Bus 105 Midterm Ch. 5

Front 1

What is a process?

Back 1

Process: Is any part of an organization
that takes inputs and transforms them
into outputs.

Front 2

What is process analysis and why is it important?

Back 2

Process Analysis helps a company
understand how its processes work
 Ensures its competitiveness
 A process that does not match the needs
of the firm will punish the firm every
minute that the firm operates

Front 3

What is process flow-charting, what are its basic elements, and what is it ideal for?

Back 3

 Process flowcharting is the use of a
diagram to represent the major elements
of a process.
 The basic elements can include tasks or
operations, flows of materials or
customers, decision points, and storage
areas or queues.
 It is an ideal methodology by which to
begin analyzing a process.

Front 4

What are the flowchart symbols and what do they represent? name an example for each.

Back 4

Square = tasks or operations
eg// giving admission ticket to customer, installing an engine into a car

diamond = decision points
eg/ how much should be given to customer, which wrench should be used

upside down triangle: storage areas / queues
eg// sheds, lines of people waiting

arrow: flows or materials or customers
eg// customers moving to a seat, mechanic getting a tool

Front 5

what's the difference between a single stage process and a multi-stage process?

Back 5

single stage- one process
multi-stage - multiple processes

Front 6

what is a buffer? what symbol is usually used for a buffer?

Back 6

A buffer refers to a storage area between
stages where the output of a stage is
placed prior to being used in a
downstream stage

symbol: upside down triangle

Front 7

What is blocking?

Back 7

 Blocking occurs when the activities in a stage
must stop because there is no place to deposit
the item just completed
 If there is no room for an employee to place a unit of
work down, the employee will hold on to it not able to
continue working on the next unit

Front 8

What is starving?

Back 8

 Starving occurs when the activities in a stage
must stop because there is no work
 If an employee is waiting at a work station and no work
is coming to the employee to process, the employee will
remain idle until the next unit of work comes

Front 9

When does a bottleneck occur?

Back 9

 Bottleneck occurs when the limited
capacity of a process causes work to pile
up or become unevenly distributed in the
flow of a process
 If an employee works too slow in a multi-stage
process, work will begin to pile up in front of
that employee. In this case the employee
represents the limited capacity causing the
bottleneck

Front 10

What is pacing?

Back 10

Pacing refers to the fixed timing of the
movement of items through the process

Front 11

What is operation time and its equation?

Back 11

 Operation Time = Setup Time + Run Time
 Setup Time: time required to prepare a
machine to make a particular item
 Run Time: time required to produce a batch of
parts

Front 12

what is cycle time?

Back 12

Cycle Time = Average time between
completions of successive units

Front 13

what is throughput time

Back 13

Throughput Time = Average time for a
unit to move through the system

Front 14

What is the equation for throughput rate?

Back 14

throughput time = 1/cycle time

Front 15

what is the equation for efficiency?

Back 15

efficiency = actual output/standard output

Front 16

what is the equation for productivity?

Back 16

productivity = output/input

Front 17

what is the equation for "utilization"?

Back 17

utilization = time activated / time available