Chapter 3: Product and Process Design

Multiple Choice

1. The ease with which the product can be made is its

a) manufacturability
b) repeatability
c) readiness for manufacturing
d) reliability
e) accountability

Ans: a
Section Ref: Product Design
Level: moderate

2. Service design differs from product design by including __________________________.

a) customer needs
b) marketing personnel in the decision making process
c) speed
d) quality
e) the esthetic and psychological benefits of the product

Ans: e
Section Ref: Product Design
Level: moderate

3. A company’s product design supports it business strategies by

a) designing products that appeal to its customers
b) designing as many products as possible
c) including the company’s mission somewhere in the product
d) designing products that aid strategic planning activities
e) designing the company’s strategy

Ans: a
Section Ref: Product Design
Level: hard

4. Which of the following is not a step in product design?

a) final design
b) preliminary design and testing
c) idea development
d) conceptual design
e) product screening

Ans: d
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

5. ___________ is a vital link between customers and product design.

a) Engineering
b) Accounting
c) The Internet
d) Operations
e) Marketing

Ans: e
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

6. All product designs begin with ____________________________.

a) a blueprint
b) a cost analysis
c) an idea
d) a feasibility study
e) a focus group

Ans: c
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

7. Which of the following is true regarding the relative predictability of the cycle of new product
introductions?
a) new car models are predictable, but new fashion and new skin care products are not
b) new car models and new fashion are predictable, but new skin care products are not
c) new car models, new fashion, and new skin care products are all predictable
d) new car models, new fashion, and new skin care products are all unpredictable
e) new fashion and new skin care products are predictable, but new car models are not

Ans: b
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: hard

8. Lands’ End is a well known benchmarking target because of its

_________________________.
a) catalog business
b) supply chain management
c) success at resolving complaints
d) labor relations
e) environmental policies

Ans: a
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: hard

9. In 1997, who performed a large benchmarking study for IBM?

a) Boston Consulting Group
b) Anderson Consulting
c) i2 Technologies
d) Mercer Management Consultants
e) Manugistics

Ans: d
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: hard

10. When designing the Taurus model, what did Ford Motor Company do with regard to BMW
and Toyota?
a) benchmarking
b) hired some of their employees
c) reverse engineering
d) copied their quality management techniques
e) bought some of their dealerships

Ans: c
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: hard

11. Reverse engineering is:

a) altering the basic design based on user input.
b) reengineering a failing product.
c) acquiring a competitor’s product and relabeling it for sale.
d) acquire a competitor’s product and studying its design features.
e) changing your mind on the previous design.

Ans: d
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate
12. Studying the practices of companies considered ―best in class‖ and comparing the
performance of our company against their performance is
a) competition
b) copying
c) frustration
d) benchmarking
e) notching

Ans: d
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

13. Involving suppliers early in the design process is called:

a) reengineering
b) disaggregation
c) redesign
d) benchmarking
e) supplier involvement

Ans: e
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

14. Evaluating a product idea to determine its likelihood of success is

a) product screening
b) estimating
c) technological forecasting
d) product windowing
e) product evolution

Ans: a
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

15. In product screening, issues such as ―Will we need new facilities and equipment?‖ and ―Can
material for production be readily obtained?‖ are addressed by
a) marketing
b) finance
c) engineering
d) operations
e) accounting

Ans: d
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

16. In product screening, issues such as, ―What is the market size?‖ and ―What is the long term-
product potential?‖ are addressed by:
a) marketing
b) finance
c) engineering
d) operations
e) accounting

Ans: a
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

17. Approximately what percentage of ideas do not make it past the screening stage?
a) 30%
b) 50%
c) 60%
d) 80%
e) 90%

Ans: d
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: hard

18. What technique is based on computing the quantity of goods a company needs to sell to just
cover its costs?
a) net present value
b) break-even analysis
c) internal rate of return
d) activity based costing
e) variable costing

Ans: b
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: easy

19. Costs that are proportional to the amount of units produced, such as materials and labor, are
a) fixed costs
b) marginal revenue
c) sunk costs
d) cost drivers
e) variable costs
Ans: e
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: easy

