Get premium membership and access revision papers, questions with answers as well as video lessons.

Production And Operations Management(Buss 323)  Question Paper

Production And Operations Management(Buss 323)  

Course:Business Administration

Institution: Kenya Methodist University question papers

Exam Year:2013



TIME: 2 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One and any Other TWO Questions
Question One
Wegmanis food markets is one of the premier grocery drains in the United states. Headquartered in Rocheifer, New York, Wegmans operates over to stores, mainly in Rochester, Buffalo and syvacuse. There are also a handful of stores else where in New York state and in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The company employs over 37,000 people and has annual safes of over $ 3 billion.
Wegmans has a strong reputation for offering it customers high product quality and excellent service. Through a combination of market research trial and error and listening to its customers Wegmans has evolved into a very successful organization.
The company prides itself on fresh produce its replenished as often as 12 times a day. The longer stores have produce sections that are four to five times the size of a produce section in an average supermarket. Wegmans uses a "form to market" system where by some local growers deliver their produce directly to individual stores, by passing the main warehouse. That reduces the company`s inventory holding costs and gets the produce into the stores as quickly as possible.
Each department handles its own ordering. Although sales records of items scanned at the check outs, they are at used directly for replenishing stock. Other factors such as pricing, special promotions and local circumstances must all be taken into account.
Wegman`s uses a company wide system to keep track of inventory Departments take a monthly inventory account to verify the amount shown in the company wide system. Departments receive a periodic report indicating how many days of inventory the department has on hand. Having an appropriate amount on hands is important to department managers; If they have too much inventory on hand, that will add to their departments cost, whereas having too little inventory will result in shortages and thus lost states and dissatisfied customers.
a) Explain FIVE ways Wegmans uses quality to gain an edge in the market.
(10marks)
b) Indicate how and why inventory management is important to
the successful operation of Wegmans food markets. (10marks)
c) Discuss FIVE other factors that are important to the successful operation of Wegman Food Markets. (10marks)

Question Two
a) Define and explain the term operations scheduling giving examples.
(5marks)
b) One priority rule in job scheduling is ’first-come first served’. Explain the circumstances in which this may not be a top priority. (5marks)
c) One principle of scheduling is to reschedule every day. Explain why this is necessary. (5marks)
d) Briefly discuss performance measures a college can use to measure its operations. (5marks)

Question Three
a) Identify and explain the features of a system relevant to operations
management. (10marks)
b) Many firms are adopting the just-in- time inventory system as a way of minimizing stock holding costs. Explain the conditions necessary for the system to work. (10marks)

Question Four
a) In order for continuous/flow shop production to work well several
requirements must be met. Describe FIVE of these requirements.
(10marks)
b) Define the term "material handling" (2marks)
c) All types of material handling equipment are grouped into proceed categories for the purpose of ready identification. Describe FOUR of these groups. (8marks)

Question Five
a) Production and operations management is a process that takes phase in concert with other business functions. Discuss FIVE of such functions and show how they are interrelated. (10marks)
b) Standardization is an important issue that often arises in
product/service design
i) Define standardization. (2marks)
ii) Explain FOUR benefits of Standardization. (8marks)






More Question Papers


Popular Exams


Mid Term Exams

End Term 1 Exams

End Term 3 Exams

Opener Exams

Full Set Exams



Return to Question Papers