Use the robot example in Chap $17$ to explain the effects of statistical fluctuations and dependent events.

$2.$ Why did Jonah suggest $$balance the flow with demand$$ instead of $$balance capacity with demand$?$

$3.$ How does Jonah define "bottleneck resource"? Is bottleneck a bad thing to have? How did Alex

identify the bottleneck resources in his plant? Why was he not able to compare the demand with the

capacity to determine bottlenecks?

$4.$ What did Jonah suggest to deal with the two bottlenecks that Alex and his managers discovered?

$5.$ How did Jonah calculate the value of a "bottleneck part"? How is his approach different from

conventional standard cost systems?

$6.$ Based on Jonah$$s discussion in Chapter $19,$ provide examples of why the $$efficiency$$ mindset could

lead to negative effects. Describe why some corporate policies could be the bottleneck for making

improvement?

$7.$ What did Alex and his managers do to increase the capacity or the efficiency of the bottleneck resource?

Are any of these approaches contradictory to conventional practices? Are they expensive$/$difficult to

implement?

$8.$ Describe the red and green tags system that Alex and his managers developed. What was the purpose of

this tag system? How did the system work?

$9.$ Evaluate the decisions of bringing back Zmegma and engineering changes based on the T$,$ I, and OE

measurement.

$10.$ Use the robot example to explain why $$the sum of local optimums is not equal to the global optimum$.$

Describe a similar example from an organization with which you are familiar.

$11.$ Describe the $$drum$$ and $$rope$$ ideas that Alex$$s kids provided to solve his production problems. In

addition, what did Ralph suggest for releasing materials for both bottleneck and non$-$bottleneck

resources? What was the negative of applying this method in terms of $$efficiency$?$

$12.$ Even with the improvement, Peach still threatened to close down Alex$$s plant. Why? What did Jonah

suggest to achieve even more improvement? From the perspective of traditional measurement system,

what are the negatives of Jonah$$s suggestion? Be sure to read and understand the conversation between

Alex and Julie on this topic.

$13.$ Define "lead time". What are the four elements included in lead time? How are these four elements

affected $($increase or decrease$)$ if batch size is reduced in half?

$14.$ How does the batch size reduction in non$-$bottleneck resource affect T$,$ I and OE$?$

$15.$ What did Alex promise Johnny Jons in order to get more business for his plant? What changes did he

have to make in his production systems to deliver his promise?