Question 1

Learning curves can only be applied to labor.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

Suppose that there are two products with the same first product time. However, product A has an improvement rate of 10% while product B has an improvement rate of 15%. How much longer will it take to make the 10th unit of product A compared to product B?

Accepted Answer

A)  Both will have the identical time for the 10th unit. 
B)  A will take 33% more time. 
C)  A will take 33% less time. 
D)  A will take 21% more time. 
E)  A will take 21% less time. 
A)  Both will have the identical time for the 10th unit. 
B)  A will take 33% more time. 
C)  A will take 33% less time. 
D)  A will take 21% more time. 
E)  A will take 21% less time.

Question 3

A certain product under development took 200 hours for the production of its 2nd unit and 160 hours for its 4th unit.
(a) What is the learning curve?
(b) How much time did the first unit take?
(c) How much time would the production of the 10th unit take? (Use both the formula and the Table E.3 approach. Do the two versions agree?)

Accepted Answer

(a) 80%; (b) 250 hours; (c) T₁₀

Question 4

Which of the following is a limitation of the use of learning curves?

Accepted Answer

A)  Change in personnel, design, or procedure leave the learning curve unchanged. 
B)  Learning curves are applicable to services as well as to manufacturing. 
C)  The culture of the workplace may alter the learning curve. 
D)  Direct labor and indirect labor follow the same learning curves. 
E)  Applications of learning curves are of tactical, not strategic, importance. 
A)  Change in personnel, design, or procedure leave the learning curve unchanged. 
B)  Learning curves are applicable to services as well as to manufacturing. 
C)  The culture of the workplace may alter the learning curve. 
D)  Direct labor and indirect labor follow the same learning curves. 
E)  Applications of learning curves are of tactical, not strategic, importance.

Question 5

What cautions are in order when using learning curves?

Accepted Answer

The cautions when using learning curves

Question 6

What can cause a learning curve to vary from a smooth downward slope?

Accepted Answer

Any changes in personnel, desi

Question 7

Which of the following statements regarding the usefulness of learning curves is FALSE?

Accepted Answer

A)  An external use of learning curves is in supply chain negotiations. 
B)  A strategic use of learning curves is in evaluating company and industry performance. 
C)  An external use of learning curves is in establishing costs. 
D)  An internal use of learning curves is in labor forecasting. 
E)  An internal use of learning curves is in establishing budgets. 
A)  An external use of learning curves is in supply chain negotiations. 
B)  A strategic use of learning curves is in evaluating company and industry performance. 
C)  An external use of learning curves is in establishing costs. 
D)  An internal use of learning curves is in labor forecasting. 
E)  An internal use of learning curves is in establishing budgets.

Question 8

The first unit took 10 hours and the fourth unit took 8.1 hours to complete. What is the learning curve?

Accepted Answer

A)  100% 
B)  99% 
C)  95% 
D)  90% 
E)  80% 
A)  100% 
B)  99% 
C)  95% 
D)  90% 
E)  80%

Question 9

If the learning curve for a process is 100 percent, then each unit in a series of units will have the same labor requirements.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 10

Because learning curves do not vary much from company to company in the same industry, managers can apply other company's learning rates as good estimates.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 11

Which one of the following courses of actions would NOT be taken by a firm wanting to pursue a learning curve steeper than the industry average?

Accepted Answer

A)  following an aggressive pricing policy 
B)  focusing on continuing cost reduction 
C)  keeping capacity equal to demand to control costs 
D)  focusing on productivity improvement 
E)  building on shared experience 
A)  following an aggressive pricing policy 
B)  focusing on continuing cost reduction 
C)  keeping capacity equal to demand to control costs 
D)  focusing on productivity improvement 
E)  building on shared experience

Question 12

An 80% learning curve means that with each unit increase in production, labor requirements fall by 20%.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 13

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning curve is known to be 82%. If the first piece of furniture took 6 hours, how long will it take to make the second? How long will it take to make the fourth?

Accepted Answer

Use the doubling approach. The

Question 14

The first unit of a product took 832 hours to build, and the learning curve is 90%. How long will it take to make the 25th unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the formula approach.)

Accepted Answer

A)  time ≤ 500 hours 
B)  500  550 
A)  time ≤ 500 hours 
B)  500  550

Question 15

The first unit took 10 hours and the fourth unit 8.1 hours. What is the improvement rate?

Accepted Answer

A)  99% 
B)  95% 
C)  90% 
D)  15% 
E)  10% 
A)  99% 
B)  95% 
C)  90% 
D)  15% 
E)  10%

Question 16

A 100% learning curve implies that:

Accepted Answer

A)  learning is taking place for all products and workers. 
B)  learning is taking place at the best possible level. 
C)  a 100% reduction in the direct labor time takes place each time the production is doubled. 
D)  no learning is taking place. 
E)  None of these is true. 
A)  learning is taking place for all products and workers. 
B)  learning is taking place at the best possible level. 
C)  a 100% reduction in the direct labor time takes place each time the production is doubled. 
D)  no learning is taking place. 
E)  None of these is true.

Question 17

The learning curve for a product is 70 percent. The first unit took 100 hours to complete. The manufacturer wants to determine how many hours the fifth unit will take by using the formula approach. What is the coefficient b for that calculation?

