Exam 25: Learning Curves

A small manufacturer builds wooden pleasure boats in a craftsman manner by traditional labor-intensive methods. The first boat is estimated to take 650 hours of skilled labor, 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?

It took 60 hours to make the first unit of a product. After the second and third units were made, the learning curve was estimated to be 80%. At $10 per hour, estimate the labor bill for the fourth unit. (Use at least three decimals in the exponent if you use the logarithmic approach.)

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

The earliest industrial application of learning curves came from a report by __________.

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

Learning curves are based on the premise that people and organizations become better at their tasks as the tasks are repeated.

What problems in scheduling can arise if adjustments for learning curve effects in operations are not made?

The learning curve rate is

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?

Two manufacturers have very different learning rates; one is under 70% while the other is over 80%. What factors might lead to such a gap?

The earliest application of learning curves appears in the work of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

A learning curve

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning rate is known to be 82%. If the first piece of furniture took 6 hours, estimate how long it will take to complete the third unit.

When learning curves are plotted on __________ scales, the "curves" become straight lines.

It took 18 hours to complete the first two products with an 80% learning curve. How long did the second product take?

The first unit of production took 10 hours with an 80% learning curve. How long will it take to complete both the first and second units?

Your firm has expertise with a special type of hand-finished furniture. The learning rate is known to be 82%. If the first piece of furniture took 6 hours, use the logarithmic approach to determine how long it will take to do the third unit.

Which of the following best conveys the essence of learning curves?

The learning curve in the steel industry and the learning curve in heart surgery have both been estimated at 79 percent.

If the learning rate for a process is 80 percent, that same process has a 20 percent __________.