Area Manager Interview Questions
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Area Manager interview questions shared by candidates
Give me an example of difficult or failing project and how did you change the outcome. Give examples of the direction you had taken
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I gave a project where the local jurisdiction was holding up permitting. I let him know who I recruited as a resource and all of the steps we had taken to get the permit in hand and what I did to get the project back on track Less
Case Study 2: You run a packing department where customer orders are categorized into small, medium and large batches. In general you try to rotate your packers between all sizes of customer orders since there have been prior cases reported of shoulder strain from folks doing large batches for a full shift. Ian is your best large item packer; he can do twice the expected rate seemingly without even trying. He has been packing large items all morning. After lunch you see your queue has grown in the large batch area. If you keep Ian in the large item packing area, he can get the work accomplished without any impact to production. Or you would need to move two employees into backfill his role which may impact your overall production for the day. What do you do?
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As a good Operations Manager you'll know your people and their capabilities very well. Keep your eye on two things: the task and the welfare of your people...and, in that order. If Ian is doing well and is producing high quality results then consider keeping him right there, unless you feel like doing so would somehow negatively affect him. Stop by, see him, ask him how he is doing. Let his responses guide your decision, but don't let them be the sole input to your decision. The task is to meet your production objectives, so if it takes 2 people to do what Ian is doing by himself then you better be certain that it's worth it. If you keep him there, make sure you stop by periodically and reassess your decision. Consider giving him some easier tasks at the end of the shift to ensure he can come back healthy for the next shift. Less
Math Question: Inbound Flow Question: You are in charge of the department that receives the product in to the building and stows it to the bin where it is accessible by the department. you have two options on how to receive and stow the product. In the first option, you receive the product at 250 units per labor hour and stow it at 100 units per labor hour. You must receive it and stow it for the unit to count for production. This process results in 1% of the units stowed being incorrect. You can find and fix these errors at a rate of 20 units for labor hour with what you believe is almost 100% accuracy. In the second option, you receive and stow the product in one step vs. two. The rate for this process is 80 units per labor hours for receive and stow. This process results in 1.5% of the units being stowed being incorrect. You can find and fix these errors at a rate of 20 units per hour with what you believe is almost 100% accuracy. 1. Which option would you select to process today's units and why? 2. Does your answer change if you are told you must fully process 100,000 units today? If yes, why? 3. Does your answer change if you are told that you have 15 associates today and you must fully produce the maximum amount of units possible? If yes, why?
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I like the top answer, but it's a bit complex.....lets make this simple. Start with a setting a production goal at a number that is easy to work with. Lets say 1,000 Units. In option A it would take 4 Labor hours to receive 1,000 units (1,000/250=4) and it would take 10 labor hours to stow 1,000 units 1,000/100=10). 1,000 units X the error rate of .01 = 10 errors. Since you can correct 20 errors in an hour it would take .5 hours to correct the 10 mistakes. So for Option A it would take a total of 14.5 hours (4+10+.5=14.5) to receive and stow 1,000 units. In option B you can receive and stow at a rate of 80 units per hour. So 1,000/80 = 12.5 hours. There is a error rate of 1.5% using this method. So 1000 X .015 = 15 errors. Since we can correct 20 mistakes per hour it would take .75 hours to correct the mistakes. The total hours to receive and stow 1,000 units using this option at 13.25 hours (12.5+.75=13.25). Option B is the best method. Option B will always be the better method, unless we are given new or updated data. I hope this helps. Less
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1st scenario: Assumption - we have 1000 units To receive 1000 units, we would need 4hrs (@250units/hr) and to stow 1000 units, we need 10 hrs (@100 units/hr). # stowed incorrectly @1% = 10 and it takes 0.5 hrs to correct it. So total hrs is14.5 hrs (4+10+.5). Scenario 2: To receive and stow 1000 units, we need 12.5 hrs (@80units/hr). # stowed incorrectly @1.5% is 15 and it would take 0.75 hrs to correct it. Total time = 13.25 hrs (12.5+.75) So option 2 is better in this scenario. Doing the same math for 100000 units, Option 1 takes 1450 hrs and option 2 takes 1325 hrs. So Option 2 is always better, I guess!!! Less
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Please don't let this question confuse you. Option 1 produces about 69 units per hour whereas option 2 produces about 76 per hour. The answer is so much more simple than everyone is making it out to be. In any situation option 2 is going to give you more units per hour which is more productive. The are no special factors or tricks. Option 2. Pause and act like you're doing the math to avoid undue embarrassment. Less
Tell me about yourself. Don't say something typical
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Yo solo quiero estar llevando acabó actividad, que beneficien tanto inversión, clientes y trabajadores Less
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Define , Typical then I will proceed with my answers. 4 days a week in my sleep I feel I have superman abilities and fly over sea with no passport. Rest of the week I sleep sound.. Less
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Hardworking, empathetic, and self-aware leader.
