Business, Unit 2- Operations Management Flashcards
Why is specialisation and division of labour good?
Workers can play to their strengths. Skills are improved. Workers may do the same task lots of times a day- so they get very efficient at it, this improves the firms productivity.
What problems can arrise with specialisation and division of labour?
Workers might get bored doing the same thing every day (resulting in low job satisfaction).
This can lead to poor quality products .
A problem with one group of workers may halt production in the whole business.
What is flow production?
Making lots of identical products continuously. e.g. assembly lines. It is highly capital intensive (needs a lot of money up front- for machinery).
Advantages and disadvantages of flow production?
Ad: Fewer workers are needed, so wage costs can be lower.
Flow production is more efficient than batch and job.
Disad: There is a lack of flexibility, because it is very time consuming to switch production from one product to another, as it could mean stopping the production line and retooling it.
What is a stock control graph?
A computerised stock control system which means that when stock falls to a certain amount, more will be automatically reordered.
What is lean production?
A japanese approach to making products that aims to use as few resources as possible. Waste and stocks of raw materials are kept to a minimum and workers are encouraged to think about ways to improve their productivity.
What is the Just In Time lean production method? Advantages and disadvantages?
A method that aims to keep stock levels to a bare minimum- ideally zero.
The aim is that stock arrives in the factory immediately before it is used.
Ad: It reduces the cost of having to keep stocks.
Disad: It requires a lot of coordination between the firm and its suppliers. Extra training might be needed. Staff can feel stressed and under pressure if they’re always on the verge of running out of stock.
What are the 3 stages when products are checked for their quality?
- Check the raw materials from the suppliers.
- Random samples taken in to check quality of work in progress.
- Random smaples taken of finished products- items removed if they don’t meet the requried quality.
Why is it sometimes hard for a growing business to keep up high quality?
A business can be overwhelmed by orders and cut corners to make products more quickly.
It can be expensive to carry out frequent quality checks or have inspection checks done by someone else.
It takes time to train new workers.
The business might outsource some tasks- pay another company to do them. It can be expensive to outsource a company that delivers high quality (but cheaper company=lower quality).
