Question 1

A company is preparing a bid on a government contract for 20 units of a certain product. The operations manager estimates the assembly time required for the first two units to be 9.4 hours and 8.1 hours, respectively.
a. What is the appropriate learning curve?
b. What is the total time per unit for the 20 units?
b. What is the average time per unit for the 20 units?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A company is preparing a bid on...

Question 2

The fourth unit of production took 80 minutes while the ninth unit of production took 50 minutes. How long did the first unit take?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The fourth unit of production took 80...

Question 3

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning rate is known to be 75%. If the first piece of furniture took 9 hours, how long will it take to do the second? How long will it take to do the 16th?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Your firm has expertise with a special...

Question 4

A company is preparing a bid on a government contract for 40 units of a certain product. The operations manager estimates the assembly time required for the first two units to be 10.4 hours and 8.3 hours, respectively.
a. What is the appropriate learning curve?
b. What is the average time per unit for the 40 units?
c. Which unit, if any, will require approximately one-half the time of the first unit?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A company is preparing a bid on...

Question 5

Susan suspects strongly that there is a learning curve associated with solving problems assigned for operations management. She notes that it took her approximately 21 minutes to solve the first problem and 18 minutes to solve the fourth problem.
a. Estimate Susan's learning percentage.
b. Using your answer from part a, estimate how much longer it will take Susan to finish the three problems that remain.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Susan suspects strongly that there is a...

Question 6

A product was priced assuming an 80% learning rate. How much extra labour (in $) will be required on the 4th product if the learning rate is actually 90%? Assume that labour costs $10/hour and the first unit cost $100 to produce.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A product was priced assuming an 80%...

Question 7

A small manufacturer that offers "hand crafted" furniture has developed a new style of desk that they believe will be very successful in the marketplace. It is expected that the third desk will take about 82 hours of craftsmen's time to complete. They expect a 92% learning curve for this desk.
a) How long did it take to make the first desk?
b) How long will it take to make the 16th desk?
c) The firm is considering accepting an order for 16 desks. How many hours of labour will this require for all 16?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A small manufacturer that offers "hand crafted"...

Question 8

Using the arithmetic concept determine how long it will take to make the 64th unit of a product if it took 1 hour to complete the first product with a 50% learning rate.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Using the arithmetic concept determine how long...

Question 9

A product was priced assuming an 80% learning rate. How much extra labour (in %) will be required on the 4th product if the learning rate is actually 90%?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A product was priced assuming an 80%...

Question 10

The seventh unit of production took 63.423 minutes while the ninth unit of production took 59.8 minutes. What is the improvement rate?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The seventh unit of production took 63.423...

Question 11

A small manufacturer that offers "hand crafted" furniture has developed a new style of desk that they believe will be very successful in the marketplace. It is expected that the fifth desk will take about 47 hours of craftsmen's time to complete. They expect a 87.6% learning curve for this desk.
a) How long did it take to make the first desk?
b) How long will it take to make the 19th desk?
c) The firm is considering accepting an order for 19 desks. How many hours of labour will this require for all 19?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A small manufacturer that offers "hand crafted"...

Question 12

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning rate is known to be 88%. If the first piece of furniture took 5 hours, how long will it take to do the second? How long will it take to do the 8th?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Your firm has expertise with a special...

Question 13

You are a cost accountant for a firm that specializes in "small" (under 10 billion dollars) defence contracts for specialty electronics products, such as fully portable, miniaturized CD-ROM imaging stations and global positioning transmitters/transponders. Your company is well respected in this field. One project up for competitive bids is a Field Service, Hands-Free, Individual Multi-Protocol Secure Communicator (a battlefield version of a cellular telephone, but built into each soldier's helmet, and containing necessary encryption technology). The Department of Defence wants 8 of these experimental devices to test their practicality. You have reviewed the contract specifications, and estimated that the first FSHFIMPSC should require 2350 hours, and that the product is subject to a 75% learning rate. All costs of the project (machine purchase, machine time, direct and indirect labour, and materials) have been bundled (allocated) into an hourly labour rate of $172 per hour. Determine the total project cost using the provided data.

Accepted Answer

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Question 14

If the 16th unit took 12.3 minutes and the learning curve is estimated to be 80% how long did it take to make the first unit?

Accepted Answer

The answer of If the 16th unit took 12.3 minutes...

Question 15

Joe's Manufacturing is considering bidding on a small order for 5 units. Based on similar products that they have made in the past, they believe that the first unit will take 500 labour hours. They also believe that there will be an 80% learning rate. How many hours of labour should Joe include for his bid?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Joe's Manufacturing is considering bidding on a...

Question 16

A company is preparing a bid on a government contract for 15 units of a certain product. The operations manager estimates the assembly time required for the first two units to be 21.7 hours and 19.8 hours, respectively.
a. What is the appropriate learning curve?
b. What is the total time per unit for the 15 units?
b. What is the average time per unit for the 15 units?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A company is preparing a bid on...

Question 17

Susan suspects strongly that there is a learning curve associated with solving problems assigned for operations management. She notes that it took her approximately 24 minutes to solve the first problem and 17 minutes to solve the fourth problem.
a. Estimate Susan's learning percentage.
b. Using your answer from part a, estimate how much longer it will take Susan to finish the three problems that remain.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Susan suspects strongly that there is a...

Question 18

Sally suspects strongly that there is a learning curve associated with solving problems assigned for operations management. She notes that it took her approximately 33 minutes to solve the first problem and 20 minutes to solve the fifth problem.
a. Estimate Sally's learning percentage.
b. Using your answer from part a, estimate how much longer it will take Sally to finish the three problems that remain.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Sally suspects strongly that there is a...

Question 19

A small manufacturer builds wooden pleasure boats in a craftsman manner by traditional labour-intensive methods. The first boat is estimated to take 650 hours of skilled labour, which cost $40 per hour. They currently have three workers that can work 2,000 hours a year. They assume that there is a 90% learning rate. How many boats can they make in their first year?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A small manufacturer builds wooden pleasure boats...

Question 20

A metal works fabricator is about to release a new model of his firm's copper sculpture and fountain. The operations manager estimates that this product is subject to a 90% learning rate on labour only-the material bill is not affected by experience. The firm prices its work based on cost-the sum of materials plus 30% and labour plus 50%. (This allows the firm to practice a little "demand management" for its very popular works.) The first item has already been finished; the material bill was $800 and labour totalled 40 hours. The firm pays its metalworking artisans an average of $18 per hour. What should be the asking price of the first unit? The second?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A metal works fabricator is about to...

Quiz 22: Learning Curves

The fourth unit of production took 80 minutes while the ninth unit of production took 50 minutes. How long did the first unit take?

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning rate is known to be 75%. If the first piece of furniture took 9 hours, how long will it take to do the second? How long will it take to do the 16th?

A product was priced assuming an 80% learning rate. How much extra labour (in $) will be required on the 4th product if the learning rate is actually 90%? Assume that labour costs $10/hour and the first unit cost $100 to produce.

Using the arithmetic concept determine how long it will take to make the 64th unit of a product if it took 1 hour to complete the first product with a 50% learning rate.

A product was priced assuming an 80% learning rate. How much extra labour (in %) will be required on the 4th product if the learning rate is actually 90%?

The seventh unit of production took 63.423 minutes while the ninth unit of production took 59.8 minutes. What is the improvement rate?

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning rate is known to be 88%. If the first piece of furniture took 5 hours, how long will it take to do the second? How long will it take to do the 8th?

If the 16th unit took 12.3 minutes and the learning curve is estimated to be 80% how long did it take to make the first unit?