20. Which of the following is not a fixed cost?

a) land rent
b) materials
c) overhead
d) taxes
e) insurance

Ans: b
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

21. In break-even analysis, what is the break-even point?

a) the quantity where revenue equals total cost
b) the quantity where revenue equals fixed cost
c) the quantity where revenue equals variable cost
d) the quantity beyond which the firm starts to lose money
e) the quantity where variable cost equals fixed cost

Ans: a
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

22. In break-even analysis, in order to make a profit the company must

a) sell above the break-even point
b) sell below the break-even point
c) sell at a loss
d) sell at the break-even point
e) sell on consignment

Ans: a
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: easy

23. For which of the following is break-even analysis not appropriate?

a) deciding how much of a product must be sold to make a profit
b) evaluating different processes
c) deciding whether it is better to make or buy a product
d) deciding between different products
e) deciding how to allocate overhead

Ans: e
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

24. Which of the following is not included in the preliminary design and testing stage?
a) the product design idea is evaluated according to the needs of the major business functions
b) design engineers translate general performance specifications into technical specifications
c) ―bugs‖ are worked out
d) revising the design based on test results
e) prototypes are built and tested

Ans: a
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

25. During the final design and testing stage:

a) the product design idea is evaluated according to the needs of the major business functions.
b) design engineers hand the product over to the final design engineers.
c) the product specifications are drawn up.
d) marketing becomes involved for the first time.
e) the product achieves full production.

Ans: c
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

26. Which one of these refers to reducing the number of parts and features of the product
whenever possible?
a) design automation
b) design specification
c) design reduction
d) design standardization
e) design simplification

Ans: e
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Level: moderate

27. What refers to the use of common and interchangeable parts?

a) design automation
b) design specification
c) design reduction
d) design standardization
e) design simplification

Ans: d
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Level: moderate

28. Which of the following is not a guideline for design for manufacture?
a) use modular design
b) design parts for different products
c) minimize parts
d) rely on automated equipment
e) simplify operations

Ans: d
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Level: hard

29. Maturity and decline are also referred to as:

a) the early stages
b) the life cycle
c) the later stages
d) design for manufacture stages
e) re-engineering stages

Ans: c
Section The Product Design Process
Level: Moderate

30. Which type of operation is used to produce many different products with varying process
requirements in lower volumes?
a) intermittent
b) repetitive
c) continuous
d) downstream
e) gateway

Ans: a
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: moderate

31. Which of the following is not characteristic of intermittent operations?

a) produce many different products with varying processing requirements
b) capital intensive
c) workers need to be able to perform different tasks depending on the processing needs of the
product
d) general purpose equipment
e) volume of goods produced directly tied to number of customer orders

Ans: b
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: moderate

32. Building a bridge over the Mississippi River for a new highway uses a
a) project process
b) batch process
c) line process
d) continuous process
e) recycle process

Ans: a
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: moderate

33. The classes that you are taking at the university use a _______________ process.
a) project
b) batch
c) line
d) continuous
e) recycle

Ans: b
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: moderate

34. What type of process is designed to produce a large volume of a standardized product for
mass production, such as automobiles?
a) project processes
b) batch processes
c) line processes
d) continuous processes
e) recycle processes

Ans: c
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: moderate
35. Which type of process would be least likely to produce goods for inventory rather than for a
specific customer request?
a) project
b) batch
c) line
d) continuous
e) remanufacturing

Ans: a
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: moderate

36. Which of the following is a tool for evaluating an operation in terms of the sequence of steps
from inputs to outputs with the goal of improving its design.
a) operations analysis
b) operations sequencing
c) process flow analysis
d) input/output analysis
e) sequencing analysis

Ans: c
Section Ref: Designing Processes
Level: moderate

37. If the third stage of a repetitive line process cannot complete its activities as fast as stage one
or two it has become a:
a) key work location
b) bottle neck
c) place not to work
d) project process location
e) none of these

Ans: b
Section Ref: Designing Processes
Level: Moderate

38. Which of the following is correct sequence for relating product design, process selection, and
arrangement of equipment in the factory?
a) product design determines arrangement of equipment which determines process selection
b) product design determines process selection which determines arrangement of equipment
c) process selection determines product design which determines arrangement of equipment
d) process selection determines arrangement of equipment which determines product design
e) arrangement of equipment determines process selection which determines product design
Ans: b
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: moderate

