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Business A Level > 4.1/4.2/4.3/4.4/4.5 Operations > Flashcards

4.1/4.2/4.3/4.4/4.5 Operations Flashcards

1
Q

What is operations management?

A

Managing the process of converting inputs into output

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2
Q

What are some operation decisions?

A
  • Level of output
  • Range of products offered
  • How best to produce good (labour/capital intensive)
  • How best to provide good/service
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3
Q

What is labour intensive?

A

A higher proportion of labour is being used in comparison to capital

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4
Q

What is the supply chain?

A

Series of activities involved in taking the initial resources to providing the final product

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5
Q

What are the stages of operations?

A 
Raw materials
Manufacturing
Transportation
Retail
Disposal
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6
Q

How do you categorise operations?

A

Visibility (how many workers you interact with/see what goes on)
Variability of demand
Variety
Volume

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7
Q

What is the operational decision making process?

A 
Set operations objectives
Analyse operations data
Make operation decisions
Implement decisions
Review
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8
Q

What are some operational objectives?

A 
Costs
Quality
Flexibility
Speed
Dependability
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9
Q

What is a competitive advantage?

A

A way in which a business offers superior value to its competitors

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10
Q

How do you calculate labour productivity?

A

output / number of employees

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11
Q

How do you calculate unit cost?

A

total cost / total output

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12
Q

What is capacity utilisation?

A

The use that the business makes from its resources.

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13
Q

How do you calculate capacity utilisation?

A

current output / maximum output x 100

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14
Q

What do managers consider when making operational decisions?

A 
Costs
Profits
Risk
Impact of competitiveness
Effects on stakeholders
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15
Q

What is efficiency?

A

Getting more output from a given level of inputs

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16
Q

How can efficiency be improved?

A
  • Using factors of production
  • Choosing optimal mix of resources
  • Improving labour productivity
  • Introducing lean production
  • Using technology
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17
Q

What would a business do if capacity utilisation is too low?

A

Try and improve marketing to boost sales

Reduce its capacity

18
Q

What would a business do if capacity utilisation is too high?

A

Outsource to other producers

Reduce demand in the short term

19
Q

How can labour productivity be improved?

A
  • Training
  • Technology
  • New ways of working
  • Better management
  • New reward systems
20
Q

Problems with improved labour productivity?

A
  • Rushing can lead to quality issues
  • Employees wanting higher pay
  • Waste through excess stock
21
Q

What is lean production?

A

When managers reduce waste and therefore operations become more efficient

22
Q

How can lead production reduce waste?

A
  • Improved quality - less broken items
  • Reducing amount of inventory held
  • Reducing time items are waiting to be worked on
  • Reducing time items are being moved around during production
23
Q

How can a business become leaner?

A
  • Kaizen
  • Andon
  • Changes of layout
  • Change to the process
24
Q

Issues of lean production?

A
  • More vulnerable (less stock being held)
  • Issues will halt production
  • Risk from external factors
  • Employees are checking their own work
  • Need excellent links to suppliers
  • Expensive
25
Q

What is quality?

A

the extent to which an operation meets its customer requirements

26
Q

What does a quality operations process need?

A
  • clear targets
  • systems to achieve targets
  • training so employees are skilled
  • ongoing measurement of what is achieved relative to targets
27
Q

What is the PDCA cycle?

A

Plan
Do
Check
Act

28
Q

Why is quality important?

A 
Reputation
Price
Customer satisfaction
Repeat sales
Standards - legislation
29
Q

How can quality be achieved?

A
  • Understanding customer requirements
  • Training
  • Investment in technology
  • New processes
  • Selecting the right partners
30
Q

Whats the difference between quality control and quality assurance?

A

The difference is that QA is process oriented and QC is product oriented.

31
Q

What is the X and Y theory?

A

Assumes workers are naturally unmotivated and dislike working, which encourages a authoritarian style. . There is little delegation of authority and control remains firmly centralised.

32
Q

What are the benefits of improving quality?

A 
Reputation
Price
Customer satisfaction
Repeat sales
Standards
Competitive
Reliable
Brand image
Word of mouth
33
Q

What is inventory?

A

The goods or stock a business holds

34
Q

What are the different types of stock?

A

Inventory of supplies
Inventory of works in progress
Inventory of final goods

35
Q

What are the costs of holding inventory?

A

Storage
Security
Opportunity
Cost of losing its value

36
Q

2 types of stock rotation?

A

First in first out

Last in first out

37
Q

Whats the time taken for supplies to reach the factory?

A

Lead time

38
Q

What is the supply chain?

A

All the providers of resources at different stages of the operations process

39
Q

Why do businesses choose certain suppliers?

A

Costs
Dependability
Ethical Considerations

40
Q

What is outsourcing?

A

When a business uses another provider for some of its goods and services

41
Q

What is good about outsourcing?

A
  • Make use of specialist skills

- Increase the capacity of a business

42
Q

Whats bad about outsourcing?

A
  • Cost and quality of suppliers
  • How does the business behave?
  • May be more expensive than producing themselves

Business A Level (11 decks)

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