking is a comparison between operations or parts of operations which are within the same organisation. Loading is the amount of work that is allocated to a work centre. It is important to note that even if a machine has e.g. 168 hours of work that can be loaded onto the machine it doesn’t necessarily mean it can be loaded. For some periods the machine cannot be worked, e.g. holidays and weekends and this must be taken into consideration. Sequencing is the activity within planning and control that decides on the order which work is to be performed. The priorities given to work in an operation are often determined by some predefined set of rules; certain constraints must be taken into consideration, e.g. Physical – lighter dye to be loaded prior to darker dye. Customer priority – an aggrieved client might need to be processed prior to others. DD,LIFO,FIFOLOTSOT Scheduling is a term used in planning and control to indicate the detailed timetable of what work should be done, when it should be done and where it should be done. Monitoring and control which involve detecting what is happening in the operation, replanning if necessary and intervening in order to impose new plans. Two important types are ‘pull’ and ‘push’ control. Pull control is a system whereby demand is triggered by requests from a work centres (internal) customer. Push control is a centralised system whereby control (and sometimes planning) decisions are issued to work centres which are then required to perform the task and supply the next workstation. In manufacturing, ‘pull’ schedules generally have far lower inventory levels than ‘push’ schedules. (TB 296) o Planning and control require the reconciliation of supply and demand in terms of  (a) loading, which means determining the amount of work allocated to the work centre.  (b) sequencing, which means determining the order in which work will be performed.  (c) scheduling, which means deciding on detailed timetables of start and finish dates o loading  In working out the loading the difference between maximum available time and valuable operating time (eg of a machine) takes into consideration certain unavoidable losses in time (public holidays, weekends, equipment idling, set-up and changeover - planned times of unproductivity, etc) and avoidable losses in time (quality losses, slow running equipment, breakdown, failure - unplanned times of unproductivity, etc) in well-run operations.  finite loading is ``an approach which only allocates work to a work centre up to a set limit'', which is the estimate of the capacity of the work centre. Infinite loading is ``an approach to loading work which does not limit accepting work, but tries to cope with it'' o sequencing  when priorities are given to work in an operation, some predefined set of rules may apply, or physical constraints (physical nature of materials being processed) may determine the priority. This predefined set of sequencing rules includes:  Customer/client priority sequencing is when important or aggrieved customers/clients are processed prior to others, irrespective of the order of arrival  DD sequencing is when work is sequenced according to the due date for delivery, irrespective of the size of each job or importance of the customer/client.  LIFO sequencing is when work is selected for practical reasons ,meaning those last in move out first.  With FIFO sequencing customers/clients are served as they arrive - this is also known as first-come-first-served.  LOT sequencing is when jobs that take the longest are done first  SOT is usually when cash constrained operations do the shortest jobs first to invoice, receive payment quicker and improve cash £low  the five performance objectives may also be used to judge the effectiveness of the sequencing rules. These performance objectives include dependability (meeting dues dates promised), speed (minimizing the time a job spends in process) and cost minimizing work-inprocess inventory and minimizing idle time at work centres). o scheduling  scheduling activity is considered to be one of the most complex tasks in production/operations management, because it deals with several different types of resources simultaneously (eg machines with different capabilities and capacities) and the number of possible schedules increase rapidly as the number of activities and processes increase.  forward scheduling involves starting work as soon as it arrives, while backward scheduling involves starting the jobs at the last possible moment. In theory both MRP (material requirements planning) and JIT (just-in-time) use backward scheduling, which means that the work is only started when it is required. o after a plan has been created for the operation through loading, sequencing and scheduling, each part of the operation has to be monitored to ensure that the planned activities do take place. Any deviation from the plans must be rectified through some kind of intervention and may involve replanning. o An important distinction is made between intervention signals that push work through the process within the operation (work is pushed out without considering whether the succeeding work centre can use it and idle time occurs - inventory build-up and queues may result) and intervention signals that pull work only when it is required (the customer works as trigger to pull the work from the preceding work station). SU 6, Chapter 10 on page 280 - 293 Planning and control requires the reconciliation of supply and demand in terms of volumes, timing and quality. There are four overlapping activities namely loading, sequencing, scheduling and monitoring and control. Different organisations may use these in different ways. 1. Loading: [page 280] Loading can be defined as the amount of work that’s allocated to a work centre. E.g. A machine in a manufacturing business is in theory available for 168 hours a week but this does not necessarily mean that 168 hours of work can be loaded onto the machine - for some periods it can’t be worked due to holidays/ time can be lost through breakdown/ remain idling for another reason. Thus the valuable operating time available for productive working can significantly below the maximum time available even in the best operations. Finite loading is an approach to planning and control that only allocated work to a work centre up to a set limit (usually its useful capacity). Work over and above this capacity is not accepted. It’s particularly relevant for operations where: - It is possible to limit the load e.g run an appointment system for a hairdresser - It is necessary to limit the load e.g. for safety reasons a finite number of people and luggage allowed on aircraft - The cost of limiting the load is not prohibitive e.g. cost of maintaining a finite order book at a specialist car manufacturer does not adversely affect demand Infinite loading is an approach to planning and control that allocated work to work centres irrespective of any capacity or other limits. It’s relevant for operations where: