Operations management

Question 1

Explain JIT and the advantages and disadvanatges

Answer 1

Just in time, stock comes in just before assembly or retail

A: Save on warehouse costs, less money tied up in assets

D: High risk if there’s any delivery issues, hard to respond if there are sudden demand increases

Question 2

Explain Kaizan and the advantages and disadvantages

Answer 2

Continuous improvements to make work more efficient

A: Easy to implement, overall increases productivity if successful

D: Could be expensive, depends upon everyone for cooperation

Question 3

Advantages of economies of scale

Answer 3

With growth, more are needed so bulk buying can reduce the unit cost which can give an advantage over competitors. Includes; purchasing, machinery.

Question 4

Disadvantages of diseconomies of scale

Answer 4

Producing on large scale so the machinery have to be more expensive and it costs more to make the products. Affects; coordination, motivation.

Question 5

Name 3 quality problems faced by growing businesses

Answer 5

Consistency
Outsourcing (ethical)
Inspections (more rigorous)

Question 6

Name 2 ways to check quality

Answer 6

Besides audits and inspections

Quality control - Checking quality at the end of production

TQM Total quality Management - Making everyone responsible for their quality in what they do, as if passing along to a customer