Operations Management — DU Bachelor of Management Studies Previous Year Question Papers

Show your working clearly in your answer. 1. (a) A retail store selling smart home devices wants to forecast the monthly demand for one of its best-selling products to manage inventory efficiently. The demand (in units) for the past eight months is given below: Demand (Units) 520 580 550 600 630 690 (b) (i) Compute a three-month moving average forecast. (ii) Compute the exponentially smoothed forecast using α = 0.25. (Assume forecast for month 1 = actual demand of month 1) (iii) Based on MAD which forecasting method is more reliable? A manufacturing company is facing problems such as excess inventory, delays in production, and unnecessary movement of materials. Discuss the lean tools that can help the company improve its operations. (6) 2. (a) A machine operator has to perform three operations viz., turning, threading and knurling on a number of different jobs. The time required to perform these operations (in minutes) for each job is known and is as follows : (b) (i) Determine the order in which the jobs should be processed in order to minimize the total time required to turn out all the jobs. (ii) Calculate the total elapsed time. (iii) What is the idle time on all three machines? Is there any job idle time. If yes, how much is it? (12) A fast-food chain is setting up a new outlet where customer orders must be processed quickly with minimal waiting time. The management wants to design the kitchen layout in such a way that food preparation follows a fixed sequence of steps and ensures speed and consistency. (i) Explain giving reasons, the most appropriate layout type for this outlet. (ii) How will this layout help in improving operational efficiency and customer service. (6) 3. (a) Mike Morales is the supervisor of Legal Copy-Express, which provides copy services for downtown Los Angeles law firms. Five customers submitted their orders at the beginning of the week. Specific scheduling data are as follows : All orders require the use of the only colour copy machine available; Morales must decide on the processing sequence for the five orders. Develop a schedule for these jobs based on the following rules: FCFS, SPT, LPT and EDD. For each priority rule, calculate the following measures: (i) Average completion time (ii) Average number of jobs in the system (iii) Average job lateness (b) Explain how Operations Management contributes to organizational competitiveness. How does Operations Strategy strengthen this contribution? 4. (a) The following table details the tasks required for Indore-based Pinaki Industries to manufacture a fully portable industrial vacuum cleaner. Demand forecasts indicate a need to operate with a cycle time of 6 minutes. (b) (i) Draw the Schematic diagram. (ii) Find the theoretical minimum number of workstations and assign tasks according to the LOT rule. (iii) Find the efficiency of the process and the idle time per cycle. (12)