2.4 Resource Management Flashcards
What is production?
total amount of output that is produced in a time period
What is Job production?
production of one off items that meet the needs of s customer
What is batch production?
identical items produced in groups
What is flow production?
mass produced products
What is cell production?
production line is split into a series of self contained cells
What are the advantages of job production?
- added value
- premium price
- easy to set up
- meets customer needs
- motivated and skilled staff
- high quality
What are the advantages of batch production?
- cheaper and quicker production of individual items
- more uniform products
- reduced production time
- efficient equipment use
What are the advantages of flow production?
- consistent quality
- efficient process due to:
- specialisation
- division of labour
- use of machinery
What are the advantages of cell production?
- increases quality, teamwork, motivation
- can improve staff communication
What are the disadvantages of job production?
- expensive to produce
- time consuming
- training costs
- no econ of scales
What are the disadvantages of batch production?
- potential over/under production
- quality variability
- tasks may be boring
What are the disadvantages of flow production?
- mistakes can shut down whole process
- high initial machinery cost
- low motivation
What are the disadvantages of cell production?
- depends upon training of the staff
- machinery breakdown stops whole process
What is productivity?
output per person per hour
total output / employee number
What are the factors affecting productivity?
- productivity bonus
- productivity deal
- staff training
- investment in new technology
What is the effect of a higher productivity?
goods are produced more economically efficient and therefore it can charge a premium price (econ of scales)
What is efficiency maximisation?
when a good is produced at the minimum unit or average production cost
What factors effect efficiency?
- quality of inputs
- management of staff
- production
What is labour intensive production?
makes products using mostly human effort or labour
What is capital intensive production?
goods produced using mainly machines and equipment
What is capacity?
a measure of how much output it can achieve in a given period
What is capacity utilisation?
the percentage of the capacity actually being used over a specific period
- actual output/max output x 100
What is high capacity utilisation?
the fc are spread over more units of production
What is low capacity utilisation?
the fc are too high to stay in business or keep producing that product
What are the ways to improve capacity utilisation?
- sale of assets
- make staff redundant
- business can lease capacity to other businesses
- sales
- promotions
- advertisement
What is stock control?
the control of the flow of stock in a business, it concerns the ordering and management of:
- raw materials
- components
- finished goods
What is buffer stock?
stock held just in case there is an unforeseen rise in demand or a problem with the supply
What are the benefits of buffer stock?
- easily respond to changes in demand
- if suppliers can’t deliver on time production wont be affected
What are the drawbacks of buffer stock?
- high storage costs
- can b up working capital of the business
What are stock out costs and what can they cause?
costs of not having stock when needed:
- loss of reputation
- loss of sales revenue
- loss of consumer goodwill
- disruption to production
What is JIT?
stock isn’t kept in warehouses and ordered when needed
What are the benefits of JIT?
- no wastage
- cost saving
- cash flow improves
- stock isn’t out of date
What are the drawbacks of JIT?
- can’t meet surges in demand
- can’t be quickly replaced if stock is faulty
- delivery time is crucial
What is capacity underutilisation?
not all resources are being used/products being sold
What is capacity over-utilisation?
oversold/overbooked so some people have no products
Wha are the advantages of underutilisation?
- increases flexibility
- ability to adapt
Wha are the disadvantages of underutilisation?
- higher fixed costs
- unmotivated staff standing around
- impact on brand image
- business may need to rationalise by selling assets
What are the disadvantages of over-utilisation?
- can damage business rep
- puts strain on resources in manufacturing
- staff may work overtime
- no time to maintain staff or machinery
- quality suffers as mistakes are more likely to happen
What are the different wastage types?
- overproduction
- wasting time
- transportation
- access processing
- excess stock
- excess motion
- product quality
What is waste?
activity or result the consumer does not value and is not willing to pay for
What does waste minimisation do?
- help improve efficiency
- reduce unit cost of a product
- improve public image of the business
- avoids fines
What s access processing?
takes the raw material further and further form its original state
What is product quality?
inferior quality causes scarp and rework which increases manufacturing costs
What is lean production?
aims to reduce resources used i production - Japanese method first adopted by Toyota
What are the advantages of lean production?
- respond quickly to changes
- improved customer service
- improved productivity
- shorter lead time
- reduced waste
- safer working environment
- quality improves
What is quality?
how well a product does what is was designed to do
What is quality control?
checking and reviewing work that has already been done - about detecting problems rather than preventing them
What is quality assurance?
checking each stage of the product development to prevent mistakes
What is total quality management?
puts quality at the heart of everything
What are the advantages of quality management?
- not paying for inspectors
- enhanced reputation
- more involved workers
- builds good partnership with suppliers
- more satisfied customers due to improved quality
What are the disadvantages of quality management?
- takes time to introduce
- some staff can be resistant to change
- costs to train staff
What is a quality circle?
a group of employees who meet on a regular basis to talk about quality problems that are relevant to the part of the production process they work on
What are the advantages of a quality circle?
- meet specific customer needs
- improves quality
What are the disadvantages of a quality circle?
- time consuming
- people out of work
- may be draining
What is kaizen?
introducing new small changes constantly in order to improve efficiency
What are the advantages of a kaizen?
- motivating (constant change)
- small changes are easier to adapt to
What are the disadvantages of a kaizen?
- higher training costs
- staff may be resistant