Phone screening Math Flow question: You have 30 associates, 2 are not on the production floor. Each can process 150 UPH; Each works 8 hr days, 5 days week; each day each worker is given 2 15 min breaks. How many units can they output per week?
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30 Associate - 2 NUPA (Non Unit Producting Associate) ----- 28 Associates in Production ----- 8 Hour Days - (2) 15 min breaks = 7.5 hours of production 28 Associate X 7.5 hours X 150 UPH = 31,500 Daily UPH X 5 = 157,500 Units per week. -------- Less
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Subtracting the 30 mins break from the 8 hrs, the working hrs becomes 7.5 hrs. therefore, 28 (men working at the rate of) *150(units per hr, for )*7.5(hrs in one day , for)*5(days in a week) is the answer: which is : 157,500 units. Less
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After reading and figuring out my answer is 157,500.
Math Problem: You have an upstream Picking department that feeds two downstream packing departments: A and B. 75% of your Pick volume goes to department A, which has a packing rate of 150 unites per labor hour (uph). 25% of the Pick volume goes to department B, which is for large items, and has a pack rate of 25 units per labor hour. Your pickers pick both large and small items throughout the day at an overall average rate of 100 units per labor hour. You have 25 people today for all 3 departments, and you absolutely must pack 7,500 units in department A to meet a customer promise metric. How do you allocate labor to balance the flow in your department if you work a 10 hour shift? Do not assume breaks or lunches in your answer. Department % of volume Rate (uph) People Daily Volume Pick 100% 100 ?? ?? Pack A 75% 150 ?? 7,500 Pack B 25% 25 ?? ??
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Upstairs is sending 10,000 units downstairs at an average of 100 per hour so they would need 10 people......Dept A will be receiving 7,500 units @ 150/hour = 50 hrs so they need 5 people....Dept B will be receiving 2,500 units @ 25/hour= 100 hours so they need 10 people.....10/5/10 Less
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Assign 10 people to picking. 10 people x 100uph = 1000uph x 10 hrs = 10,000 units. 75% (7,500) goes to department A and 25% (2,500) goes to department B. Assign 5 people to department A. 5 people x 150uph = 750uph x 10 hrs = 7,500 small units packed. Assign remaining 10 people to department B. 10 people x 25uph = 250uph x 10 hrs = 2,500 large units packed. And a partridge in a pear tree... Less
They asked about earning trust and diving deep to finish a project etc
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You have 25 laborers for a shift. Pickers pick 100 units an hour Small item packers pack 150 units an hour Large item packers pack 25 units an hour You must pack 7500 small units during a ten hour shift. How would you staff your shift?
