Question 1

An automobile emissions testing center has six (6) inspectors and tests 50 vehicles per hour. Each inspector can inspect twelve (12) vehicles per hour. If the center wants a utilization of 90%, how many inspectors are required?

Accepted Answer

The center tests 50 vehicles per hour, and each inspector can inspect 12 vehicles per hour. To find the number of inspectors needed for a 90% utilization, first calculate the total capacity needed: 50 vehicles/hour. Each inspector's full capacity is 12 vehicles/hour, so for 90% utilization, divide the total vehicles by the product of one inspector's capacity and the desired utilization rate (0.9): 50 / (12 * 0.9) = 4.63. Since you can't have a fraction of an inspector, round up to the nearest whole number, which is 5 inspectors.

Question 2

How many computer repair troubleshooters should be on duty from 8:00 p.m. to midnight if total demand during that period is 15 calls? The service rate is five (5) calls per hour and the target utilization is 90%.

Accepted Answer

The target utilization is 90%, so the service rate should be 90% of the total demand. The total demand is 15 calls, so the service rate should be 15 * 0.9 = 13.5 calls per hour. The service rate is 5 calls per hour, so the number of computer repair troubleshooters should be 13.5 / 5 = 2.7. Since we cannot have a fraction of a computer repair troubleshooter, we round up to 3.

Question 3

An order fulfillment process normally operates two shifts a day, six days per week. Under normal conditions, 380 orders can be processed per shift. What is the weekly capacity?

Accepted Answer

The answer of An order fulfillment process normally operates two...

Question 4

For a Marriott hotel call center, the expected service rate was 3.0 minutes per telephone call per customer service representative (CSR). With 3 telephone CSRs on-duty during the 6:30 to 7:00A.m. time period, and assuming a 90% target CSR labor utilization rate, how many telephone calls can these 3 CSRs handle during this time period?

Accepted Answer

Given a service rate of 3.0 minutes per call, a CSR can handle 20 calls per hour (60 minutes / 3 minutes per call = 20 calls). With 3 CSRs, theoretically, they can handle 60 calls per hour (20 calls * 3 CSRs). However, considering a 90% target labor utilization rate, the actual capacity is 90% of 60, which equals 54 calls per hour. Since the question asks for the capacity within a 30-minute window, this capacity is halved to 27 calls (54 calls / 2). Therefore, the correct answer is D) More than 20 customers per hour, as 27 calls in 30 minutes translate to more than 20 calls per hour.

Question 5

The Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) testing center has ten (10) testers who test 75 drivers per day. What would the implied service rate need to be in order to achieve 85% utilization?

Accepted Answer

To achieve 85% utilization with 10 testers testing 75 drivers per day, each tester would need to have the capacity to test more than 75/10 = 7.5 drivers per day but less than or equal to 10 drivers per day to not exceed 100% utilization. Therefore, the service rate must be more than 5 but less than or equal to 10 drivers per day per tester.

Question 6

An automobile emission testing center has six (6) inspectors and tests 50 vehicles per hour. What should the service rate be in order to achieve 90% utilization?

Accepted Answer

The service rate per inspector to achieve 90% utilization can be calculated as follows: First, find the total service rate needed to handle 50 vehicles per hour, which is given. Since there are 6 inspectors, divide the total vehicles by the number of inspectors to find the service rate per inspector. 50 vehicles / 6 inspectors = 8.33 vehicles per inspector per hour. To achieve 90% utilization, the service rate should be slightly higher than the rate at full utilization, but since the question asks for the range that includes the calculated rate, the correct answer is "More than 5 but less than or equal to 10 vehicles per hour."

Question 7

_____is the fraction of time a workstation or individual is busy over the long run.

Accepted Answer

Utilization is specifically defined as the fraction of time a workstation or individual is busy over the long run, making it the best choice for this question. Cycle time refers to the time it takes to complete one unit of a process, throughput is the amount of output generated per unit of time, and turnaround time is the amount of time it takes for a unit to go through a process from start to finish.

Question 8

What is the implied service rate per service-counter employee at an airport automobile rental counter if customer demand is 36 customers per hour, two service-counter employees are on duty, and their labor utilization is 75%?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is the implied service rate per...

Question 9

What is the implied service rate per service-counter employee at an airport automobile rental counter if the customer demand is 36 customers per hour, two service-counter employees are on duty, and their labor utilization is 90%?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is the implied service rate per...

Question 10

What is the implied service rate at a bank teller's window if demand is 26 customers per hour and the bank staffs are 3 tellers with an average utilization of 80%?

Accepted Answer

Utilization is defined as the ratio of time a server is busy to the total time they are available. In this case, the average utilization of 80% means that on average, each teller is busy serving customers for 48 minutes out of every hour (since there are 3 tellers, the total available time is 180 minutes per hour). This means that there are 12 minutes per hour that each teller is not serving customers, and therefore the combined implied service rate for the 3 tellers is (26 customers per hour) / (3 tellers) = 8.67 customers per hour per teller. Taking into account the 80% utilization, each teller can actually serve (8.67 customers per hour) / 0.8 = 10.84 customers per hour, which is closest to option C.

