SOLVED

Section 6  Aggregate Planning in Services 1) Techniques for controlling the cost of labor in services include accurate scheduling of labor hours to assure quick response to customer demand, on-call labor for unexpected demand, flexibility of labor skills for reallocation of available labor, and flexibility in rate of output or hours of work to meet changing demand. 2) Aggregate planning for fast food restaurants is very similar to aggregate planning in manufacturing, but with much smaller units of time. 3) Which of the following is NOT one of the successful techniques for controlling the cost of labor in services? A) accurate scheduling of labor-hours to assure quick response to customer demand B) an on-call labor resource that can be added or deleted to meet unexpected demand C) little flexibility in worker hours to decrease the burden on management D) flexibility of individual worker skills that permits reallocation of available labor E) flexibility in rate of output or hours of work to meet changing demand 4) Which of the following statements regarding aggregate planning in services is FALSE? A) Approaches to aggregate planning differ by the type of service provided. B) Some service organizations conduct aggregate planning in exactly the same way as manufacturing firms, but with demand management taking a more active role. C) Aggregate planning in some service industries may be easier than in manufacturing. D) Labor is the primary aggregate planning vehicle. E) Level scheduling is far more common than using a chase strategy. 5) Aggregate planning for service firms that provide intangible output deals mainly with: A) smoothing the production rate and finding the optimal size of the workforce. B) capital investment decisions. C) centralized purchasing. D) centralized production. E) planning for human resource requirements and managing demand. 6) What are successful techniques of controlling the cost of labor involved in service firms? 7) A large consulting firm is deciding on if its workforce should be expanded, maintained, or decreased. Suppose that demand is given in week-long projects, and that a consultant can work on 3 projects each month (1 week off for personal leave and/or other duties such as conferences, etc). Currently there are 25 consultants. Ten consultants are trained for LEAN and 15 for Six Sigma, with 5 of those consultants being overlaps (the consultant is trained for BOTH LEAN and Six Sigma). Assume that all consultants can do the general work. Complete the table (the forecast period is an upcoming month) and prepare a recommendation. Category Best Forecast (# projects) Likely Forecast (# projects) Worst Forecast (# projects) Max Demand in # of people Number of Qualified People LEAN 42 24 12   Six Sigma 45 36 30   General 75 60 57  Â