Question paper 1 PRODUCT AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT

30 May Question paper 1 PRODUCT AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT

Question
paper 1

PRODUCT AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT
For this assignment, look at the company you began analyzing in Week 1 from the perspective of the manufacturing it does or service it provides.

First, discuss the following for your company:

Summarize the company’s product or service that you are analyzing, including a mention of whether or not the company deals only in products, only in services, or if they offer both.
Summarize the process by which these products are made or by which these services are provided (in other words, what is the process that is being used?). Be sure to mention whether or not changes to this process are needed when new products or services are introduced by the company.
Assess why the company does or does not outsource the manufacturing of its products or the provision of its services.
Then, complete the following tasks as part of your analysis:

Diagram the process that is currently in use by developing a process map for how the company manufactures the product or provides the service.
Justify areas of process improvement for the company based upon the process map.
Evaluate whether the company is a make-to-order, make-to-stock, assemble-to-order, or engineer-to-order company, explaining what it is about the company that makes them the type of company that you are describing them to be.
Submission Details:
Submit your report in a two- to three-page Word document, using APA style.

paper 2

PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS
This week’s readings discussed tools that are available for the planning and control of projects. These tools include WBSs, Gantt charts, and PERT/CPM networks.

In this assignment, you will design CPM and PERT networks to meet the requirements of an engineering firm. The firm needs solutions for the following problem:

One of the firm’s existing projects needs to be completed earlier than planned. Use the following data and the critical path and PERT methods to answer the questions that follow. Use the “most likely time” estimate (m) as the time estimate for the CPM analysis.

Activity

Immediate Predecessors

Times in Days

a

m

b

A

None

1

3

5

B

None

1

2

3

C

A

1

2

3

D

A

2

3

4

E

B

3

4

11

F

C, D

3

4

5

G

D, E

1

4

7

H

F, G

2

4

6

Draw the network.
Describe the critical path using the CPM approach.
Analyze what the estimated completion time using the CPM approach is.
Analyze what the estimated completion time using the PERT approach is.
Assess why the estimated completion times are not identical in the two approaches.
Under what circumstances would the CPM approach to developing a project plan be more appropriate? Under what circumstances would the PERT approach be more appropriate?
Submission Details:

Submit your report in a three- to four-page Word document, using APA style.

Professors response below:
part 3

LOCATIONS/OFFSHORING/OUTSOURCING
In this section of the course project, you will focus on location-related decisions taken by the company you have chosen and the company’s strategy to manufacture in-house or outsource the functions of the supply chain. This outsourcing may be tied to a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis and determination of core competencies.

Complete the following tasks:

Analyze the company’s decisions and strategy regarding site selection, outsourcing, and offshoring operations.
Evaluate the impacts of offshoring or outsourcing on quality and the supply chain.
Prepare the deliverables for this week to provide information on the following aspects of the company:

Locations
Offshoring
Outsourcing
Submission Details:
Submit your report in a three- to four-page Word document, using APA style.

paper 4

The discussion assignment provides a forum for discussing relevant topics for this week based on the course competencies covered.

For this assignment, make sure you post your initial response to the Discussion Area by the due date assigned.

To support your work, use your course and text readings and also use outside sources. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Complete your participation for this assignment by the end of the week.

Forecast Determination
A company is considering what forecasting method to use for coming time periods. The company has used something of a qualitative (consensus-based) forecasting method in the past, and wants to know if a more formal, quantitative forecasting method would be appropriate for them. Consider the following data from recent time periods:

Time Period

Forecast

Actual Demand

Three quarters ago

225

230

Two quarters ago

240

270

Last quarter

275

295

This quarter

You will determine

?

Briefly address each of the following bullets:

Discuss what method of forecasting you view to be most appropriate given the data given above. Explain why you believe your chosen forecasting method to be the most appropriate.
Select an appropriate value for alpha, and calculate an exponential smoothing forecast for this quarter. Discuss the relationship between the alpha value that you selected and the forecast value that you calculated. In other words, if you had selected a lower value for alpha, how would the calculated value be different, and if you had selected a higher value for alpha, how would the calculated value be different?
Assume that, at the end of this quarter, we could report that the demand for this quarter was actually 275 (just like last quarter). Would this information cause you to rethink the alpha value that you selected? If so, how would it impact the value that you would have selected for alpha?
The final paragraph (three or four sentences) of your initial post should summarize the one or two key points that you are making in your initial response.

After multiple people have posted the alpha value that they selected and the forecast that they calculated, compare your calculated value with those of your classmates. Whose value was most accurate? Why do you think the person with the most accurate forecast had the most accurate forecast?

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two peers and state whether you agree or disagree with their views.