Industrial Engineering MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Industrial Engineering - Download Free PDF

Explanation:

Break-Even Point in Cost–Volume Relationship

• In the context of cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis, the Break-Even Point is a critical concept that represents the level of sales at which total revenue equals total costs. At this point, there is no profit or loss—the business simply "breaks even." This is a fundamental tool for decision-making in finance and management, helping businesses determine the minimum sales volume required to avoid losses.

In graphical representation of the cost–volume relationship:

• The Total Revenue line represents the income generated from selling products or services. It starts at the origin (for zero sales) and increases linearly as the volume of sales increases.
• The Total Costs line represents the sum of fixed costs and variable costs. The fixed costs remain constant, while variable costs increase with the volume of production or sales.

The point where these two lines intersect is the Break-Even Point. At this point:

• Total Revenue = Total Costs
• Profit = 0 (no profit, no loss)

This intersection reflects the exact sales volume required to cover all costs. Any sales beyond this point result in profit, while sales below this point lead to a loss.

Break-even chart:

• The break-even analysis is the study of the cost-volume-profit (CVP) relationship.
• It refers to a system of determining that level of operations where the organization neither earns profit nor suffer any loss i.e where the total cost is equal to total sales i.e the point of zero profit (Break-even point).
• In a broader sense, it refers to a system of analysis that can be used to determine probable profit at any level of activity.
• The figure below shows the break-even chart.

The various point mentioned in the graph are:

Fixed cost:

• The cost does not change for a given period (lifetime).
• This cost is independent of the volume of production (means it doesn’t affect whether the production is large or small).
• For example, rent, tax salaries of the supervisor, cost of the machine, insurance cost, etc.

Variable cost:

• This cost varies directly and proportionally with the output.
• Higher the output, the larger the variable cost.
• For example, the cost of raw material, cost of labor, etc.

Total Cost:

• Total cost is the sum of fixed cost and variable cost.

Total revenue/sales:

• It indicates the return obtained by selling the number of units produced.
• It is directly proportional to the volume of production.

Margin of safety:

• The Margin of safety is the distance between the break-even point and output is produced.
• A large margin of safety indicates that the business can earn profit even if there is a great reduction in output.
• A small margin of safety indicates that the profit will be small even if there is a small drop in output.

Break-even point:

• It is the point of intersection of the total cost line and total revenue line.
• There is neither profit nor loss at the break-even point.

Explanation:

Scheduling in Production Planning and Control

• Scheduling is a critical component of Production Planning and Control (PPC) that ensures the efficient and effective use of resources, time, and materials to achieve production goals. The primary purpose of scheduling is to plan and allocate resources in such a way that production processes are streamlined, and products are completed on time. This involves assigning tasks, sequencing operations, and determining start and end times for various activities within the production cycle. Proper scheduling is essential for maintaining a smooth production flow, minimizing delays, and meeting customer demands.

Core purpose of scheduling:

1. Timely Delivery: Scheduling helps in planning the production activities in a way that products are manufactured and delivered to customers on time. This is crucial for maintaining a good reputation and building trust with customers. Late deliveries can lead to customer dissatisfaction, loss of business, and damage to the company’s reputation.

2. Resource Optimization: Scheduling ensures the efficient use of resources, including manpower, machinery, and materials. By allocating resources appropriately and avoiding overloading or underutilization, scheduling helps in maximizing productivity and reducing operational costs.

3. Reduction in Idle Time: Proper scheduling minimizes idle time for machines and workers by ensuring that tasks are sequenced logically and efficiently. This reduces downtime and enhances the overall efficiency of the production process.

4. Inventory Management: Scheduling plays a vital role in inventory management by ensuring that raw materials and components are available when needed. This helps in avoiding overstocking or stockouts, leading to cost savings and uninterrupted production.

5. Meeting Customer Demands: By ensuring that products are completed on time, scheduling helps in meeting customer demands and expectations. This is particularly important in industries where timely delivery is a critical factor in customer satisfaction.

