Production Flashcards
What is productivity?
The efficiency of production of goods/services.
What is lean production?
An approach to management that focuses on cutting waste.
What are the four methods of lean production?
Kaizen.
Total Quality Management.
Just in Time.
Cell Production.
What are the benefits of kaizen?
Ideas come from the workers.
Small improvements over time lead to major advances.
Less likely to require major capital investment.
Cheap, doesn’t require R&D.
What are the benefits of cell production?
Improves communication.
Workers become multi skilled.
^ provides a means for job rotation.
Each cell responsible for a unit of work as a part of job enrichment.
Quality improvements as each cell has ‘ownership’ for their own quality.
What are the benefits of total quality management?
Always looking to improve.
Decreased costs.
Increased customer loyalty, trust and reputation.
Workers have higher morale.
Believes in getting it perfect first time.
What are the benefits of just in time?
Avoids buildup of unsold finished product that can occur with changes in demand.
Produces only what is required in the correct quantity at the right time.
Lower stock holding means a reduction in storage space which saves on rent and insurance costs.
Orders provide signal for when a product should be manufactured.
What are some disadvantages of using kaizen?
Implementing kaizen into an existing system is hard. Change can be hard to make when things are already run a particular way.
A lot of firms don’t allow communication throughout the levels of employees.
What are some disadvantages of cell production?
Can take a lot of time.