Accepted Answer

A)  −.097 
B)  −.515 
C)  −.322 
D)  .80 
E)  1.90 
A)  −.097 
B)  −.515 
C)  −.322 
D)  .80 
E)  1.90

Question 18

A job with a 90% learning curve required 20 hours for the initial unit. The eighth unit should require approximately how many hours?

Accepted Answer

A)  14.6 
B)  16.2 
C)  18.0 
D)  20.0 
E)  54.2 
A)  14.6 
B)  16.2 
C)  18.0 
D)  20.0 
E)  54.2

Question 19

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 percent learning curve on labor only-the material bill is not affected by experience. The firm prices its work based on cost-the sum of materials plus 30 percent and labor plus 50 percent. (This allows the firm to practice a form of "demand management" for its very popular works.) The first item has already been finished; the material bill was $800 and labor totaled 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

Based on the pricing formula, the first

Question 20

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 curve.
(b) Using your answer from part (a), estimate how much longer it will take Sally to finish the three problems that remain.

Accepted Answer

(a) Her improvement from the first to fi

Learning curves can only be applied to labor.

Suppose that there are two products with the same first product time. However, product A has an improvement rate of 10% while product B has an improvement rate of 15%. How much longer will it take to make the 10th unit of product A compared to product B?

Which of the following is a limitation of the use of learning curves?

What cautions are in order when using learning curves?

What can cause a learning curve to vary from a smooth downward slope?

Which of the following statements regarding the usefulness of learning curves is FALSE?

The first unit took 10 hours and the fourth unit took 8.1 hours to complete. What is the learning curve?

If the learning curve for a process is 100 percent, then each unit in a series of units will have the same labor requirements.

Because learning curves do not vary much from company to company in the same industry, managers can apply other company's learning rates as good estimates.

Which one of the following courses of actions would NOT be taken by a firm wanting to pursue a learning curve steeper than the industry average?

An 80% learning curve means that with each unit increase in production, labor requirements fall by 20%.

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning curve is known to be 82%. If the first piece of furniture took 6 hours, how long will it take to make the second? How long will it take to make the fourth?

The first unit of a product took 832 hours to build, and the learning curve is 90%. How long will it take to make the 25th unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the formula approach.)

The first unit took 10 hours and the fourth unit 8.1 hours. What is the improvement rate?

A 100% learning curve implies that:

The learning curve for a product is 70 percent. The first unit took 100 hours to complete. The manufacturer wants to determine how many hours the fifth unit will take by using the formula approach. What is the coefficient b for that calculation?

A job with a 90% learning curve required 20 hours for the initial unit. The eighth unit should require approximately how many hours?

Operations and Productivity

Operations Strategy in a Global Environment

Project Management

Forecasting

Design of Goods and Services

Managing Quality

Process Strategies

Location Strategies

Human Resources, Job Design, and Work Measurement

Supply Chain Management

Inventory Management

Aggregate Planning and Sop

Material Requirements Planning Mrp and Erp

Short-Term Scheduling

Lean Operations

Maintenance and Reliability

Decision-Making Tools

Linear Programming

Transportation Models

Waiting-Line Models

Simulation

Applying Analytics to Big Data in Operations Management

Filters

Exam 21: Learning Curves

Learning curves can only be applied to labor.

Suppose that there are two products with the same first product time. However, product A has an improvement rate of 10% while product B has an improvement rate of 15%. How much longer will it take to make the 10th unit of product A compared to product B?

Which of the following is a limitation of the use of learning curves?

What cautions are in order when using learning curves?

What can cause a learning curve to vary from a smooth downward slope?

Which of the following statements regarding the usefulness of learning curves is FALSE?

The first unit took 10 hours and the fourth unit took 8.1 hours to complete. What is the learning curve?

If the learning curve for a process is 100 percent, then each unit in a series of units will have the same labor requirements.

Because learning curves do not vary much from company to company in the same industry, managers can apply other company's learning rates as good estimates.

Which one of the following courses of actions would NOT be taken by a firm wanting to pursue a learning curve steeper than the industry average?

An 80% learning curve means that with each unit increase in production, labor requirements fall by 20%.

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning curve is known to be 82%. If the first piece of furniture took 6 hours, how long will it take to make the second? How long will it take to make the fourth?

The first unit of a product took 832 hours to build, and the learning curve is 90%. How long will it take to make the 25th unit? (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the formula approach.)

The first unit took 10 hours and the fourth unit 8.1 hours. What is the improvement rate?

A 100% learning curve implies that:

The learning curve for a product is 70 percent. The first unit took 100 hours to complete. The manufacturer wants to determine how many hours the fifth unit will take by using the formula approach. What is the coefficient b for that calculation?

A job with a 90% learning curve required 20 hours for the initial unit. The eighth unit should require approximately how many hours?

Operations and Productivity

Operations Strategy in a Global Environment

Project Management

Forecasting

Design of Goods and Services

Managing Quality

Process Strategies

Location Strategies

Human Resources, Job Design, and Work Measurement

Supply Chain Management

Inventory Management

Aggregate Planning and Sop

Material Requirements Planning Mrp and Erp

Short-Term Scheduling

Lean Operations

Maintenance and Reliability

Decision-Making Tools

Linear Programming

Transportation Models

Waiting-Line Models

Simulation

Applying Analytics to Big Data in Operations Management

Filters