Think of a service company that you have purchased a service from in the past year. Which service did you purchase? Describe the four characteristics (intangible, transient, interactive and heterogeneous)

Assignment Task

1 Think of a service company that you have purchased a service from in the past year.

• Which service did you purchase?
• Describe the four characteristics (intangible, transient, interactive and heterogeneous) of the service.
• What kind of delivery system does the company use: a single-step delivery system or a multi-step delivery system?
• To which category does this form of service belong: professional service, service shop or mass service? Justify your answer.

2 What role do customers have in a service delivery system?

3 What is the relationship between the front and back office?

4 Using an example, explain that services and products are initially very different, but are nevertheless directly or indirectly linked.

5 Explain how Kanban can work as a signaling method for a shelf stocker in a supermarket.

Making products

1 What influence does the type of product (mass or special) play in the choice of the manufacturing process? Justify your answer.

2 Different production processes can be distinguished. Indicate the differences between line production and job production based on the following aspects:

• Control Complexity
• Level of process investment
• Volume
• Schedule

3 Why is batch production most common? Justify your answer.

4 Which production process does a bakery use? Justify your answer.

5 The fuel tank gap of most petrol cars is smaller than that of diesel cars. This prevents a customer from accidentally filling up with diesel in a petrol car. Which Lean method underlies this? Justify your answer.

Location and layout

1 A company produces large volumes of plastic bottles. Which factor plays an important role in the choice of location?

2 Which factor in the choice of location plays a major role in fresh produce companies?

3 Name three variable costs that influence a company’s location choice.

4 Name three influences that the choice of location has on the potential demand.

5 What layout do the following companies use? Justify your answer.

1. The maternity ward in a hospital.
2. A supermarket.
3. Car manufacturer.

Capacity

1 What is the difference between capacity utilization and efficiency?

2 In a workshop, three people work eight hours a day, five days a week. In week 2, each employee worked 0.5 hour overtime per day. In week 3 there was no overtime, but 1 employee was sick for a day.

1. Calculate the planned capacity.
2. Calculate the capacity utilization in week 2.
3. Calculate the capacity utilization in week 3.
4. What is the purpose of calculating capacity utilization?

3 Product X is produced by the company CapC. It takes 20 minutes to make this product. An employee makes this product throughout the day. A working day is 8 hours. He makes 17 pieces a day.

1. Calculate the efficiency of this employee.
2. What does this number say about the employee?

4 What type of capacity plan is suitable for a producer of perishable products? Justify your answer.

5 How does capacity affect the following aspects?

• Cost
• Flexibility
• Quality