Name: Gail A.

Sanchez MBA-1

PRODUCTIONS AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT (BA 1938)

Assessment Task 02

1. What are the ethical or environmental issues in product design? Briefly discuss their impact on operations
management.
Answer:
The Ethical or environmental issues in product design and their impact on operations management in Ethical
issues, is releasing products with defects. An example for this is releasing software with bugs and sending
genetically altered foods to nations suffering food shortages. Also for environment issues, if we are producing a
product in our own, we need to be concerned about the EPA (environmental protection agency) we should not
violate pollution rules while making a product.

2. Why is it important to generate new product ideas even when sales are strong? How can QFD help a design
team in designing a new product?
Answer:
To build image and reputation as a dynamic innovation and creative firm, the new products development is
adopted. Company desires to convince the market that it works hard to meet consumer's expectations. In fact, a
company developing new products frequently has more reputation and can easily attract customers. QFD is a
systematic method to help identify customers' needs for designing a product (or service) in a way that it
considers the customers' needs first time. The method aids in making cognizant decisions about the voice of
customers. The aim of QFD is to translate objective and even subjective quality criteria into objective quality
criteria that can be quantified and measured. It is a complementary approach for indicating how and where
priorities are to be assigned in product development.

3. List the major categories of the cost of quality, indicate what expenses would fall into each, and provide an
analysis of the effect these categories have on company reputation.
Answer:
When it comes to Quality & Cost, there are 4 different Categories that can be utilized to capture your quality
related costs, these are:
• Prevention Cost – costs associated with activities specifically designed to prevent poor quality in products.
• Appraisal Cost – costs associated with activities specifically designed to measure, inspect, evaluate or audit
products to assure conformance to quality requirements.

• Internal Failure Cost – costs incurred when a product fails to conform to a quality specification before shipment
to a customer.
• External Failure Cost – costs incurred when a product fails to conform to a quality specification after shipment
to a customer.

The Total Quality Cost then is simply the sum of all these cost categories; Prevention, Appraisal, & Failure Costs
(Internal & External). The Total Quality Cost can be summarized as all investments in the prevention of defects,
the testing of product to assure Quality, or the failure of a product to meet a customer requirement.
4 Describe the four basic process strategies and provide a comparative analysis by citing at least three distinct
characteristics of each process against the others.
Answer :
The four process strategies include: product focus, process focus, repetitive focus, and mass customization.
• Product focus is about mass production. It is high volume, low variety processes; also called continuous
processes. Products such as light bulbs, rolls of paper, beer, and bolts are examples of product process.
This type of facility requires a high fixed cost, but low costs.
• Process focus is about specialization. In an office, the processes might be accounts payable, sales, and
payroll. The process focuses on low volume, high variety products are also called job shop.
• Repetitive focus centers on large volumes. It falls between the product and process focus. The
repetitive process is a product-oriented production process that uses modules. Modules are parts or
components of a product previously manufactured or prepared, often in a continuous process.
• Mass customization focuses on meeting the needs of each specific client. It is rapid, low-cost production
that caters to constantly changing unique customer desires. Achieving mass customization is a challenge
that requires sophisticated operational capabilities.

5. Enumerate and discuss at least 3 major factors that affect location decisions.
Answer:
• Labour productivity - measures the hourly productive output for a country’s economy during period of
time.
• Exchange rates and Currency risk - Unfavorable exchange rate may negate any saving. Firm can take
advantage of a particular favourable exchange rate by locating to foreign country.
• Proximity to markets- locates near customer. Prime objective is proximity to market.

6. Explain the importance of Layout Decisions in any business entities.

Answer:
Layout Decisions is one of the key decisions that determines the long-run efficiency of operations. Layout has
strategic implications because it establishes an organization's competitive priorities in regard to capacity,
processes, flexibility, and cost, as well as quality of work life, customer contact, and image.