Exam Question Bank

• Define operations management. (Unit 1)
• Define productivity. What is the formula for productivity? (Unit 1)
• Define order winner and order qualifier. (Unit 2)
• What is a core competency? (Unit 2)
• Define bottleneck. Define throughput rate. (Unit 3)
• State Little's Law. (Unit 3)
• Define buffering, blocking, and starving. (Unit 3)
• What is Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the context of location decisions? (Unit 4)
• Define a process, process design, and process strategy. (Unit 3)
• Define make-to-stock and make-to-order. (Unit 3)
• Define flow time, value-added time and process velocity. (Unit 3)
• What is a unit load? What is a nonadjacent load? (Unit 5)
• What is Muther's grid? State the six closeness ratings. (Unit 5)
• Define vertical integration. (Unit 6)
• Define facility layout. (Unit 5)
• What is a cellular layout? (Unit 5)
• Define economies of scale and diseconomies of scale. (Unit 5)
• Define the product-process matrix. (Unit 6)
• Define dependent demand and independent demand. (Unit 7)
• Define carrying cost, ordering cost, and shortage cost. (Unit 7)
• What is ABC classification? (Unit 7)
• Define Economic Order Quantity (EOQ). (Unit 8)
• Define reorder point and safety stock. (Unit 9)
• Define service level. (Unit 9)
• What is loading? What is sequencing? (Unit 10)
• State Johnson's Rule. (Unit 10)

• Explain why operations is called the "technical core" of an organisation. (Unit 1)
• "A rise in productivity always means a company is doing better." Comment. (Unit 1)
• Explain the steps in operations strategy formulation. (Unit 2)
• Why is strategy deployment often harder than strategy formulation? (Unit 2)
• How are blocking and starving related to the concept of a bottleneck? (Unit 3)
• "Speeding up a non-bottleneck resource never improves overall process output." Explain. (Unit 3)
• Discuss the three levels at which location factors are analysed. (Unit 4)
• Why does a periodic inventory system generally require a larger safety stock than a continuous system? (Unit 7)
• Why do carrying cost and ordering cost move in opposite directions as order size changes? (Unit 7)
• What does it mean for a firm to be positioned "off the diagonal" of the product-process matrix? (Unit 6)
• What is meant by "strategic fit" in operations strategy, and why does it make an advantage sustainable? (Unit 2)
• "An hour lost at a bottleneck is an hour lost for the entire system." Explain. (Unit 3)
• Differentiate between block diagramming and relationship diagramming. (Unit 5)
• Why is the best operating level rarely at 100% of capacity? (Unit 5)
• Why should the outsourcing decision not be based on cost alone? (Unit 6)
• Why is scheduling more complex in a job shop than on an assembly line? (Unit 10)
• No sequencing rule optimises both flow time and tardiness simultaneously — explain why. (Unit 10)

• Explain the goods-service continuum with suitable examples. (Unit 1)
• Explain the four ways a firm can position itself to compete, with examples. (Unit 2)
• Explain the symbols used in a process flowchart, with an example process. (Unit 3)
• Explain buffering, blocking, and starving with a suitable example. (Unit 3)
• Explain the factors influencing location decisions for a manufacturing firm versus a service firm. (Unit 4)
• Explain process, product, and fixed-position layouts with examples. (Unit 5)
• Explain the lead, lag, and average capacity strategies with examples. (Unit 5)
• Explain the four types of production systems with examples. (Unit 6)
• Explain the product-process matrix with a diagram. (Unit 6)
• Explain ABC classification with an example. (Unit 7)
• Differentiate between the continuous (Q) and periodic (P) inventory systems. (Unit 7)
• Explain the different types of transformation processes with examples. (Unit 1)
• Explain make-to-stock vs make-to-order using the hamburger process example. (Unit 3)
• Explain the sourcing continuum with examples of when each option is used. (Unit 6)
• State the objectives of a good facility layout. (Unit 5)
• Explain the role of Gantt charts in monitoring production schedules. (Unit 10)

• A company finds a feature that used to win it customers no longer does, though all competitors now offer it. Explain using the order winner/qualifier framework. (Unit 2)
• A footwear company wants to cut delivery time from 6 months to 2 weeks, like Zara. Which positioning strategy is this, and what operational changes would support it? (Unit 2)
• Given the processing capacities of several stages in a line, identify the bottleneck and justify your answer. (Unit 3)
• A company is deciding between two cities for a new customer-service call centre. What location factors should dominate its decision? (Unit 4)
• A furniture company makes both mass-market standard tables and highly customised one-off pieces. What layout(s) would you recommend? (Unit 5)
• A startup expects rapid but uncertain demand growth. Which capacity strategy would you recommend? (Unit 5)
• A company currently uses batch production for a product whose demand has just become stable and high-volume. What does the product-process matrix suggest? (Unit 6)
• A retailer stocks up heavily before a festival season despite the extra carrying cost. Explain this decision. (Unit 7)
• A firm must arrange five departments on a grid given a load summary chart. Describe how you would design the layout. (Unit 5)
• Given the fixed and variable costs of two candidate locations, find the volume at which the preferred location changes. (Unit 4)
• A restaurant wants to cut waiting time without losing its "cooked fresh to order" appeal. Discuss its process options. (Unit 3)
• Suggest which inventory system (P or Q) suits a small pharmacy's stock of over-the-counter medicines, with reasoning. (Unit 7)

Full worked numerical practice — with the same level of step-by-step detail as the textbook examples — lives on the dedicated 🔢 Numerical Problems page, covering:

• Location factor rating, centre-of-gravity, and load-distance (Unit 4)
• Line balancing (cycle time, minimum stations, efficiency) (Unit 5)
• Breakeven analysis for process selection (Unit 6)
• ABC classification ranking (Unit 7)
• EOQ, EBQ, and quantity discount models (Unit 8)
• Reorder point, safety stock, and periodic order quantity (Unit 9)
• Assignment method, sequencing rules, and Johnson's Rule (Unit 10)