6. Enhanced Coordination: Scheduling facilitates better coordination among different departments, such as production, procurement, and logistics. This ensures that all activities are aligned and contribute to the timely completion of products.

7. Flexibility and Adaptability: A well-designed scheduling system allows for flexibility and adaptability in case of unforeseen circumstances, such as machine breakdowns or changes in customer orders. This helps in minimizing disruptions and maintaining production schedules.

Explanation:

Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory

Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, also known as the Motivation-Hygiene Theory, is a psychological framework designed to understand employee satisfaction and motivation in the workplace. The theory classifies job-related factors into two categories:

• Motivators: These are intrinsic factors that lead to job satisfaction by fulfilling an employee's need for personal growth and achievement. Examples include recognition, responsibility, achievement, and advancement.
• Hygiene Factors: These are extrinsic factors that do not directly contribute to job satisfaction but can cause dissatisfaction if they are absent or inadequate. Examples include salary, company policies, working conditions, and job security.

Salary

• According to Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, salary is classified as a hygiene factor. This means that while an adequate salary can prevent job dissatisfaction, it does not necessarily lead to job satisfaction or motivation. In other words, employees expect a fair salary as a basic requirement for their job, and its absence can lead to dissatisfaction. However, increasing salary alone might not significantly boost motivation or satisfaction unless accompanied by motivators like recognition and achievement.
• For instance, an employee may feel dissatisfied if they perceive their salary as unfair or insufficient compared to their peers. On the other hand, even if the salary is increased, the employee may not feel truly satisfied unless they also experience factors like career growth, acknowledgment of their efforts, or challenging work.

Important Information

• Option 1: Responsibility - Responsibility is a motivator in Herzberg's theory. It satisfies an employee's intrinsic need to feel important and in control of their work. Assigning more responsibility can lead to job satisfaction and motivation.
• Option 2: Achievement - Achievement is another motivator. It refers to the sense of accomplishment that employees feel when they successfully complete tasks or reach their goals. This intrinsic factor greatly enhances job satisfaction.
• Option 3: Recognition - Recognition is also a motivator. When employees are acknowledged for their contributions, it boosts their morale and job satisfaction, fostering a positive work environment.
• Option 4: Salary - As explained above, salary is a hygiene factor. It prevents dissatisfaction but does not inherently motivate employees or lead to job satisfaction.

Explanation:

ABC Analysis Derived from Pareto's 80/20 Rule:

• ABC analysis is a method of categorizing inventory or other items into three distinct groups (A, B, and C) based on their importance and contribution to overall value. This concept is derived from the Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule, which states that 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. In inventory management, this translates to the idea that a small percentage of items (Category A) accounts for the majority of the value or impact, while the majority of items (Categories B and C) contribute less significantly.

ABC analysis divides inventory into three categories:

• Category A: These are high-value items that contribute the most to the overall value. Typically, this category represents around 20% of the total items but accounts for approximately 80% of the total value.
• Category B: These are medium-value items that contribute moderately to the overall value. They usually represent around 30% of the items and account for 15% of the total value.
• Category C: These are low-value items that contribute the least to the overall value. This category often represents around 50% of the items but accounts for only 5% of the total value.

Steps to Perform ABC Analysis:

1. List all items and their respective values (e.g., cost, revenue, or impact).
2. Rank the items in descending order based on their values.
3. Calculate the cumulative percentage of the total value and the cumulative percentage of the total items.
4. Divide the items into categories (A, B, and C) based on their contribution to the cumulative value.

Benefits of ABC Analysis:

• Helps prioritize resources and efforts for high-value items.
• Enables better inventory management by focusing on critical items.
• Improves decision-making and operational efficiency.
• Reduces costs and waste by optimizing the management of lower-value items.

Applications of ABC Analysis:

• Inventory management in manufacturing, retail, and logistics.
• Cost control and budgeting.
• Supplier management and procurement strategies.
• Focus on high-value customers in marketing and sales.

Explanation:

Profit Zone:

• The break-even analysis is a vital tool in understanding the financial health of a business. The area between the 'Total Revenue' line and the 'Total Costs' line to the right of the break-even point represents the profit zone. This is the region where a company starts generating profit after covering all its costs (both fixed and variable).

