melsafi28@gmail.

com

1
 melsafi28@gmail.com

The 3 major measurement problems are

1. Quality may change while input and output remain the same

Example

LG company is producing computer monitors since long time when LG measures

the productivity over years they will the quality problem as in the following case
Both the white and black monitors are made by lg using the same amount of
resources (input)

but both monitors are different in the

quality (the resolution and vision on the
black monitor is far better than the white one) so it is so difficult to compare the
productivity while the quality is different even though the input and output are not
changing

2
 melsafi28@gmail.com

2. external elements
other factors out of company control such as electricity outages political stability
major security issues sudden tax increase

Example
last summer in port Sudan most of the factories the industrial area has cut their
production by half because of the Turkish ship power plant has stopped producing
electricity (for financial issues with the government)

3
 melsafi28@gmail.com

3. Precise unit of measurement may be lacking

If we want to measure and compare the productivity of the motorcycle, we

would find it a bit difficult because of precise unit of measurement is missing

Example

In the left picture a Suzuki gn 125 and on the right picture a Bajaj chetak 125
Although Both are motorcycles but
comparing them in term of
productivity is quite difficult because
of many differences in the design, size,
capacity
(because of these differences we say a
precise unit of measurement is
missing)

4
 melsafi28@gmail.com

Competing on Response

A set of values related to rapid, flexible, and reliable performance

Example

1. Flexibility
In the case of HP, a wide range
and variety of models and
designs according to the
customer demand

2. Reliability

Siemens company has been

known for its reliable products
which gave the company a
competitive advantage over
other company
It is even widely known in Sudan
we say for the original and
genuine stuff (this is German)
The picture is for siemens power
turbine

5
 melsafi28@gmail.com

3. Rapid / quickness
The ability of producing goods or services in the shortest possible time or in
a time shorter than the competitors
Pizza hut is a good example for quickness where they are preparing
customer’s orders with 5 minutes only

6
 melsafi28@gmail.com

Crashing

The process by which we shorten the duration of a project in the cheapest

manner possible

Shortening activity time in a network to reduce time on the critical path so

total completion time is reduced.
Project manager will not consider crashing a non-critical activity because by
definition a non-critical activity is an activity that if it is delayed the whole project
will not be delayed so practically there is no need to crash it and crashing is just for
critical activities only

it is a quantitative forecasting method based on time series

Exponential smoothing

A weighted-moving-average forecasting technique in which data points are

weighted by an exponential function.

smoothing constant

The weighting factor used in an exponential smoothing forecast, a number

greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 1.

7
 melsafi28@gmail.com

Example

An MBA student forecasted his last semester (semester 2) GPA to be 2.6 and his
actual GPA was 3.6 what will be his forecasted semester 3 GPA using smoothing
constant =0.5
Semester 3 forecasted GPA
=
semester 2 forecasted GPA
+
Smoothing constant (Actual semester 2 GPA - Forecasted Semester 2 GPA)

F= 2.6+0.25(3.6-2.6)
F=2.6+0.5(1)
F=2.6+0.5
F=3.1

8
 melsafi28@gmail.com