Operations Management | OCR A-Level Business H431 (H431)

Operations Management

312 questions
22 subtopics
Assessed on all three papers
Component 01, Component 02 and Component 03

Operations Management is examined in all three written papers — the specification is assessed in full on every one of them, and they differ by the context questions are set in rather than by content.

It covers operations objectives and operations strategy, added value and how it is measured, innovation and research and development, job, batch, flow and cell production, specialisation and the division of labour, service provision and customer service, project management and Gantt charts, critical path analysis and network diagrams, PERT and the limits of project planning, productivity and how to raise it, economies and diseconomies of scale, capacity utilisation and capacity management, stock control charts and reorder levels, reordering systems and the cost of holding stock, lean production, just in time and kanban, technology in operations, quality control, quality assurance and TQM, external quality standards and benchmarking, choosing a location for a business, logistics and supply chain management, outsourcing, offshoring and re-shoring and external influences on operations.

Sample questions from Operations Management

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Operations objectives and operations strategy

How does an environmental target work as an operations objective?

Show the answer
It commits operations to a measurable cut in waste, emissions or energy use, which then shapes the choice of suppliers, materials and production methods.
Innovation and research and development

How does a patent encourage a business to invest in research and development?

Show the answer
It gives a period of legal protection during which rivals cannot copy the invention, so the innovator can charge a higher price and recover the development cost.
Service provision and customer service

Why is quality harder to standardise in services than in manufacturing?

Show the answer
Each encounter depends on the individual member of staff and the individual customer, so output varies between deliveries in a way an inspected physical product does not.
Critical path analysis and network diagrams

A project's longest route runs through four activities lasting 3, 5, 4 and 2 days. State the minimum project duration and the float these activities carry.

Show the answer
The minimum duration is 3 + 5 + 4 + 2 = 14 days, and each of these activities has zero float.
Economies and diseconomies of scale

Explain financial economies of scale.

Show the answer
A large firm is treated as a lower credit risk and can borrow larger sums, so it obtains finance at a lower rate of interest than a small firm can.
Stock control charts and reorder levels

What happens on a stock control chart when a supplier's lead time lengthens and the reorder level is left unchanged?

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Stock keeps falling for longer before the delivery arrives, so it drops into the buffer stock and, if the delay is long enough, runs out and production stops.
Technology in operations

Why does automation raise fixed costs while lowering variable costs?

Show the answer
The equipment is a large one-off investment that must be paid for whatever the level of output, while it replaces wages that would otherwise rise with every unit made.
External quality standards and benchmarking

Distinguish between internal and competitive benchmarking.

Show the answer
Internal benchmarking compares performance between the firm's own sites or departments, while competitive benchmarking compares it against rival firms in the same market.