Break-even chart:

• The break-even analysis is the study of cost-volume-profit (CVP) relationship in which a graph is drawn between volume of production (Quantity) and income (Sales).
• It refers to a system of determining that level of operations where the organisation neither earns profit nor suffer any loss i.e where the total cost is equal to total sales i.e the point of zero profit (Break-even point).
• In a broader sense, it refers to a system of analysis that can be used to determine probable profit at any level of activity.
• The figure below shows the break-even chart.

The various point mentioned in the graph are:

Fixed cost:

• The cost which does not change for a given period (lifetime).
• This cost is independent of the volume of production (means it doesn’t affect by whether the production is large or small).
• For example, rent, taxes salaries of the supervisor, cost of the machine, insurance cost, etc.

Variable cost:

• This cost varies directly and proportionally with the output.
• Higher the output, larger the variable cost.
• For example, the cost of raw material, cost of labour, etc.

Total Cost:

• Total cost is the sum of fixed cost and variable cost.

Total revenue/sales:

• It indicates the return obtained by selling the number of units produced.
• It is directly proportional to the volume of production.

Margin of safety:

• The Margin of safety is the distance between the break-even point and output is produced.
• A large margin of safety indicates that the business can earn profit even if there is a great reduction in output.
• A small margin of safety indicates that the profit will be small even if there is a small drop in output.

Break-even point:

• It is the point of intersection of the total cost line and total revenue line.
• There is neither profit nor loss at the break-even point.

Explanation:

• Accidents which occur from environmental causes refer to those workplace accidents that happen because of the working environment. The environmental factors can be both natural and man-made such as workplace design. Common environmental causes of accidents include:
  • Poor lighting: Low visibility is a common cause of slips, trips, and falls.
  • Ambient temperature: If a workplace is too hot, overheating can occur. If the workplace is too cold, frostbite or hypothermia can occur.
  • Air pollution: Breathing issues can develop if a workplace has poor ventilation or air pollution.
  • Sound pollution: The sound in a workplace can cause injury to a worker’s hearing.​​

Concept:

In CPM:

The standard deviation of critical path:

σ_cp = \(\sqrt {Sum\;of\;variance\;along\;critical\;path} \)

σ_cp = \(\sqrt {σ _1^2 + σ _2^2 + \ldots + σ _8^2 + σ _9^2} \)

Where, σ₁, σ₂, ...., σ₈, σ₉ are the standard deviation of each activity on the critical path   

Calculation:

Given:

σ1, σ2, ...., σ8, σ9 = 3

σcp = \(\sqrt {σ _1^2 + σ _2^2 + \ldots + σ _8^2 + σ _9^2} \)

σ_cp = \(\sqrt {3^2 + 3^2 + 3^2 + 3^2 + 3^2 + 3^2 + 3^2 + 3^2 + 3^2} \)

σ_cp = \(\sqrt {9 \times 9} \) = 9

∴ the standard deviation of the critical path is 9.

Given:

The cost of 157 litre of oil is Rs.  29763.65

Calculation:

Cost price of 157 liters of oil = Rs. 29763.65

Cost price of 1 liter of oil = 29763.65/157

⇒ 189.577 ≈ 189.58

∴ The cost per liter is 189.58 (rounded off to two decimal places).

Concept:

Capitalized value:

It is the amount of money whose annual interest at the highest prevailing rate of interest will be equal to the net income from the property.

To determine the capitalized value of a property, it is required to know the net income from the property and the highest prevailing rate of interest.

Capitalized value (V) of the property is given by:

V = Net annual income × Year purchase

Year’s purchase is defined as the capital sum required to be invested in order to receive an annuity of Rs. 1.00 at a certain rate of interest.

