Supplement G · Learning Curve Analysis
Supplement
G / Learning Curve AnalysisTRUE/FALSE
1. The learning effect can be represented by a line called a learning curve.
Answer: True
Reference: The Learning Effect
Difficulty: Easy
Keywords: learning, effect, curve
2. The first learning curve was developed by the aircraft industry.
Answer: True
Reference: The Learning Effect
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve
3. The simpler the product, the more pronounced the learning rate.
Answer: False
Reference: Managerial Considerations in the Use of Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, rate
4. Learning curves provide their greatest advantage in the early stages of new service or product production.
Answer: True
Reference: Managerial Considerations in the Use of Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, new, product, service
MULTIPLE CHOICE
5. Which of the following statements about learning curves is generally TRUE?
a. Management can decide to achieve a certain rate of learning.
b. Learning curves were first quantified by the U.S. Postal Service.
c. Using the “doubling” model, a learning curve with a rate of learning of 70 percent means the tenth unit takes 70 percent of the time that the twentieth unit will take.
d. Learning curves are recognition of the concept that the time a task takes usually decreases with experience.
Answer: d
Reference: The Learning Effect
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, repetition
6. Which one of the following statements about learning curves is TRUE?
a. A learning curve assumes that the direct labor requirements per unit will decrease at an increasing rate as cumulative production increases.
b. Learning at a capital-intensive operation usually will be less than it is for a labor-intensive operation.
c. Learning for a simple product will usually be greater than it is for complex products.
d. Learning curves can be used only for individuals, not for the whole organization.
Answer: b
Reference: Multiple sections
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, capital
7. Which one of the following statements is TRUE about the relationship between learning curves and competitive strategy?
a. Knowing where your process is on the learning curve will enable you to make frequent product modifications.
b. Firms that emphasize low cost in their competitive strategy strive to move down the learning curve by increasing volume.
c. Learning curves enable managers to project fixed manufacturing costs for future production quantities.
d. Projecting the impact of learning curves into the future is one effective way of reducing the impact of environmental uncertainty.
Answer: b
Reference: Multiple sections
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, strategy
8. Which one of the following is an assumption of learning curves?
a. The cumulative time of production decreases as production increases.
b. Time reduction per unit increases as cumulative production increases.
c. The same learning curve should be used when a company increases its level of automation.
d. The reduction in time per unit follows an exponential curve.
Answer: d
Reference: Multiple sections
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, assumption, exponential
9. Which one of the following statements is NOT a typical assumption related to developing learning curves?
a. The total direct labor hours needed to produce the first 100 units will be double the amount of hours needed to build the first 50 units.
b. The direct labor needed per unit will decrease at a declining rate as cumulative production increases.
c. The direct labor hours per unit will decrease according to an exponential curve as cumulative production increases.
d. The direct labor needed to produce the 50th unit will always be more than the direct labor needed to produce the 51st unit.
Answer: a
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, double
10. The annual report for Luddite Corporation boasted of their ERP implementation and noted that, “while there were initially some growing pains, our learning rate for this system has been calculated at 100%.” What are the implications of this statement?
a. Luddite Corporation is twice as fast processing transactions now.
b. Luddite Corporation is twice as slow processing transactions now.
c. Luddite Corporation processes transactions at the same rate now.
d. Luddite Corporation processes transactions instantaneously (takes zero time) now.
Answer: c
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, rate
11. Under learning curve theory, with a learning rate of 70 percent:
a. the time to produce the second unit will be 70 percent less than the time to produce the first unit.
b. the time to produce the second unit will be 30 percent less than the time to produce the first unit.
c. the cumulative average time per unit after producing the first 100 units will be 70 percent less than the average time per unit of the first 50 units.
d. the average time per unit will be cut in half for every 70 units.
Answer: b
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve
12. Which one of the following statements about learning curves is FALSE?
a. The direct labor for the n+1st unit will always be less than the direct labor required for the nth unit.
b. The reduction in time will follow an exponential curve.
c. A benefit of learning curves is that they are unaffected by factors such as product complexity and the rate of capital additions.
d. The cumulative average number of direct labor hours per unit for a given product after the tenth unit with an 80 percent learning rate will be less than that for the same product with a 70 percent learning rate.
Answer: c
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, capital, complexity
13. The first unit took 12 hours to produce and the learning rate is expected to be 85 percent. How long will it take to produce the tenth unit?
a. Fewer than or equal to 7.0 hours
b. Greater than 7.0 hours but fewer than or equal to 7.5
c. Greater than 7.5 but fewer than or equal to 8.0
d. Greater than 8.0
Answer: a
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, labor
14. The first unit produced in 15 hours has an estimated learning rate of 90 percent. At what level of output will the average production time per unit fall below 11 hours?
a. Fewer than or equal to 15 units
b. Greater than 15 units but fewer than or equal to 17 units
c. Greater than 17 units but fewer than or equal to 19 units
d. Greater than 19 units
Answer: d
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, average
15. How long will it take to make 25 units if the first one took 8 hours and there is a 90 percent learning rate? Refer to the copy of Table G.1appended to this exam.
a. Fewer than or equal to 130 hours
b. Greater than 130 hours but fewer than or equal to 140 hours
c. Greater than 140 hours but fewer than or equal to 150 hours
d. Greater than 150 hours
Answer: c
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve
16. The fifth unit took 10 hours to produce and the learning rate is expected to be 85 percent. How long will it take to produce the tenth unit?
