Production, productivity and efficiency 2.4.1

Question 1

What are the types of production?

Answer 1

• Job
• Batch
• Flow
• Cell

Question 2

What is job production?

Answer 2

The production of one off items to meet the needs of each individual customer.

Question 3

What are advantages of job production?

Answer 3

• Higher quality products
• Customer satisfaction
• Employee job satisfaction
• Flexibility in production.

Question 4

What are the disadvantages of job production?

Answer 4

• Expensive to produce products
• Time consuming
• Specialist equipment needed

Question 5

What is batch production?

Answer 5

Identical items are manufactured in batches

Question 6

What are the advantages of batch production?

Answer 6

• Cheaper production and more uniform products.
• Greater quality control.
• Waste reduction.

Question 7

What are the disadvantages of batch production?

Answer 7

• Production can take longer.
• Errors can waste time and costs.

Question 8

What is flow production?

Answer 8

Also known as continuous production. Flow production involves the continuous movement of items through the production process. This means that when one task is finished the next task must start immediately. Therefore, the time taken on each task must be the same.

Question 9

What are the advantages of flow production?

Answer 9

• Less need for training.
• Modern plant and machines can allow flexibility.

Question 10

What are the disadvantages of flow production?

Answer 10

• Breaks in production an be very expensive.
• Worker motivation can be very low due to repetitive tasks.

Question 11

What is cell production?

Answer 11

Each team or ‘cell’ is responsible for a significant part of the finished product and, rather than each person only carrying out only one very specific task, team members are skilled at a number of roles.

Question 12

What are advantages of cell production?

Answer 12

• Greater worker motivation, arising from variety of work, team working and more responsibility.
• Quality improvements as each cell has ‘ownership’ for quality on its area.

Question 13

What are disadvantages of cell production?

Answer 13

• May not allow firms to use their machinery as intensively as in flow production and output will be lower than mass production as a result.
• Greater investment is required in new management and control processes, such as stock ordering.
• The company culture has to encourage trust and participation, or workers can feel that they are being constantly pushed for more and more output with no respite.
• The allocation of work to cells has to be efficient so that they have enough work, but not so much that they are unable to cope.
• Recruitment and training of staff must support this approach to production.

Question 14

What is productivity?

Answer 14

Output in relation to units of input in a given time period.

Question 15

What does capital intensive production involve?

Answer 15

Using a relatively high proportion of capital such as machinery in the production of a good or service.

Question 16

What does Labour intensive production involve?

Answer 16

Using a relatively high proportion of labour in the production of a good or service.

Question 17

What is the effect of increasing labour productivity?

Answer 17

It produces more goods and services for the same amount of relative work. Thus, it meets more demand and increases productivity. However, for the business, it may increase costs.

For workers, increased productivity can translate to higher wages and better working conditions.

Question 18

How is labour productivity calculated?

Answer 18

Total output / Number of employees.

Question 19

What are factors that influence productivity?

Answer 19

• Specialisation
• Division of labour
• Education & Training of workforce
• Motivation of workers

Question 20

What is efficiency?

Answer 20

Efficiency is about getting the most out of your resources. It means your business is able to produce more with less money and less waste.

Question 21

What are the factors affecting efficiency?

Answer 21

• Quality of inputs
• Production
• Management of staff

Question 22

How does quality and age of machinery affect efficiency?

Answer 22

The older the machinery, the quantity of goods is produced will decrease so weakens efficiency.

Question 23

How do skills and experience of workers affect efficiency?

Answer 23

If a business has high quality inputs such as skilled staff then they’re likely to be better at their job. This will reduce the amount of waste produced as fewer mistakes are made.

Question 24

How does the level of employee motivation affect motivation?

Answer 24

If staff are better organised then it is likely to result in an improvement in the co-ordination of the business. As a result of this, less time is likely to be wasted resulting in a reduction in costs and therefore increased efficiency.

Question 25

Identify 3 implications to a business if they are labour intensive

Answer 25

• Quality of products can vary due to expertise of the worker.
• Skilled workers take time to train.
• Skilled workers will be paid more than unskilled workers.

Question 26

Identify 3 implications to a business if they are capital intensive?

Answer 26

• More difficult to customise orders.
• Breakdowns in production can be costly.
• Initial set up costs of machinery are high.