2.4.1

Question 1

What are the 4 production methods?

Answer 1

Job Production
Flow production
Batch Production
Cell production

Question 2

What is Job Production?

Answer 2

Producing one item at a time which is ordered by the customer.

Question 3

What are (2) Advantages of Job Production?

Answer 3

High quality bespoke goods tailored to customer needs leads to good reviews

The workers are motivated due to no repetition.

Question 4

What are (2) Disadvantages of Job Production?

Answer 4

Often labour intensive, due to lack of specialised machinery

High labour costs due to skilled workers

Production may be slow due to longer lead time.

Question 5

What batch production?

Answer 5

Groups of the same products are produced.

Question 6

What are (3) Advantages of Batch Production?

Answer 6

Per Unit costs are lower due to higher output

More use of Machinery

Workers are likely to specialise in one process

Question 7

What are (2) Disadvantages of Batch Production?

Answer 7

Less motivation as specialised workers will be repeating the same process

If batches are small, cost per unit will still be high

Question 8

What is Flow Production?

Answer 8

Continuous production of standardised products, usually on a production line.

Question 9

What are (2) Advantages of Flow Production?

Answer 9

Very low unit costs, due to economies of scale

Output can be produced very quickly, especially useful for high demand periods

Question 10

What are (3) Disadvantages of Flow Production?

Answer 10

Products are standardised, so lower price is charged

High costs of machinery

Downtime when stopping production process can be expensive.

Question 11

What is Cell Production?

Answer 11

When there are multiple teams that are each assigned to one particular part of the production process.

Question 12

What are (2) advantages of Cell Production?

Answer 12

Motivation increasing because of teamwork

More efficient than other methods due to sharing skills and expertise with other workers.

Question 13

What are (2) Disadvantages of Cell Production?

Answer 13

Requires a long time to organise teams in the production process

Teams efficiency may be reduced due to a weaker worker

Question 14

What is Productivity?

Answer 14

The output per input (person or machine) per hour.

Question 15

What is Labour Productivity?

Answer 15

A business measure of the output per worker during a specific period of time.

Question 16

What is capital Productivity?

Answer 16

A business measure of the output of capital employed during a specific period of time.

Question 17

Formula for Labour and Capital productivity?

Answer 17

Output/Number of workers OR machines

Question 18

3 Step Chain of Analysis for Productivity.

Answer 18

Productivity increases-> Business costs decreases, because of more output per hour -> Businesses can lower prices or maintain higher profit margins

Question 19

What are 4 methods to increase productivity?

Answer 19

Employee Motivation (financial or non-financial)

Skills and education (workers are more autonomous, supervision is reduced)

Investment in capital equipment (Likely to make less mistakes, machinery can operate for longer without a break)

Business organisation ( Working hours that suit workers )

Question 20

What does the link between Productivity and competitiveness refer too?

Answer 20

Businesses that increase level of productivity are likely to be more competative.

Question 21

What does Competitiveness refer too?

Answer 21

Competitiveness refers to to ability of a business to maintain or grow its sales and market share given the actions of rivals.

Question 22

Why do competitive firms usually increase productivity?

Answer 22

They have the financial resources required to boost productivity.

For example, by undercutting competitors prices and increasing profit. They are able to train staff and introduce financial incentives.

Question 23

What is efficiency?

Answer 23

Efficiency refers to the ability of a business to use its production resources as cost effectively as possible.

Question 24

When is the maximum efficiency level achieved?

Answer 24

Economies of scale are maximised and diseconomies of scale are minimised.

Question 25

What are 4 ways to improve efficiency?

Answer 25

Relocating to a smaller location to lower fixed costs

Investment in capital equipment (Increase rate of output and quality)

Organisational restructuring (Delaying reduces labour costs as layers of management are reduced & Redeployment can motivate staff by providing new opportunities for them)

Adoption of lean production techniques (Reduces all types of waste)

Question 26

What is labour intensive production?

Answer 26

Predominantly uses physical labour in the production of goods/services

Question 27

What is Capital intensive production?

Answer 27

Predominately uses machinery and technology in the production of goods/services.

Question 28

When is Labour intensive production often used?

Answer 28

Places where labour costs are low

Question 29

When is capital intensive production often used? 2

Answer 29

Large scale production of goods

When labour costs are high

Question 30

2 Advantages of Capital Intensive Production?

Answer 30

Machines can run for long periods without breaks

Faster Output

Question 31

2 Advantages of Labour Intensive Production?

Answer 31

Workers can be creative

Workers may have flexible skills

Question 32

2 Disadvantages of Labour Intensive Production?

Answer 32

Workers may be unreliable and need regular breaks

Training costs can be significant

Question 33

2 Disadvantages of Capital Intensive Production?

Answer 33

Breakdowns can delay production massively

Lack of flexibility