39. What type of operations focus on products in the early stage of the life cycle?
a) repetitive
b) downstream
c) gateway
d) intermittent
e) recycle

Ans: d
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: moderate

40. With respect to competitive priorities, intermittent operations compete more on

_______________ compared to repetitive operations.
a) cost and features
b) durability and cost
c) availability and reliability
d) flexibility and delivery
e) durability and features

Ans: d
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: moderate

41. Intermittent operations group their resources based on

a) requirements of the product
b) similar operations or functions
c) shape of the shop floor
d) abilities of the labor force
e) the number of machines

Ans: b
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: moderate

42. Compared to intermittent operations, repetitive operations

a) have higher material handling costs
b) have greater efficiency
c) have slower processing rates
d) have more flexibility
e) are less specialized

Ans: b
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: moderate

43. Which product and service strategy is used to produce standard components that can be
combined to customer specifications?
a) assemble-to-deliver
b) make-to-stock
c) assemble-to-order
d) make-to-order
e) make-to-package

Ans: c
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: easy

44. Which product and service strategy has the longest delivery lead time?
a) assemble-to-deliver
b) make-to-stock
c) assemble-to-order
d) make-to-order
e) make-to-package

Ans: d
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: moderate

45. Pre-fabricated furniture with choices of fabric colors is an example of which product and
service strategy?
a) assemble-to-deliver
b) make-to-stock
c) assemble-to-order
d) make-to-order
e) make-to-package

Ans: c
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: moderate

46. Which product and service strategy is typically seen in repetitive operations?
a) assemble-to-deliver
b) make-to-stock
c) assemble-to-order
d) make-to-order
e) make-to-package

Ans: b
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: moderate

47. If a firm’s facility layout is not correct it will create:

a) project processes
b) optimum outputs
c) equal number of products
d) inefficiency
e) job satisfaction

Ans: d
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: Moderate

48. Information Technology does NOT assist the firm in:

a) information storage
b) information processing
c) information creation
d) intra firm information communication
e) inter firm information communication

Ans: c
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: Easy

49. Vertical integration is a good strategic option for a manufacturing company when
a) it needs several different parts and subassemblies
b) it makes many different products
c) its facilities are obsolete
d) it uses distributed processing
e) it needs one input material in large volumes

Ans: e
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: moderate
50. Which of the following is a disadvantage of automation?
a) inflexibility for product and process changes
b) inconsistency of products
c) inefficiency for producing large volumes
d) harder to monitor quality
e) frequent interruptions of production

Ans: a
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: hard

51. What is a small battery-driven truck that is not operated by a human and moves material from
location to location?
a) CAD
b) AGV
c) AS/RS
d) FMS
e) CAM

Ans: b
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: moderate

52. A technology which uses sensor tags to monitor perishable products is:
a) FMS
b) CAD
c) RFID
d) CAM
e) RF

Ans: c
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: Hard

53. What is an automated material handling system that basically is an automated warehouse?
a) CAD
b) AGV
c) AS/RS
d) FMS
e) CAM

Ans: c
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: moderate
54. What is CAD short for?
a) conceptually appropriate design
b) computer aided design
c) commercial applications design
d) competitive advantage design
e) completely automated design

Ans: b
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: moderate

55. What is a type of automation system that provides the flexibility of intermittent operations
with the efficiency of repetitive operations?
a) CAD
b) AGV
c) AS/RS
d) FMS
e) CAM

Ans: d
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: moderate

56. In manufacturing, a robot typically:

a) resembles a human in appearance
b) has a mechanical arm
c) is mobile
d) has legs
e) is very small

Ans: b
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: moderate

57. What type of machine is controlled by a computer and can do a variety of tasks, such as
drilling, boring, or turning parts of different sizes and shapes?
a) numerically controlled
b) variable turning
c) flexible driven
d) noncalculating
e) next component

Ans: a
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: moderate

58. What term is used to describe the integration of product design, process planning, and
manufacturing using an integrated computer system?
a) CAD/CAM
b) AGV
c) AS/RS
d) FMS
e) CIM

Ans: e
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: hard

59. Since services are intangible, the design of the service needs _________________________.
a) to be intangible
b) to be very specific
c) to be in the mind of the customer
d) to be explained to the customer prior to delivery of the service
e) to specify exactly what the customer is supposed to experience.