a. Fewer than or equal to 8.0 hours
b. Greater than 8.0 hours but fewer than or equal to 8.5
c. Greater than 8.5 hours but fewer than or equal to 9.0
d. Greater than 9.0
Answer: b
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Easy
Keywords: learning, curve, labor
17. The fifth unit of a long production run was produced in 15 hours. The process has an estimated learning rate of 90 percent. What is the lowest level of output at which the average production time per unit falls below 15 hours?
a. Fewer than or equal to 8 units
b. Greater than 8 units but fewer than or equal to 11 units
c. Greater than 11 units but fewer than or equal to 14 units
d. Greater than 14 units
Answer: c
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, average
18. How long will it take to make 25 units if the third one took 6.5 hours and there is a 90 percent learning rate? Refer to the copy of Table G.1 appended to this exam.
a. Fewer than or equal to 130 hours
b. Greater than 130 hours but fewer than or equal to 140 hours
c. Greater than 140 hours but fewer than or equal to 150 hours
d. Greater than 150 hours
Answer: b
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve
19. The fourth unit took 10 hours to produce and the learning rate is expected to be 80 percent. How long will it take to produce the tenth unit?
a. Fewer than or equal to 7.0 hours
b. Greater than 7.0 hours but fewer than or equal to 8.0
c. Greater than 8.0 hours but fewer than or equal to 9.0
d. Greater than 9.0
Answer: b
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, labor
20. The seventh unit of a long production run was produced in 3 hours. The process has an estimated learning rate of 90 percent. At what level of output will the cumulative production time exceed 40 hours?
a. Fewer than or equal to 8 units
b. Greater than 8 units but fewer than or equal to 10 units
c. Greater than 10 units but fewer than or equal to 12 units
d. Greater than 12 units
Answer: d
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, average
21. How long will it take to make units 11through 20 if the first one took 8 hours and there is a 90 percent learning rate? Refer to the copy of Table G.1 appended to this exam.
a. Fewer than or equal to 50 hours
b. Greater than 50 hours but fewer than or equal to 55 hours
c. Greater than 55 hours but fewer than or equal to 60 hours
d. Greater than 60 hours
Answer: b
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve
22. Suppose the average time for the first 1,000 units you have manufactured is 2.375 minutes. Your rate of learning is 90 percent, and you need to find the total time required to manufacture the next 1,000 units. Refer to the copy of Table G.1 appended to this exam. The total time is:
a. not more than 2,000 minutes.
b. greater than 2,000 minutes but not more than 2,700 minutes.
c. greater than 2,700 minutes but not more than 3,300 minutes.
d. greater than 3,300 minutes.
Answer: a
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Hard
Keywords: learning, curve, time
23. Given that the third unit took 100 minutes and the rate of learning is 80 percent, how much time will it take to build unit 96?
a. Fewer than or equal to 30 minutes
b. Greater than 30 minutes but fewer than or equal to 35 minutes
c. Greater than 35 minutes but fewer than or equal to 40 minutes
d. Greater than 40 minutes
Answer: b
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Hard
Keywords: learning, curve, time
24. It took 100 hours to produce the first unit and 95 hours to produce the second unit. How many hours are required to produce the eighth unit?
a. Fewer than or equal to 60 hours
b. Greater than 60 hours but fewer than or equal to 75 hours
c. Greater than 75 hours but fewer than or equal to 90 hours
d. Greater than 90 hours
Answer: c
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, time
25. It took 100 hours to produce the first unit and the learning rate is 80 percent. How much time will it take to produce units 16 through 20? Refer to the copy of Table G.1 appended to this exam.
a. Fewer than or equal to 160 hours
b. Greater than 160 but fewer than or equal to 170 hours
c. Greater than 170 but fewer than or equal to 180 hours
d. Greater than 180 hours
Answer: d
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, time
26. Given that the fifth unit took 10 hours to build and the learning rate is 90 percent, how much time will it take to build units 11 through 15? Refer to the copy of Table G.1 appended to this exam.
a. Fewer than or equal to 38 hours
b. Greater than 38 hours but fewer than or equal to 40 hours
c. Greater than 40 hours but fewer than or equal to 42 hours
d. Greater than 42 hours
Answer: d
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, time
27. A company is introducing a new product. The first unit took 1,000 hours to complete, and the fourth unit took 750 hours to complete. What is the rate of learning for this product?
a. Less than 40 percent
b. Greater than or equal to 40 percent but less than 60 percent
c. Greater than or equal to 60 percent but less than 80 percent
d. Greater than 80 percent
Answer: d
Reference: Developing Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, rate
28. Using the information in Case G.1, how much time will it take to produce the units in month 1?
a. Fewer than 800 hours
b. Greater than or equal to 800 hours but fewer than 1,100 hours
c. Greater than or equal to 1100 hours but fewer than 1,500 hours
d. Greater than 1,500 hours
Answer: b
Reference: Using Learning Curves
Difficulty: Moderate
Keywords: learning, curve, time
29. Using the information in Case G.1, what is the minimum number of employees needed in month 3?
a. Fewer than 20 employees
b. Greater than or equal to 20 employees but fewer than 30 employees