Question 11

A manufacturing firm produces a few standardized products in high volumes in a fixed processing sequence that operates 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The forecast of volume is reasonably accurate. The firm is most likely to use the _____ process.

Accepted Answer

The firm's fixed processing sequence that operates 24/7 and produces standardized products in high volumes points to the use of a continuous flow process. This process is characterized by a high level of automation, repetition, and low variability in the product produced. The accurate volume forecast further reinforces the suitability of this process as it helps in maintaining the efficiency of the continuous flow process.

Question 12

A company is able to process 100 customer statements (bills) per day per processing clerk. It has 250 customer statements to process per day. How many full-time processing clerks are needed if the company wants a processing-clerk utilization rate as close to 0.80 as possible?

Accepted Answer

To determine how many processing clerks are needed, we need to divide the total number of bills to be processed per day (250) by the number of bills each individual clerk can process per day (100).

250/100 = 2.5

This means that we need at least 2.5 processing clerks to process 250 bills per day.

Since the company wants a processing clerk utilization rate as close to 0.80 as possible, we need to round up to the next whole number.

2.5 rounded up is 3.

Therefore, we need three full-time processing clerks to process 250 bills per day at a utilization rate as close to 0.80 as possible.

Question 13

The Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) testing center has six (6) testers who test 50 drivers in total per day. Each tester can test ten (10) drivers per day. What is the center's utilization?

Accepted Answer

The total number of drivers tested per day is 50, which means they need 5 testers to test all the drivers assuming each tester tests 10 drivers per day. However, they have 6 testers available, meaning they have an excess capacity of 1 tester.
Therefore, the utilization can be calculated as follows: 
Utilization = (Total drivers tested per day / (Number of testers x Number of drivers each tester can test per day)) x 100%
Utilization = (50 / (6 x 10)) x 100%
Utilization = 83.33%
Therefore, the DMV testing center's utilization is more than 80% but less than or equal to 90%. So, the best choice is C.

Question 14

Which of the following is LEAST related to value stream mapping?

Accepted Answer

Value stream mapping is a tool used to identify waste and inefficiencies in a process, and to optimize the flow of value to the customer. Reengineering, on the other hand, involves a complete overhaul of a process or system, which may or may not involve value stream mapping as a tool. A, B, and C are all related to value stream mapping, as they are key factors that are analyzed and improved through the process.

Question 15

A big city automobile quick oil change store can process 20 vehicles per hour over its multiple bays. Each mechanic can change the oil and do other related tasks at a rate of one car every 20 minutes. If the center wanted a target labor utilization of 90%, how many mechanics would they require?

Accepted Answer

Given that the store can process 20 vehicles per hour and each mechanic can service one car every 20 minutes (which equates to 3 cars per hour per mechanic), to find the number of mechanics needed, we divide the total cars per hour by the rate per mechanic: 20 cars/hour / 3 cars/hour/mechanic = 6.67 mechanics. To achieve a target labor utilization of 90%, we need more than 6 but cannot work with fractions of a person, so rounding up, we need more than 6 but less than or equal to 8 mechanics to not exceed the target utilization too much.

Question 16

The Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) testing center currently has six (6) testers who test 68 drivers per day. Each tester can test twelve (12) drivers per day. Testers are complaining about being too busy and the center being understaffed. In order to achieve an average of 80% utilization of the testers, how many testers should be added at the center?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) testing...

Question 17

The lowest resource utilization is usually found in a(n) _____ process.

Accepted Answer

Job shop processes typically have the lowest resource utilization because they are designed for custom, small-batch production, which often leads to higher variability and less efficient use of resources compared to more standardized and continuous processes.

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT a common process design improvement strategy?

Accepted Answer

Decreasing agility is not a common process design improvement strategy. The other options, such as increasing revenue, decreasing cost, and decreasing process flow time, are commonly used to improve process design.

Question 19

An automobile emission testing center has six (6) inspectors and tests 50 vehicles per hour. Each inspector can inspect twelve (12) vehicles per hour. What is the center's utilization?

Accepted Answer

The answer of An automobile emission testing center has six...

Question 20

An automobile emission testing center tests 50 vehicles per hour. Each inspector can inspect one vehicle every four minutes. If the center wants a utilization of 90%, how many inspectors are required?

Accepted Answer

To achieve a utilization of 90%, the inspectors must be able to inspect 45 vehicles per hour (since 90% of 50 is 45).

Since each inspector can inspect one vehicle every four minutes, in one hour (which is 60 minutes), one inspector can inspect 15 vehicles (since 60/4=15).

Therefore, to inspect 45 vehicles per hour, we need three inspectors, but we need to account for breaks or shift changes.

So, it is safe to have four inspectors to cover for any unforeseen circumstances or to allow for slightly higher utilization without overworking the inspectors.

Therefore, the answer is C) Four.

Quiz 7: Process Selection, Design, and Analysis