Ans: e
Section Ref: Designing Services
Level: hard

60. Services with low customer contact are called ___________________________.

a) quasi-manufacturing
b) quasi-services
c) mixed services
d) pure services
e) mixed manufacturing

Ans: a
Section Ref: Designing Services
Level: moderate

61. Highly labor intensive services are called ___________________________.

a) quasi-manufacturing
b) quasi-services
c) mixed services
d) pure services
e) mixed manufacturing
Ans: d
Section Ref: Designing Services
Level: moderate

62. Firms that have areas that have little customer contact and others with high customer contact
are classified as _________ services.
a) pure services
b) quasi-manufacturing
c) quasi-services
d) mixed services
e) manufacturing

Ans: d
Section Ref: Designing Services
Level: moderate

63. What are the three elements of the service package?

a) physical goods, sensual benefits, and psychological benefits
b) sales, return policy, and warranty
c) customer service, return policy, and warranty
d) kindness, information provision, and speed
e) physiological benefits, sensual benefits, and psychological benefits

Ans: a
Section Ref: Designing Services
Level: hard

64. What are the three different service designs that are described in the chapter?
a) substitute people for technology, get the customer involved, high customer attention approach
b) customer-based market research, high customer attention approach, substitute technology for
people
c) customer-based market research, high customer attention approach, get the customer involved
d) substitute people for technology, customer-based market research, high customer attention
approach
e) substitute technology for people, get the customer involved, high customer attention approach

Ans: e
Section Ref: Designing Services
Level: hard

65. Product design decisions are:

a) purely tactical decisions.
b) mixed tactical and strategic decisions.
c) strategic in nature.
d) only made by the OM department.
e) rarely made.

Ans: c
Section Ref: Product Design and Process Selection Within OM
Level: Moderate

True/False

1. Product design and process selection decisions are typically made separately.

Ans: False
Section Ref: Product Design
Level: moderate

2. One source of new product ideas is a product manager.

Ans: True
Section Ref: The Product Design Process

3. To remain competitive, companies must be innovative and bring out new products regularly.

Ans: True
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

4. Analyzing customer preferences is an ongoing process.

Ans: True
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

5. There is a pure mathematical formula to making the decision to pursue a specific idea.

Ans: False
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate
6. Benchmarking should only be performed against firms in similar lines of business with our
own.

Ans: False
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

7. Buying a competitor’s new product and studying its design features by disassembling it and
analyzing its parts and features is reverse engineering.

Ans: True
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: Answer: moderate

8. Net present value is based on computing the quantity of goods a company needs to sell to just
cover its costs.

Ans: False
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: Answer: moderate

9. At the preliminary design and testing stage of new product design, design engineers translate
technical specifications into general performance specifications.

Ans: False
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

10. Understanding the stages of the life cycle is NOT important for product design purposes.

Ans: False
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Level: moderate

11. Design standardization refers to the use of common and interchangeable parts.

Ans: True
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Level: moderate

12. One issue that design for manufacture focuses on is material durability.

Ans: False
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Level: Answer: moderate

13. When product and process design work together, much of the work is done in sequence
rather than in parallel.

Ans: False
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Level: moderate

14. Remanufacturing is the concept of using components of old products in the production of
new ones.

Ans: True
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Level: Answer: moderate

15. Repetitive operations are used to produce many different products with varying process
requirements in lower volumes.

Ans: False
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: Answer: easy

16. A common difference between intermittent and repetitive operations is degree of product
standardization.

Ans: True
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: Answer: easy

17. Intermittent operations group their resources based on similar operations or functions.

Ans: True
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: Answer: moderate

18. The make-to-stock product and service strategy has the shortest delivery lead time among the
possible strategies, but the customer has no involvement in product design.

Ans: True
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Level: moderate

19. Process velocity is computed as a ratio of throughput time to output.

Ans: False
Section Ref: Process Performance Metrics
Level: Moderate

20. Outsourcing instead of pursuing vertical integration is often a good strategic option for a firm
using an intermittent operation.

