Question

Last month, a processing facility (such as a check processing facility or a distribution center) transitioned from an unpaced assembly line to a machine-paced assembly line, so that now work is done to the product while it stays on the conveyor belt. Yesterday, the worker at the bottleneck station was replaced by another worker who works more slowly than the original worker (and nothing was done to compensate). Which of the following is most likely to result?
a. Inventory piles up before the new bottleneck worker.
b. Quality problems occur.
c. Cycle time increases.
d. The direction of the workflow changes
How does the cost of learning change as the division of labor increases (having more workers, doing more narrowly defined tasks)?
a. It tends to decrease at first but eventually starts growing again.
b. It tends to increase at first but eventually starts decreasing.
c. It tends to decrease with the growing degree of division of labor.
d. It is unchanged by the division of labor.

Answer 1

Answer: b. Quality problem occurs

• c. It tends to decrease with the growing degree of division of labor

Explanation:

From the scenario on the question, the most likely thing to result is for quality problems to occur. Quality simply has to do with the extent to which a particular product satisfies already specified requirements.

Based on the scenarios such as the worker at the bottleneck station being replaced by another worker who works more slowly than the original worker, the quality will be affected.

Division of labor is when task are being delegated in a workplace so that efficiency can be improved. When there is a rise in the division of labor, learning is affected as there'll be a decrease as division of labor increases. This is because everyone has his or her role to play rather than learning more about other departments or roles, the worker will be typically focused on one role.