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You gave a single answer... Right answer? sure. Right response? no. 25 Workers (breaks up nicely with 5 laborer unit ratios): A) 3:2 Pickers to Small Item Packers B) 1:4 Pickers to Large Item Packers C) 2:1:2 Pickers to Small item Packers to Pickers 5 Small item packers are required. Any combination of A, B and C where the number of small item packers >= 5. Candidate's response: 5*C (A valid answer only meeting the minimum demand for small items) Why would the candidate's answer be better than 5*A? 15 Pickers 15,000 units/shift 10 Small item Packers 15,000 units/shift Why would the candidate's answer be better than 2*A + 3*C? 12 Pickers 12,000 units/shift 7 Small item Packers 10,500 units/shift 6 Large item Packers 1,500 units/shift Why would the candidate's answer be better than 3*A + 2*B? 11 Pickers 11,000 units/shift 6 Small item Packers 9,000 units/shift 8 Large item Packers 2,000 units/shift ^--If they asked for a single solution, I'd argue this one would be better since you buffered the small item output. Less
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Maximizing your daily output is not necessarily the way to go. You have customers waiting for orders and if you work on mostly smalls, the amount of large units in your backlog will be high. So while your numbers look good, you may not being getting orders out to customers timley. This question would make more sense if it said how many units have been ordered of small and large items so you can be sure to get through the orders in a FIFO basis. Less
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25 laborers for shift. Picker are packing 125 units of large items. Small item are packing 175 units. Each laborer does 12 units each producing 300 units. The 300 units produce by the 25 laborers Will produce 7500. Less
Nothing that sparks to mind. Did all the talking. Sales manager knew nothing about sales techniques and had to explain what a "proof of concept" is.
9 AnswersMath Problem will be emailed. Then you will be required to explain it. Please take 15 minutes to review this question and be prepared to present your answer to the panel. You have an upstream Picking department that feeds two downstream packing departments: A and B. 75% of your Pick volume goes to department A, which has a packing rate of 150 units per labor hour (uph). 25% of the Pick volume goes to department B, which is for large items, and has a pack rate of 25 units per labor hour. Your pickers pick both large and small items throughout the day at an overall average rate of 100 units per labor hour. You have 25 people today for all 3 departments, and you absolutely must pack 7500 units in department A to meet a customer promise metric. How do you allocate labor to balance the flow in your department if you work a 10 hour shift? Do not assume breaks or lunches in your answer. Department % of volume Rate (uph) People Daily volume Pick 100% 100 ?? ?? Pack A 75% 150 ?? 7500 Pack B 25% 25 ?? ?? My solution. Overall Volume * 75% = 7500 *.75 = 7500 = 7500/.75 Overall Volume = 10,000 = uph * hours * people = 100 * 10 * people = 1000 10 = people Packing A: 7,500 = uph * hours * people = 150 * 10 * people = 1500 7500 / 1500 = people 5 = people Packing B: 10,000 * 25% = 2500 2500 = uph * hours * people = 25 * 10 * people 2500 = 250 * people 10 = people Now cut uph on Packing Department A: from 150 to 125. How much volume is packed during the first 5 hours? How much volume is packed during the second 5 hours on Packing Department A? Your must meet the 10,000 overall volume and 75000 (Pack A) From which department do you move people? What is the overall output for each department after move?
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6 ppl at PACK A 10 ppl at PACK B Would leave you with 9 People for Picking which = 9,000 units picked for the day. Which would create a shortage for total units packed. No? Less
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Part 2: with 125uph in A, 7500/125 = 60; Labour hours = 60 Labor hours/10 working hours = 6 Labors Volume of units packed in first 5 hours = 125 Units/Labor hour * 5 hours * 6 Labors (or simply 7500/2); Therefore, Volume of units packed in first 5 hours = 3750 Units Pick:9 (JPH raised to 111 jph because of the balancing) Pack A: 6 Pack B: 5 Output of Pick: 10000 Output of A: 7500 Output of B: 2500 Less
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Calculate TOTAL QUANTITY TO PICK since yo u are only given Pack A quantity of 7500 pieces in 10 hours which is 75% of the total items to pick. 7500/75% = 10,000 pieces total Picking picks 100 pieces per hour, and they have to pick all 10,000 pieces, so they would need : 10,000 pieces / 10 hours / 100 pieces per hour equals 10 people Pack A would need 7500 units / 10 hours / 150 units per hour = 5 people Pack B would need 2500 units / 10 hours / 25 units per hour = 10 people Check your answer - 10 people + 5 people + 10 people = the 25 people you had to allocate SOme of the people above made it much harder and came up with bad answers - there is no "balancing" required Less