The 22 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Operations objectives and operations strategy	Recall questions on the operations function, operations objectives such as cost, quality, speed, flexibility and environmental targets, how they differ from corporate objectives, their value to other functions and employees, conflicts between cost and quality, dependability, and matching an operations strategy to a low-cost market position.	16
Added value and how it is measured	Recall questions on added value, the formula for it, how to calculate it per unit and in total, and the ways a business raises it.	12
Innovation and research and development	Recall questions on innovation, research and development, invention against innovation, product and process innovation with self-service checkouts as an example, pure and applied research, the stages of research and development, pharmaceutical spending, patents, the risks of research programmes, and how innovation benefits margins, consumers and the economy.	15
Job, batch, flow and cell production	Recall questions on job, batch, flow and cell production, examples such as bespoke tailoring and bakeries, why flow production lowers unit costs, its capital cost and vulnerability to breakdowns and falling demand, cell production and motivation, choosing a method, and mass customisation.	14
Specialisation and the division of labour	Recall questions on the division of labour and specialisation and how they differ, why dividing labour raises output and cuts training costs, its motivational drawback, vulnerability to absence, job rotation, the effect on quality, benefits to consumers, and the scale of output it needs.	12
Service provision and customer service	Recall questions on services and their location, advance booking, the stages of service provision, the customer's part in production, standardising service quality, customer service, the UK service sector, measuring quality through surveys, mystery shopping, complaints and net promoter scores, the cost of poor service, empowerment, and premium pricing.	17
Project management and Gantt charts	Recall questions on project management and why businesses use it, projects against routine operations, Gantt charts, reading bar lengths, finish dates, overlaps and progress, the limitation of Gantt charts, qualitative factors in project success, poor communication, and why network calculations are not enough.	14
Critical path analysis and network diagrams	Recall questions on critical path analysis and the critical path, earliest start and latest finish times, calculating total float and free float and how they differ, minimum project duration, latest start days, directing resources to critical activities, the risks of adding workers, and the weakness of duration estimates.	16
PERT and the limits of project planning	Recall questions on PERT, its optimistic, pessimistic and most likely times, the expected time it produces, and what project planning cannot allow for.	14
Productivity and how to raise it	Recall questions on productivity and production, calculating labour productivity, output per labour hour, percentage productivity change and labour cost per unit, why productivity does not always cut unit costs, raising productivity through automation, training and motivation, new machinery, international competitiveness, and the effects on employees.	15
Economies and diseconomies of scale	Recall questions on economies and diseconomies of scale, internal and external economies, purchasing, technical, financial, managerial and marketing economies, calculating the change in average cost as output grows, diseconomies from communication and motivation, external diseconomies such as congestion, and why economies of scale alone do not justify growth.	15
Capacity utilisation and capacity management	Recall questions on capacity and capacity utilisation, calculating utilisation, maximum output and fixed cost per unit, why low utilisation raises unit costs, the problems of running at full capacity, capacity management, overtime, extra shifts and subcontracting, seasonal hotels, reducing capacity, and rationalisation.	17
Stock control charts and reorder levels	Recall questions on stock control, reading a stock control chart and its sawtooth pattern, buffer stock, reorder levels and lead time, calculating reorder levels, lead times and reorder quantities, maximum stock levels, longer lead times, rising demand, stock-outs, and the cost of excess buffer stock.	14
Reordering systems and the cost of holding stock	Recall questions on fixed reorder level and fixed time reordering systems and their advantages, the economic order quantity and its formula and calculation, small orders, electronic point-of-sale systems, the costs of holding too much and too little stock, job against flow production, and perishable stock.	13
Lean production, just in time and kanban	Recall questions on lean production and the types of waste it removes, just in time production and the conditions it needs, kanban as a pull system, kaizen, the cash flow benefit and supply risk of just in time, time-based management, cell production, a car assembly plant, and workforce resistance.	14
Technology in operations	Recall questions on technology in production, computer-aided design, robots on assembly lines, how automation raises fixed costs and makes capacity utilisation more important, 3D printing, technology in retail services and operations information, reliance on technology, effects on employees, and why a small business may not automate.	12
Quality control, quality assurance and TQM	Recall questions on quality, quality control and quality assurance and how they differ, inspection and its drawback, calculating wastage, defect and yield rates, how lower wastage raises profit, total quality management and the internal customer, the difficulties of introducing it, training, and the benefits of quality to stakeholders.	16
External quality standards and benchmarking	Recall questions on external quality standards, ISO, British Standards and the EN prefix, why businesses seek certification and what it costs, why certification does not guarantee a good product, benchmarking, internal, competitive and cross-industry benchmarking, its difficulties, and why it rarely makes a business the market leader.	12
Choosing a location for a business	Recall questions on the factors in a location decision, locating near raw materials or customers, skilled labour, government incentives and infrastructure, calculating and comparing site costs, why low-cost sites can cost more, online and high street retailers, a national distribution warehouse, and the effects of location on workers and communities.	13
Logistics and supply chain management	Recall questions on logistics, supply chain and distribution management, warehouses, distribution centres and cross-docking, digital systems, choosing transport and sea freight, in-house and third-party logistics, supermarket availability, supplier disruption, single sourcing, and a next-day delivery strategy for an online retailer.	16
Outsourcing, offshoring and re-shoring	Recall questions on outsourcing, subcontracting, offshoring and re-shoring and how they differ, why businesses outsource support functions, turning fixed costs into variable costs, the risks of outsourcing core activities, reasons for re-shoring, quality problems offshore, effects on home employees, and consumer objections.	12
External influences on operations	Recall questions on how social attitudes, health and safety law, consumer protection and ethical sourcing shape operations, together with environmental pressure and circular production, recession, interest rates, a falling exchange rate, border checks on just in time supply chains, technological obsolescence, and adapting operations for international markets.	13

Operations Management is 312 of the 2,384 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.