\({\rm{Yea}}{{\rm{r}}^{\rm{'}}}{\rm{s\;purchase}} = \frac{1}{{i \;+ \;s}}\)
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(Put i and S in decimals)

Where,

i = rate of interest

S = Sinking fund coefficient

Calculation:

Given: Net annual income = 10000, i = 5% = 0.05, s =0.05

\({\rm{Yea}}{{\rm{r}}^{\rm{'}}}{\rm{s\;purchase}} = \frac{1}{{0.05 \;+ \;0.05}}\)

⇒ Year's purchase = 10

V = 10000 × 10 = 100000

Explanation:

A project may be defined as a combination of interrelated activities which must be executed in a certain order before the entire task can be completed.

The aim of planning is to develop a sequence of activities of the project so that the project completion time and cost are properly balanced.

To meet the objective of systematic planning, the management has evolved several techniques applying network strategy.

PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique) and CPM (Critical Path Method) are network techniques which have been widely used for planning, scheduling and controlling the large and complex projects.

• PERT (Project Evaluation and Review Technique) approach takes account of the uncertainties. In this approach, 3-time values are associated which each activity. So it is probabilistic.

• CPM (Critical Path Method) involves the critical path which is the largest path in the network from starting to ending event and defines the minimum time required to complete the project. So it is deterministic.

Difference between PERT and CPM (Critical Path Method)

Explanation:

Various techniques of inventory control are explained in the table below:

Concept

Stock items:

• Stock items are defined as material resources that are held in storerooms and issued to activities that require the materials to be completed.
• The stock item record determines whether or not the type of stock can be purchased, repaired, tracked, and so on.

Bin cards:

• Bin means a rack, container, or room where goods are kept. Bin cards are printed cards used for accounting for the stock of material, in stores.
• A bin card is a quantitative record of receipts, issues, and closing balance of each item of stores. For every item of material, separate bin cards are kept.

Concept:

Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is probabilistic in nature and is based upon three-time estimates to complete an activity.

Optimistic Time (to): It is the minimum time that will be taken to complete an activity if everything goes according to the plan.

Pessimistic Time (tp): It is the maximum time that will be taken to complete an activity when everything goes against the plan.

Most likely time (tm): It is the time required to complete a project when an activity is executed under normal conditions.

Average or most expected time is given by \({t_E} = \left( {\frac{{{t_p}\; + \;4{t_m}\; + {t_o}}}{6}} \right)\)

The variance gives the measure of uncertainty of activity completion. The variance of the activity is given by 

Variance, \(V = {\left( {\frac{{{t_p} - {t_0}}}{6}} \right)^2}\)

Standard duration, \(\sigma = \sqrt {variance} \)

Calculation:

Given:

t_p = 10 days, t_o = 4 days

\({\rm{V}} = {\left( {\frac{{{{\rm{t}}_{\rm{p}}} - {{\rm{t}}_{\rm{o}}}}}{6}} \right)^2} = {\left( {\frac{{10 - 4}}{6}} \right)^2} = 1\)

The variance of the activity is 1.

Concept:

The inventory comprises of a large number of items. All items are not of equal importance. The firm, therefore, should pay more attention and care to those items whose usage value is high and less attention to those whose usage value is low.

There are different types of selective inventory control:

Concept:

This model is used when the replacement is instantaneous and no shortage is allowed. The Economic Order Quantity for this model is given by Wilson Formula.

\({Q^*} = \sqrt {\frac{{2D{C_o}}}{{{C_h}}}} \)

where Q^* = Economic Order Quantity (Units), D = Demand rate (Units/month or Units/year), C_o = Ordering cost/order (Rs.), C_h = Handling cost (Rs./unit/year)

[Note: Time unit of Demand & Handling Cost must be same i.e. units/year or units/month]

Calculation:

Given:

D = 12000 units/year, C_o = Rs. 100, C_h = Rs. 0.80/unit/month ⇒ Rs. 0.80 × 12/unit/year

∵\(\;{Q^*} = \sqrt {\frac{{2D{C_o}}}{{{C_h}}}} \)

\( \Rightarrow {Q^*} = \sqrt {\frac{{2 \times 12000 \times 100}}{{0.80 \times 12}}} \)

⇒ Q^* = 500 units.