Week 1 exercises
Productivity problems for Test 1 · Heizer Ch. 1
Test 1 (next Thursday, 09:00) has calculation items of exactly the kinds below, with changed numbers, plus questions on the Frito-Lay and Hard Rock Cafe cases at the end of Chapter 1. Work on paper, with a calculator; write the unit next to every result.
The formulas in words. Productivity = output ÷ input. Single-factor productivity = output ÷ one input (labor-hours, kWh, kg). Multifactor productivity = output ÷ all inputs in money (hours, kilograms and kWh cannot be added; euros can). Productivity growth = (new − old) ÷ old.
Formula sheet to download: Week 1 formula sheet: productivity (PDF, 1 page) — the one-page sheet handed out with the bonus sheet; print it and keep it next to you while you practise.
Start here: Solved Problems 1.1 and 1.2 (Modern Lumber) at the end of Chapter 1, then the Collins Title examples in the chapter text. The Week 1 key content walks through all three.
Part A · Problems from the textbook
Solve these from Chapter 1 of Heizer et al. (2023). The problem texts are in the book. ● = warm-up, ●● = test level, ●●● = stretch. Do at least the ● and ●● problems.
| Problem | Level | What it trains |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | ● | single-factor before/after, percentage change |
| 1.2 | ● | labor productivity of a line |
| 1.4 | ● | one person, before/after |
| 1.7 | ● | labor productivity per $ and multifactor |
| 1.11 | ●● | productivity when the shift pattern changes |
| 1.8 | ●● | multifactor with four inputs, energy scenario |
| 1.5 | ●● | single-factor per input, which measure is the standard |
| 1.6 | ●● | multifactor from 1.5 with prices |
| 1.3 | ●● | all single-factor and multifactor measures, two years |
| 1.10 | ●● | multifactor as a benchmark |
| 1.9 | ●●● | check a vendor’s claim with productivity numbers |
| 1.17 | ●●● | multifactor with capital as a monthly charge |
| 1.12 | ●●● | inverse: how many workers? |
| 1.13 | ●●● | multifactor in €, and the cost room that keeps it |
Part B · The same ideas in new settings
Eight problems of our own, with answers, appear here after Thursday’s class: one of them uses the numbers of the moving-day exercise.
The cases
Read the Frito-Lay and Hard Rock Cafe cases at the end of Chapter 1. For each case, be ready to say what the inputs and outputs are, which productivity measure you would use, and one way the company raises its productivity.
The in-class bonus
In Weeks 1–6 the afternoon ends with a bonus sheet: four to six items, done alone, on paper, in class, with your code name at the top. You scan it with your phone and upload it to ILIAS by 15:30. It counts if every item is attempted with the calculation path visible and more than half of the results are correct, and it improves your grade on the next test by 0.3 (for example from 2.3 to 2.0), if that test is passed. The bonus sheet is handed out in class only; it is never on this site. The exercises on this page are the training for it. Details: Assessment.
Sources
Heizer et al. (2023), Chapter 1 (Part A problem numbers and definitions). Part B: own material, R. Bartnik (2026).