Chapters 40-45 PRODUCTION

Question 1

Quality

Answer 1

Features of a product that allow it to satisfy customers’s needs

Question 2

Quality control

Answer 2

Making sure that the quality of a product meets specified quality standards

Question 3

Total quality management (TQM)

Answer 3

Managerial approach that focuses on quality and aims to improve the effectiveness, flexibility and competitiveness of the business

Question 4

Quality assurance

Answer 4

Working methods that take into account customers’ wants when standardising quality - it often involves guaranteeing that quality standards are met

Question 5

Unique selling point (USP)

Answer 5

Feature of a product that no other similar products have, used in advertising to try to persuade people to buy it

Question 6

Scale

Answer 6

Size of a business

Question 7

Economies of scale

Answer 7

Financial advantages (falling average costs) of producing something in very large quantities.

Question 8

Diseconomies of scale

Answer 8

Rising average costs when a firm becomes too big.

Question 9

Internal economies of scale

Answer 9

Cost benefits that an individual firm can enjoy when it expands.

Question 10

External economies of scale

Answer 10

Cost benefits that all firms in the industry can enjoy when the industry expands

Question 11

Production

Answer 11

Transformation of resources into a final product

Question 12

Job production

Answer 12

Method of production that involves employing all factors to complete one unit of output at a time.

Question 13

Batch production

Answer 13

Method that involves completing one operation at at time on all units before performing the next.

Question 14

Flow production

Answer 14

Large-scale production of a standard product, where each operation on a unit is performed continuously one after the other, usually on a production line.

Question 15

Process production

Answer 15

Form of flow production where materials pass through a plant where a series of processes are carried out in order to change the product.

Question 16

Labour-intensive production

Answer 16

Production methods that make more use of labour relative to machinery

Question 17

Capital-intensive production

Answer 17

Production methods that make more use of machinery relative to labour.

Question 18

Productivity

Answer 18

Rate at which goods are produced, and the amount produced, especially in relation to the work, time and money needed to produce them.

Question 19

Labour productivity

Answer 19

Output per worker in a given time period.

Question 20

Flexitime

Answer 20

System in which people work a fixed number of hours each week or month, buy can change the times at which they start and finish the day.

Question 21

Downsizing

Answer 21

Process of reducing capacity, usually by laying off staff.

Question 22

Outsourcing

Answer 22

Contracting out of work that might otherwise have been performed within the organisation to other businesses.

Question 23

Lean production

Answer 23

Approach to production aimed at reducing the quantity of resources used.

Question 24

Just-in-time

Answer 24

Production technique that is highly responsive to customer orders and uses very little stock holding.

Question 25

Tailor-made

Answer 25

Where a product has been designed so that it is exactly right for someone’s needs.

Question 26

Quality circles

Answer 26

Small group of factory workers who meet regularly to discuss ways to improve working methods and to solve problems.

Question 27

Computer aided design (CAD)

Answer 27

Use of computers to design products.

Question 28

Computer numerically controlled machines (CNCs)

Answer 28

Machines that carry out the instructions fed by computers.

Question 29

Computer aided manufacturing (CAM)

Answer 29

Where computers link and control the design and production of goods in manufacturing.

Question 30

Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)

Answer 30

Use of computers to control the entire production process.

Question 31

Factors of production

Answer 31

Resources used to produce goods and services - including land, labour, capital and enterprise.

Question 32

Labour

Answer 32

People employed in a business/ used in production.

Question 33

Fixed capital

Answer 33

Stock of human-made resources, such as machines and tools, used to help make goods and services.

Question 34

Entrepreneur

Answer 34

Individual who organises the other factors of production and risks their own money in a business venture.

Question 35

Division of labour

Answer 35

Specialisation in specific tasks or skills by an individual.