3.3 - Operations Flashcards
Who are the operations management?
The department responsible for the transformation of inputs into outputs
What is job production?
Where one off tailor made products are made from start to finish
What is flow production?
The continuous movement of items through the production process
Benefits of job production
- Better quality —> specialist
- Unique
- Tailor made
- Premium pricing
Drawbacks of job production
- Time consuming
* Less flexible
Benefits of flow production
- More time efficient
- Increase in volume of production
- Reliable - less mistakes
- Cheaper to produce
What is specialisation?
Where work is divided into separate tasks or jobs that allow workers to become skilled at one of them
What is division of labour?
Breaking a job down into small, repetitive tasks that can be done quickly by workers or machines specialised in this one task
What is a supply chain?
A supply chain is the sequence of process involved in converting raw materials into a final product and then distributing it to customers
What is procurement?
Procurement is the purchasing of goods and services
What is just in case?
A method of stock control that keeps a larger amount of stock just in case it is needed
What is just in time?
Method of distribution used by businesses to make sure the supply chain is reliable and efficient
Benefits of JIT
- Improves efficiency
- Reduced costs of storage
- Products won’t perish or become obsolete
Drawbacks of JIT
- Ordering in smaller quantities means missing out on bulk buying discounts
- Failure of stock to arrive on time leads to dissatisfied customers
- May be unable to meet sudden increases in demand
Benefits of JIC
- If there is an unexpected spike in demand, then a business’ buffer stock will be able to cope with it
- Purchasing economies of scale as they will be able to buy in bulk
- Can meet sudden demand changes or fluctuating demand
- Less reliance on suppliers - less risk
Drawbacks of JIC
- Businesses may end up hiding lots of unnecessary resources in huge warehouses
- Warehouses and the logistics to organise stock are both costly - expensive
Labour intensive - ?
Work is predominantly completed by employees
Capital intensive - ?
Work is predominantly completed by machines
Importance of quality
- Uphold reputation
- Reinforce brand image
- Retain customer loyalty
- Premium pricing
What methods are there of checking quality?
- Quality management
- Quality control
- Quality assurance
- Quality standard
- Total quality management
What is quality management?
Controlling activities to ensure products and services meet the specifications
What is quality control?
Checking/inspecting quality at the end of the production process to detect faults
What is quality assurance?
Self checking quality at each stage of the production process to prevent defects
What is quality standard?
Setting a minimum acceptable standard, often a legal requirement
An approach to quality where everyone is focused on playing quality at the heart of all decisions and actions
An approach to quality where everyone is focused on playing quality at the heart of all decisions and actions
Benefits of TQM (total quality management)
- Empower employees
* Staff motivation
What are the methods of lean production?
Kaizen
Cell production
What is Kaizen?
- The Japanese term kaizen means continuous improvement.
- The process focuses on workers continuously making small improvements for overall progress and productivity gains in a firm
What is cell production?
- Workers are grouped into multi-skilled teams within cells
- Different teams are assigned to different aspects of the production process
- A cell passes on completed products to the next cell in the production process
Explain why efficiency may be improved in cell production
- Workers are more motivated (because they work within a team with extra responsibilities)
- Workers share expertise and skills
