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Operations Management Question Paper

Operations Management

Course:Master Of Business Administration

Institution: Kenyatta University question papers

Exam Year:2009

KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS 2008/2009
INSTITUTE OF OPEN LEARNING (IOL)
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION

BMS 601:
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

DATE: Monday, 10th August, 2009

TIME: 2.00 p.m. – 5.00 p.m.
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INSTRUCTIONS:
Answer only FOUR questions.
Question ONE is COMPULSORY
QUESTION ONE
a)
The field of operations management may be perceived to be concerned with creating, operating and controlling the systems that transform a variety of resource inputs and produce outputs of goods and services needed by customers. Discuss the key issues in operations management as highlighted in the above definition. (2 marks)
b)
Analyze why operations management forms a significant part of the curriculum of modern managers’ training. (5 marks)
c)
Explain any five major objectives of operations function in an organization. (5 marks)
d)
Provide a brief account of any three factors that currently affect or influence decisions made in operations management. (6 marks)
e)
The operations manager at a self-service store has observed that 24 customers arrive at the check out counter every hour, while the only cashier available can check out up to 30 customers an hour. If a new employee is hired to clear the checkout counter, customers can now check out at the rate of 40 customers an hour. The additional employee will cost the store an extra Sh.1,500 per week, while the manager has determined that for each minute customer time is reduced, the store avoids loss in sale of up to sh750 per week.
i)
Determine the following operating characteristics before hiring the new employee: the number of customers in the system; time spent in the system; and average waiting time before service. (3 marks)
ii)
With the new employee, what will be the total savings per week? (2 marks)
iii)
Suppose an additional check out counter costing the store sh60,000 and an extra sh2,000 for an additional cashier has been recommended for improving system performance. Let the new arrival rate to be 12 customers an hour and cashier service rate be 30 customers an hour.
Provide an analysis of the new operating characteristics of the system, hence advice the manager. (5 marks)
iv)
How much would the store manager save on the improved system? (2 marks)

QUESTION TWO
a)
Discuss two intermittent production processes and outline the advantages and disadvantages of each. (6 marks)
b)
Define the term supply chain and explain three management functions within a typical supply chain. (4 marks)

QUESTION THREE
Write short notes on the following concepts in operations management:-
i)
JIT
(2 marks)
ii)
Pareto analysis
(2 marks)
iii)
Six-Sigma
(2 marks)
iv)
TQM
(2 marks)
v)
Lean manufacturing
(2 marks)

QUESTION FOUR
a)
Operations management decisions often begin with forecasts for future states of nature for which plans are formulated to achieve them. Identify any three common forecasting techniques available to the manager. (3 marks)
b)
A department store supervisor finds that in a 4-month period, the best forecast is derived by using 40% of actual sales for the most recent month, 30% of two months ago, 20% of three months ago, and 10% of four months ago. If actual sales experienced was as follows:
Month
1 2 3 4
Sales
(units)
100 90 105 95
Find a forecast for the quantity of sales units in the fifth month. (7 marks)

QUESTION FIVE
a)
What do you understand by capacity (2 marks)
b)
Distinguish between design, effective and achieved capacity. (3 marks)
c)
The balance between demand and service capacity has proved to be elusive. What possible actions could managers take to achieve the ideal equilibrium between demand and capacity of a service system? (5 marks)

Operations Management Question Paper

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