INTRODUCTION

Question 1

Define manufacturing?

Answer 1

-A ‘value-adding activity’

• TRADITIONAL: transforming raw materials into a product via physical labour and/ or machinery, often on a large scale

-includes design, planning, management etc

Question 2

What are the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors?

Answer 2

Primary: exploit natural resources

Secondary: converts output of natural resources into products - mainly consists of manufacturing

Tertiary: services

Question 3

Manufacturing Processes and Operations include?(what is needed to convert the raw material to the final product?):

Answer 3

1. Processing and Assembly
2. Material Handling
3. Inspection
4. Operations Management

Question 4

What does operations management encompass?

Answer 4

Strategy: understanding the aims of the company

Design: determining functionality, shape, composition etc

Planning and control: deciding what different manufacturing resources should be doing and when (people, machines, etc)

Improvement: product and processes are continuously improved

Question 5

What are production sizes usually split into? (e.g 1-100 units?)

Answer 5

1-100 Units = low volume production
100-10,000 = medium volume
>10,000 = high volume

Question 6

What are the names of the different volume levels of production?

Answer 6

low volume = job shop

medium volume = batch prodution / cellular manufacturing

high volume = mass production

Question 7

What does the ‘Manufacturing Capability’ of a firm mean?

Answer 7

The technical and physical limitations of the firm and its plants.

Question 8

What are the 3 main factors that decides the manufacturing capability?

Answer 8

Technological Processing: the technologies available (not the same for every factory). Must also consider the skill level of the employees (technical knowhow)

Physical Product Limitations: size + weight limitations of machines

Production Capacity: determined by capacity planning - manning level, speed etc

Question 9

How are manufacturing processes evaluated?

Answer 9

Cost: setting up + running

Rate: speed of the process

Quality: subjective - depends on the consumer and the goal of the product.

Flexibility: how many different things could the machine produce? (e.g 3d printer could make many different geometries)