IPA IP 2022 Question 32
A question IPA Japan published in 令和4年度 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問32, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
Same question on ITPEC: Oct 2025 Q92 +1 more
Which of the following is the most appropriate diagram representing the flow of business operations after concurrent engineering is applied? Here, the arrows in the diagram show the flow of business operations, and each activity name is displayed on top.
Explanation
The staircase, each activity starting before the previous one ends — concurrent engineering runs the stages in parallel.
Concurrent engineering has the departments for specifications, production design, process design and production work at the same time and share information early, instead of waiting for the previous stage to finish. In diagram (d) each arrow starts while the one above it is still running, so the stages overlap and the whole flow finishes sooner; manufacturing problems also surface while the design can still change cheaply.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) — the four activities run one after another, the sequential flow that concurrent engineering replaces
- •(b) — still sequential; it only adds a feedback line from production back to process design, so issues are fed back after the fact
- •(c) — still sequential; the line from the end of production back to specifications is a repeated cycle, not parallel work
Key rule: Concurrent engineering shows as overlapping activities; a feedback loop added to a sequential flow is still sequential.
Business Industry · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.