How to use this guide
This material comes in three parts that feel very different. Supply chain management is mostly ideas you explain in writing, with a few quick calculations (weighted supplier scores, target cost, how many products a set of modules can make). Quality holds most of the math: control charts and process capability are the same handful of formulas applied to new data every time. Process analysis is flowcharts, stage-by-stage capacity, and the case for small steady improvements or a full redesign.
Topic order. Work the tabs left to right. 01 Sourcing covers make-or-buy and purchasing. 02 Logistics & design covers moving goods and designing products that are cheap to supply. 03 Quality covers the costs of quality, failsafes and the problem-finding tools. 04 Control charts asks "is the process stable?" and 05 Capability asks "is a stable process good enough for the customer?", so do them in that order. 06 Process analysis finds the bottleneck and decides how to improve.
Inside each topic: read the idea, do each worked example on paper before opening the solution (they run simplest first), then break the lab by changing numbers. Finish with the Drill until you get several in a row right. Earlier course topics (process flow, projects, inventory, capacity) are in the OPMA 317 Midterm guide.
| Level | What it asks | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | One definition, or one formula in one step | Which cost of quality is inspection? Lanes through a distribution centre |
| Intermediate | A standard calculation with a few steps | p-chart limits from a day's sample; Cp and Cpk |
| Exam level | A full exam-style question with several parts | Build x̄ and R charts from raw samples and judge a new one |
| Hard | Twists: combining ideas, working backwards, traps | The largest σ that still meets a spec; how many drying racks a line needs |
The drill starts at Beginner and steps up a level after three correct answers in a row; you can also pick a level yourself. The written questions, multiple choice and flashcards are ordered easy → hard, so working through them in order builds each idea from the ground up.
The core formulas
- Weighted score = Σ weight × score · target cost = market price − desired margin
- Direct lanes S × R, through one DC S + R · modules to stock = sum of options, products offered = product of options
- p-chart: p̄ = defectives ÷ (k × n), σp = √(p̄(1 − p̄) ÷ n), limits p̄ ± zσp
- x̄ chart: x̿ ± A2R̄ (or x̿ ± z·σ ÷ √n) · R chart: D4R̄ and D3R̄
- Cp = (USL − LSL) ÷ 6σ · Cpk = smaller of (USL − x̄) ÷ 3σ and (x̄ − LSL) ÷ 3σ · Z = (USL − x̄) ÷ σ
- Stage capacity: machines × rate, or units held ÷ hours each stays · Little's law I = R × T
Rules people forget: memorize
- Inspection is appraisal; training and failsafes are prevention; scrap is internal failure; warranty is external
- σp divides by n, the size of one sample, not by the number of samples
- A negative LCL becomes 0
- Pick A2, D3, D4 by n (units per sample), never by the number of samples
- Both the x̄ and the R chart must be in control
- Specs come from the customer, control limits from the process: never compare them
- Cp uses 6σ, Cpk uses 3σ; Cpk ≤ Cp, equal only when centred
- Process capacity = the slowest stage; fixing it moves the bottleneck
Exam format, weight and allowed aids differ between sections and terms. Check your own course outline.
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