Ans: True
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Level: moderate

21. The psychological benefits of the service package involve the sights, smells, and sounds of
the experience.

Ans: False
Section Ref: Designing Services
Level: Answer: moderate

Essay

1. Define product design.

Ans: The process of deciding on the unique characteristics and features of the company’s
products.
Section Ref: Product Design
Level: easy
2. Name some sources for ideas for new products.

Ans: customers, competitors, R&D departments, suppliers, employees, and new technological
developments
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

3. In the product screening stage of new product development, what are some questions that may
need to be explored by the operations function? By marketing? By finance?

Ans: Operations: What are the production needs of the proposed new product and how do they
match our existing resources? Will we need new facilities and equipment? Do we have the
labor skills to make the product? Can the materials for production be readily obtained?
Marketing: What is the potential size of the market for the proposed new product? How
much effort will be needed to develop a market for the product and what is the long-term
product potential? Finance: What is the proposed new product’s financial potential, cost,
and return on investment?
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: hard

4. Describe what process flow analysis is.

Ans: A technique used for evaluating a process in terms of the sequence of steps from inputs to
outputs with the goal of improving its design.
Section Ref: Designing Processes
Level: Moderate

5. For what types of decisions is break-even analysis appropriate?

Ans: deciding how much of a product must be sold to make a profit, evaluating different
processes, deciding whether it is better to make or buy a product, and deciding between
different products
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: hard

6. What is included in the preliminary design and testing stage of product design?

Ans: design engineers translate general performance specifications into technical specifications,
―bugs‖ are worked out, revising the design based on test results, and prototypes are built and
tested
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: hard

7. What are the guidelines for design for manufacture?

Ans: Use modular design, design parts for different products, minimize parts, simplify
operations, and avoid tools
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Level: hard

8. What are the characteristics of intermittent operations?

Ans: Produce many different products with varying processing requirements, different products
have different processing needs and there is no standard route that all products take through
the facility, resources are grouped by function, labor intensive, often there are skilled and
semiskilled workers with a fair amount of discretion in performing their jobs, workers need
to be flexible and to be able to perform different tasks depending on the processing needs of
the product, general purpose equipment, and the volume of goods produced is directly tied
to the number of customer orders
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: moderate

9. What are the characteristics of repetitive operations?

Ans: Produce one or a few standardized products in high volumes, resources are organized in a
line flow efficiently accommodate production of the product, capital intensive, often rely on
automation and technology to improve efficiency and increase output, specialized
equipment, and the volume of goods produced is based on a forecast of future demands
Section Ref: Process Selection
Level: moderate

10. Describe three different types of service designs.

Ans: (1) substituting technology for people—this provides product consistency and takes the
guesswork away from employees; (2) get the customer involved—this can speed delivery,
reduce costs, and empower customers; (3) high customer attention approach—this
customizes the service needs unique to each customer and has them be passive and
pampered recipients of the service
Section Ref: Designing Services
Level: hard

11. Describe why marketing should be involved in the product design process.
Ans: Marketing is impacted by product design issues because they determine the types of
products that will be produced and affect marketing’s ability to sell them. Marketing
understands the types of product characteristics customers want and can provide operations
with information on customer preferences, competition, and future trends.
Section Ref: Product Design and Process Selection Within OM
Level: Moderate

Problems

1. What is the break-even volume given a fixed cost of $100,000, a variable cost per unit of $30,
and a selling price of $35?

Ans: 20,000 units (QBE = F/(SP – VC) = $100,000/($35 - $30) = 20,000)

Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: easy

2. What is the break-even volume given a fixed cost of $15,000,000, a variable cost per unit of
$2.30, and a selling price of $12.80?

Ans: 1,428,571 units (QBE = F/(SP – VC) = $15,000,000/($12.80 - $2.30) = 1,428,571)

Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: easy

3. What is the break-even volume given insurance costs of $30,000, materials costs of $6 per
unit, taxes of $10,000, labor costs of $34 per unit, and a selling price of $80?

