1. Describe cycle time as it relates to business processes.  Why is it important to the management of business processes?  How does it relate to concepts like productivity and capacity utilization? (2 Marks) 2. Compare McDonald’s old and new processes for making hamburgers.  How valid is McDonald’s claim that the new process will produce fresher hamburgers for the customers?  Comparing McDonald’s new process to the processes used by Burger King and Wendy’s, which process would appear to produce the freshest hamburgers? (2 Marks)
3. What is job enrichment and what has led to its importance in job design?. (2 Marks)
4. Why are work measurement and time standards important for a firm?  Are there any negatives to the implementation of these standards? Are there ways to achieve the same objectives without setting firm standards? (3 Marks)

5. From your own experiences, compare the processes of your favorite bricks and mortar department store and a comparable online retailer.  What advantages does each have over the other for the company?  How about for you, the customer? (2 Marks)

6. A manufacturing company has a small production line dedicated to the production of a particular product.  The line has four stations in serial.  Inputs arrive at station 1 and the output from station 1 becomes the input to station 2.  The output from station 2 is the input to station 3 and so on.  The output from station 4 is the finished product.  Station 1 can process 2,700 units per month, station 2 can process 2,500/month, station 3 can process 2,300/month, and station 4 2,100/month.  What station sets the maximum possible output from this system?  What is that maximum output number? (1 Marks)

7. A firm has redesigned its production process so that it now takes 10 hours for a unit to be made. Using the old process, it took 15 hours to make a unit. If the process makes one unit each hour on average and each unit is worth $1,500, what is the reduction in work-in-process value?. (2 Marks)

8. At the Children’s Hospital in Seattle there are, on average, 60 births per week. Mother and child stay, on average, two days before they leave the hospital. At the Swedish Hospital (also in Seattle), the average number of births per week is 210. Mothers and children stay in the hospital two days on average. (3 Mark)a. How many new mothers, on average, are staying at the Children’s Hospital? b. How many new mothers, on average, are staying at the Swedish Hospital? c. The directors of the two hospitals are negotiating unifying the maternity wards of the two hospitals. They believe that by doing so they will be able to reduce the number of new mothers staying in the unified ward. Are they correct? How many new mothers will stay, on average, in the unified ward? You may assume that the average number of births and the length of stay of the new mothers will not change.

9. I-mart is a discount optical shop that can fill most prescription orders in around 1 hour. The management is analyzing the processes at the store. There currently is one person assigned to each task below. The optometrist assigned to task B takes an hour off for lunch and the other employees work the entire day. (3 Marks)  For a typical 10-hour retail day (10 a.m.–8 p.m.), the manager would like to calculate the following:  a. What is the current maximum output of the process per day (assuming every patient requires glasses)? b. If another person were added, where would be the logical place? c. What effect would a mail order lab (where the glasses are made off-site and returned in 5–7 days) have on the process?