The Goals of Operations :Supply Chain Operations (Supply Chain Operations) Answers 2026

Question 1

Why is Operations also referred to as a process of transformation?

• ✅ Because, in operations, we transform inputs (raw materials, machinery, and labor) into outputs (products or services).

• ❌ Because activities involved in the day-to-day of business are always changing.

• ❌ Because operations as a discipline has always transformed over time.

Explanation:
Operations fundamentally focus on transforming inputs into outputs, which is why they are called a transformation process.

Question 2

How can you achieve economies of scale?

• ❌ By producing better quality.

• ❌ By producing each product faster.

• ✅ By producing more, we can produce each unit cheaper.

• ❌ By being more economical, we produce a better output.

Explanation:
Economies of scale occur when higher volume lowers the average cost per unit.

Question 3

Why is speed important in operations? (Select all that apply)

• ❌ If we produce faster, there is less chance of having a defect.

• ✅ If we produce faster, we minimize cost.

• ✅ If we can produce faster, then we can be more responsive to the market.

• ✅ If we can produce faster, then we can produce more in the same facilities.

Explanation:
Speed improves cost efficiency, responsiveness, and capacity utilization, but does not automatically reduce defects.

Question 4

Why is producing defective items more expensive? (Select all that apply)

• ✅ Producing more than you actually need because you have to account for defects is costly.

• ✅ Customers do not want to buy those defective products and therefore replacing them is costly.

• ❌ Better materials is more expensive.

Explanation:
Defects increase rework, scrap, replacement, and overproduction costs.

Question 5

What is flexibility in a manufacturing sense?

• ❌ The quality of bending easily without breaking.

• ✅ The ability to easily modify a production schedule (change items, quantity, order, etc.).

• ❌ The willingness of the workers to change or compromise.

Explanation:
Manufacturing flexibility is about adapting production quickly to changing requirements.

Question 6

Optimization in Operations follows a standard logic. Pick the correct statement.

• ❌ Increase flexibility to be able to respond to the market.

• ❌ Minimize cost by producing more.

• ✅ Optimize the objective, by changing one or more variables, subject to certain constraints.

• ❌ Eliminate constraints to increase throughput.

Explanation:
Optimization always involves objectives, decision variables, and constraints.

Question 7

Which two central tenets are at the core of Toyota’s production system? (Select both)

• ✅ Quality

• ❌ Efficiency

• ✅ The elimination of the seven waste’s

• ❌ Kaizen

Explanation:
Toyota focuses on high quality and waste elimination as its foundation.

Question 8

What is Kaizen? (Select all that apply)

• ✅ Employee empowerment to continuously flag quality issues as they appear and improve the process as a result.

• ❌ It means perfect production.

• ❌ A quality system used by many companies.

• ✅ The Japanese term used by Toyota for a production system focused on continuous improvement.

Explanation:
Kaizen means continuous improvement driven by employees at all levels.

Question 9

What are the seven wastes?

• ✅ transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, overprocessing, defects

• ❌ manufacturing, speed, inventory, flexibility, waste, warehousing, quality

• ❌ manufacturing, transport, inventory, waiting, waste, overprocessing, quality

Explanation:
These seven wastes are commonly remembered as TIMWOOD.

Question 10

In the theory of constraints, variations on what three measures define organizations?

• ✅ Inventory, Throughput, and Operational Expense

• ❌ Cost, Speed, and Quality

• ❌ Flexibility, Perfection, and Economies of Scale

Explanation:
Theory of Constraints evaluates performance using Throughput, Inventory, and Operating Expense.

Question 11

What happens when a constraint is permanently removed from the system?

• ✅ There will be another constraint limiting throughput.

• ❌ We achieved our goal.

• ❌ We will produce as much as possible.

Explanation:
Every system always has a constraint—removing one reveals the next.

Question 12

What is a clear sign of a bottleneck?

• ✅ An unusual buildup of inventory somewhere in the production system.

• ❌ We do not produce as much as we could.

• ❌ We are inefficient in our production facility.

Explanation:
A bottleneck is identified by inventory piling up before it.

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