Ans: 1000 units (QBE = F/(SP – VC) = ($30,000 + $10,000)/($80 – ($34 + $6.00)) = 1,000)
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

4. If a firm has fixed costs of $250,000, a market-based selling price of $50 per unit, and it
expects to sell 20,000 units, how low must its variable costs be to break even?

Ans: $37.50 (VC= SP – F/ QBE) = $50 - $250,000 /20,000) = $37.50/unit)

Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: hard
5. Blaster Radio Company is trying to decide whether or not to introduce a new model. If they
introduce it, there will be additional fixed costs of $400,000 per year. The variable costs have
been estimated to be $20 per radio.
a) If Blaster sells the new radio model for $30 per radio, how many must they sell to break even?
b) If Blaster sells 70,000 of the new radio model at the $30 price, what will the contribution to
profit be?

Ans: a) 40,000 radios (QBE = F/(SP – VC) = $400,000/($30 - $20) = 40,000)

b) $300,000 (Profit = total revenue – total cost = SP*A – [F+VC*Q] = $30 * 70000 –
[$400,000+ ($20*70000)] = $300,000)
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

6. Birdie Par owns a company that makes golf gloves. She is thinking about introducing a new
glove, which would require an additional fixed cost of $20,000 per year. The variable costs for
the new glove have been estimated to be $5 per glove.
a) If she sells the new glove for $15, how many must she sell to break even?
b) If she sells 3,000 gloves at the $15 price, what will the contribution to profit be?

Ans: a) 2,000 gloves (QBE = F/(SP – VC) = $20,000/($15 - $5) = 2,000)

b) $10,000 (Profit = total revenue – total cost = SP*A – [F+VC*Q] = $15 * 3000 –
[$20,000+ ($5*3000)] = $10,000)
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

7. Bazooka Company is thinking about introducing a new type of color printer. If they introduce
it, their factory will incur additional fixed costs of $37,000,000 per year. The variable costs will
be $261 per printer.
a) If Bazooka sells the new printer for $819, how many must they sell to break even?
b) If Bazooka sells 70,000 of the new printer at the $819 price, what will the contribution to
profit be?

Ans: a) 66,308 printers (QBE = F/(SP – VC) = $37,000,000/($819 - $261) = 66,308)

b) $2,060,000 (Profit = total revenue – total cost = SP*A – [F+VC*Q] = $819 * 70,000 –
[$37,000,000+ ($261*70,000)] = $2,060,000)
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Level: moderate

8. Sam Smear owns a manufacturing company that makes ball point pens. Currently he is trying
to decide between two processes for making the pens. The first process will have a fixed cost of
$200,000 per year and variable costs of $0.40 per pen. The second process will have a fixed cost
of $250,000 per year and variable costs of $0.30 per pen.
a) Identify which ranges of product volume are best for each process.
b) If Sam makes 200,000 pens, which process provides a lower cost?
Ans: a) the first process is better for volumes less than or equal to 500,000 pens, the second
process is better for
volumes greater than or equal to 500,000 pens (Q = (F2 – F1)/( VC2 – VC1) = ($250,000-
$200,000)/($0.40 - $0.30) = 500,000)
b) the first process
Section Ref: Product Design and Process Selection Across the Organization
Level: moderate

9. If a firm has fixed costs of $200,000, variable costs of $100 per unit, and it hopes to sell 1000
units, what selling price must it charge in order to break even?

Ans: $300 (SP = F/ QBE + VC = $200,000/1000 + $100 = $300)

Section Ref: Product Design and Process Selection Across the Organization
Level: hard

10. Languages, Inc. manufactures hand held computers that translate between two languages.
Based on their market research, they have developed computers for French/English,
German/English, and Spanish/English. The process for making the computers will have fixed
costs of $2,000,000 per year and variable costs of $50 per computer. The company believes that
it can sell at least 40,000 computers per year.
a) What should the price per computer be if the company wants to break even at a volume of
40,000 computers per year?
b) If they sell 60,000 computers at a price of $90 per computer, what will the contribution to
profit be?

