Operations Flashcards
What are the factors to consider when choosing a supplier of raw materials?
Price-Business will need to look for an affordable supplier to ensure they can make a profit.
Quantity-The business need to make sure supplier can deliver enough goods
Location-The business would choose a local supplier to save on transportation costs.
Quality-The business would look for suppliers with high quality goods.
Compare batch production with flow production
Both use machinery
Batch produces groups of similar items whereas flow produces identical items
Batches can still be customized to suit customer needs whereas flow cannot.
What are the factors that may be considered when choosing a suitable method of production
Quantity needed-If the business only needs one product, then they will use job production but if they need thousands of products then they’ll use flow.
Finance available- If the business is small job production will be used but if there is a lot of finance then flow will be used.
Standardisation-If the business needs products to be identical flow will be used.
What are the methods used by an organisation to ensure a quality product.
Quality Assurance-This is where quality is checked at every stage in the production process.
Quality control-This is where quality is checked at the start or finish of production.
Quality inputs
Raw materials- Business needs to use high quality raw materials to make high quality goods
Highly trained-Business needs to ensure they train their staff so they know how to make products.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Job production
Advantages-Product can be made exactly to customer requirements
High Prices can be charged
Products are usually of good quality
Disadvantages-Products can take a long time to make
Bulk orders are rare
Labour costs can be high
What are the advantages and disadvantages of batch production
Advantages-Batches can be changed to suit the requirements of the customer
Raw materials can be bought in bulk therefore saving money
No need for highly skilled workers so costs are kept down.
Disadvantages - Equipment and employees may not have much to do between batches and this’ll cost money
Any mistakes in one item can result in the whole batch being wasted which costs money and wastes time
What are the advantages and disadvantages of flow production
Advantages-Products can be made in high volumes at a relatively low costs
The use of machinery is efficient as it can run 24 hours each day
Raw materials can be purchased in bulk leading to cost saving
Disadvantages-Products are all the same with no individuality
If machinery breaks down, production will be halted
There can be quality issues if quality control is not used properly.
