Deck 15: Constraint Management: Simplifying Complex Systems

Question 1

A system's constraint could be a resource, a policy, an input to the system, or some external force.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Activation of a resource means that the resource will contribute to the goals of the system.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Increasing the capacity of a nonconstraint is a frequent result of capital investment decisions that seek to automate processes

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The constraint management definition for inventory includes money invested in facilities and equipment.

Question 5

Constraint management eliminates the emphasis on global measures that aren't consistent with enterprise goals.

Question 6

Nonconstraints must be utilized at 100% to maximize system productivity.

Question 7

Disruptions to systems can generally be measured by their duration.

Question 8

The sizing of time buffers should be based on the length of disruptions.

Question 9

The production batch size for a constraint should be as small as possible.

Question 10

Constraint management provides long term solutions to business problems.

Question 11

A constraint

A) Is defined as anything that inhibits a system's progress towards its goals.
B) Could be a resource, a policy, or a disruption.
C) Can be optimized by maximizing the utilization of nonconstraints.
D) Are always resources used in the production process.

Question 12

The global performance measures that constraint management decisions depend on are:

A) Inventory, throughput, operating expense
B) Profit margin, return on investment, return on equity
C) Profit margin, return on assets, return on equity
D) Inventory turns, utilization, efficiency

Question 13

Which of the following statements is true about global performance measures?

A) Constraint management seeks to improve performance on three global performance measures.
B) The constraint management definition of inventory does not include facilities and equipment.
C) The constraint management definition of throughput focuses on production, not sales.
D) The constraint management definition of utilization is time used divided by time available.

Question 14

Which of the following is not a step in the constraint management focusing process?

A) Identify the constraint
B) Elevation
C) Exploitation
D) Interpretation

Question 15

A financial investment to increase the availability of the constraint is part of:

A) Exploitation
B) Elevation
C) Identification
D) Standardization
E) Subordination

Question 16

Which of the following is a focusing process step that will increase throughput?

A) Exploitation
B) Identification
C) Standardization
D) Planning

Question 17

Disruptions in productive systems

A) Can only be caused by defects
B) Can always be eliminated
C) Can be caused by random fluctuation.
D) Originating inside the system are the only ones of concern in constraint management

Question 18

Which of the following statements is true about protecting the system from disruptions?

A) Nonconstraints cannot experience disruptions without reducing system output.
B) The approach constraint management uses to protect constrained resources from disruption is to . decouple them from the rest of the system with buffers.
C) All disruptions will have an impact on system throughput.
D) Disruptions on nonconstraint resources will not affect system throughput

Question 19

A constraint buffer is a particular type of:

A) Time buffer
B) Shipping buffer
C) Inventory buffer
D) Assembly buffer
E) Transfer buffer

Question 20

Which of the following statements is true of a constraint buffer?

A) A constraint buffer is used to decouple the constrained resource from being directly dependent on the
Work centers that supply it.
B) The most critical decision regarding a constraint buffer is determining its duration.
C) The determination of the size of a constraint buffer is a random process.
D) A constraint buffer's size is determined by the production batch size of the resource feeding it.

Question 21

The buffer used to ensure that components that have been through constrained resources will be on time for assembly is referred to as a:

A) A time buffer
B) A shipping buffer
C) An inventory buffer
D) An assembly buffer
E) A transfer buffer

Question 22

Which of the following statements is true about constraint management and batch sizes?

A) Constraint management recognizes that there are two distinct types of inventory batches.
B) For a nonconstraint, increasing the production batch size increases its utilization, and is actually a form of exploitation.
C) For constraints, smaller production batch sizes are more desirable.
D) For constraints, transfer batch sizes should be minimized.

Question 23

Which of the following statements is true about lean systems and constraint management?

A) The lean system and constraint management frameworks conflict, and despite similarities, cannot be used simultaneously.
B) Kanban systems provide buffers in the same places as those used by constraint management.
C) In constraint management, if all internal constraints were eliminated, there will be no shipping buffer.
D) The kanban system and constraint management rely on inventory buffers.

Question 24

Identifying ways to use a constrained resource better is a process called

A) Identification
B) Subordination
C) Exploitation
D) Elevation

Question 25

The consideration of the impact a decision would have on exploitation is known as

A) Identification
B) Subordination
C) Exploitation
D) Elevation

Question 26

The phenomenon of increasing impact from statistical fluctuation in production systems is recognized as

A) The bullwhip effect
B) Statistical fluctuation among dependent events
C) Subordination of disruptions
D) Buffer management

Question 27

The impact on production lead time of an 8-hour constraint buffer:

A) Would be an additional 8 hours of production lead time inserted into the schedule.
B) Would depend on how full the constraint buffer was.
C) Would depend on whether or not the buffer decoupled the constraint from all disruptions.
D) Would be to remove 8 hours from the backward scheduling process.

Question 28

Disruptions that occur after the constraint

A) Cannot be stopped from making orders late.
B) Do not reduce system throughput or due date performance.
C) Can be eliminated through exploitation
D) Are the reason a shipping buffer is used.

Question 29

When exploiting a constraint through the determination of the best product mix, the most profitable product

A) Has the lowest production cost
B) Has the highest contribution margin
C) Has the highest dollar return per constraint minute
D) Has the highest selling price

Question 30

In a constraint management context, ________ contributes to the goals of the system while ________doesn't contribute to the system's goals.

Question 31

Constraint management decisions depend on the following three global measures _________,___________, and __________.

Question 32

Traditional inventory definitions do not include ________ and _______,

Question 33

The constraint management focus on _______ ______ provides a more consistent link between day-to-day decisions and the broad performance of the firm.

Question 34

The exploitation of a policy constraint requires that the policy be ______ or _____ so that it no longer poses a constraint.

Question 35

Exploiting and/or elevating a constraint increases ________.

Question 36

_______ _______ is present within business processes and the amount of time it takes to complete a process.

Question 37

The approach constraint management uses to protect constrained resources from disruptions is to _____them from the rest of the system with ____.

Question 38

For a _______, larger production batch sizes are more desirable, while for ________, smaller production batch sizes are more desirable.

Question 39

Constraint management has attracted numerous advocates because of its almost immediate impact on_____ _____ and _____.

Question 40

Match these items.

-Shipping buffer

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 41

Match these items.

-Assembly buffer

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 42

Match these items.

-Utilization

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 43

Match these items.

-Exploitation

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 44

Match these items.

-Constraint Management

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 45

Match these items.

-Elevation

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 46

Match these items.

-Time buffer

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 47

Match these items.

-System's constraint

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 48

Match these items.

-Global measure

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 49

Match these items.

-Activation

A) Ensures that components that have been through constrained resources are not delayed
B) Decouples the constrained resources from being directly dependent on the work center
C) Increasing the capacity of the constrained resource
D) Inventory
E) Policy
F) Doesn't contribute to system's goals
G) Modifying resource constraints
H) Contributes to the goals of the system
I) Maximizing throughput through the management of system constraints
J) Protecting orders after the final processing step

Question 50

Currently the major bottlenecks at a manufacturing plant that makes electric fixtures are the paint line and the 300-ton press that stamp out sheet metal parts. Hundreds of different kinds of parts must pass through the processes, and many jobs get stalled in queues before one or both of these processes. What kind of solutions would you recommend the management use in order to solve the above problem if Constraint Management were employed?