Ans: a) $100 (SP = F/ QBE + VC = $2,000,000/40000 + $50 = $100)

b) $400,000 (Profit = total revenue – total cost = SP*A – [F+VC*Q] = $90 * 60,000 –
[$2,000,000+ ($50*60,000)] = $400,000)
Section Ref: Product Design and Process Selection Across the Organization
Level: hard

11. Frank’s manufacturing firm has determined that the industry standard process velocity time is
15 seconds. Frank’s OM engineer has determined that their process velocity time is 17
seconds with a throughput time of 136 seconds. If the throughput time cannot be changed,
what, how much, and by which direction does the value added time need to change so
Frank’s manufacturing can match the industry standard process velocity?

Ans: Process Velocity = Throughput time/value added time; Value added time = Throughput
time/process velocity
Value added time = 136/17 = 8; 14.5=136/value added time: Value added time = 136/15 = 9.1
Value added time must increase by 1.1 seconds
Section Ref: Product Design and Process Selection Across the Organization
Level: moderate
12. Tom’s hazardous material movement company limits the number of hours an individual
works to 8.5 a day. Each hazardous material handler product movement time has been
stopwatch analyzed to take 240 seconds. What is the hazardous material handler utilization if
they make 110 moves a day?

Ans: Utilization = time a resource used/time a resource available

Convert hours available to seconds available: 8.5 hrs/day* 60 minutes/hr*60 seconds/minute =
30600 seconds/day
Utilization = (110*240) sec/30600 sec = 0.863 (86.3%)
Section Ref: Product Design and Process Selection Across the Organization
Level: hard

Short Answer

1. Name a company that has a good match between customer expectations

________________________ and a company that does not have a good match
_____________________.

Ans: FedEx and, since bankruptcy often follows failure to meet customer expectations, K-Mart
or Woolworth's are examples.
Section Ref: Factors Impacting Product Design
Difficulty: hard

2. Name a company that hurt its business success by changing its Operations Type
________________________.

Ans: Babcock & Wilcox is one example.

Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Difficulty: moderate (hard if the question was written to require an answer that was not in the
text.)

3. What is throughput time if process velocity = 5 and Value-added time = 2?

________________________

Ans: Process velocity = Throughput time/Value-added time, so Throughput time = Process

velocity Value-added time = 2 5 = 10.
Section Ref: Process Performance Metrics
Difficulty: hard

4. What is input if Productivity = 7 and Output = 5? ________________________

Ans: Productivity = Output / Input, so Input = Output/Productivity = 5/7 = 0.71.
Section Ref: Process Performance Metrics
Difficulty: hard

5. How efficient was a process whose Standard output = 27 while Actual output = 24?
________________________

Ans: Efficiency = Actual output / Standard output = 24 / 27 0.889.

Section Ref: Process Performance Metrics
Difficulty: moderate

6. Why is delivery time longer for make to order than assembly to order processes that deliver
similar products? ________________________

Ans: Processing time is part of delivery time for a make to order process but not for an assemble
to order process.
Section Ref: Linking Product Design and Process Selection
Difficulty: moderate

7. Name a reason for using ERP and a reason it might be difficult to implement.
________________________

Ans: Successful ERP projects improve coordination among an organization's resources while
requiring substantial changes in workers' sense of control over their data and relationships with
other departments.
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Difficulty: hard

8. Name three computer applications that affect product design and process selection:
________________________

Ans: Computer-aided Design, Computer-integrated Manufacturing, and Robotics (or

numerically controlled machines).
Section Ref: Technology Decisions
Difficulty: moderate

9. What is the break-even price if fixed cost = 100, variable cost = 7, and selling price = 9?
________________________
Ans: 50. The break-even quantity formula, (formula), assumes that the selling price will be
constant as quantity supplied increases. If true, the break-even price is 9, otherwise, it cannot be
determined with this data.
Section Ref: The Product Design Process
Difficulty: hard

10. Substituting technology for people has been argued to reduce what in the service delivery?

Ans: uncertainty of service delivery

Section Ref: Designing Services
Level: Hard

11. Why are services more complex to design than manufactured good?
________________________

Ans: Services produce intangible products produced with high levels of customer contact.
Section Ref: Product Design and Process Selection Across the Organization
Difficulty: easy

12. Name an operational consideration that a firm must take into consideration when designing a
new product

Ans: Type of processes already used in the company,

Section Ref: Product Design and Process Selection Across the Organization
Level: Moderate