Topic 3: Operations Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 3 types of production processes?

A
  1. Job production
  2. Batch production
  3. Mass/flow/continuous production
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2
Q

What is job production?

A

When individual products are made one at a time to meet specific customer preferences

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3
Q

Advantages of job production?

A

High quality products are produced
High customer satisfaction
Allows for personalised products

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4
Q

Disadvantages of job production?

A

High labour costs
Longer production times
Requires specialised materials

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5
Q

What is batch production?

A

Making a set quantity of identical products

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6
Q

Advantages of batch production?

A

Reduces unit costs
Addresses specific needs
Flexible

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7
Q

Disadvantages of batch production?

A

Time lost switching batches
Can be expensive

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8
Q

What is mass/flow/continuous production?

A

When products are created in a series of stages on an assembly line

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9
Q

Advantages of mass/flow/continuous production?

A

Saves time and money - products are standardised
Cost per unit is low - economies of scale can be reached
Requires lower skilled staff - cheaper to employ

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10
Q

Disadvantages of mass/flow/continuous production?

A

Workers may find work boring or repetitive - low motivation
There are high initial set up costs of automated assembly lines

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11
Q

What is efficiency?

A

Creating maximum output with minimum inputs - therefore producing at the lowest unit cost possible

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12
Q

How do businesses achieve efficiency?

A

Staffing - no too many, not too few
Leadership and having a clear aim
Have a good production technique - most flow

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13
Q

Is flow/continuous production capital intensive or labour intensive?

A

CAPITAL INTENSIVE

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14
Q

Is job production capital intensive or labour intensive?

A

Labour intensive

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15
Q

What is lean production?

A

When waste is reduced during production by removing unwanted workers, products, processes and more

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16
Q

What is kaizen?

A

Continuous improvement

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17
Q

What are the 2 stock control methods?

A
  1. JIT (just-in-time)
  2. JIC (just-in-case)
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18
Q

What is JIT?

A

A stock control method where a business doesn’t store raw materials but has regular deliveries that bring only what’s needed before it’s raw materials run out

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19
Q

Advantages of JIT?

A

No holding or storage costs - inventory is supplied immediately
Reduces wastage - inventory levels are low
Raw materials are fresh

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20
Q

Disadvantages of JIT?

A

Difficult to forecast future demand
Difficult to match customers expectation
There may be an issue if demand increases - supplier may not be apply to supply a high volume in time

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21
Q

What is JIC?

A

A stock control method where a business produces or purchases stock with excess or ‘buffer stock’ so there’s always stock if a business requires it

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22
Q

Advantage of JIC?

A

Increases level of customer satisfaction
Reduces chance of running out of stock
Bulk buying discounts are available

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23
Q

Disadvantages of JIC?

A

Requires more storage space - adding more costs
Increases chance of having to sell of stock at a discount
Products may lose freshness if stored for a long time

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24
Q

What is stock control?

A

The systems and policies in place to order and manage stock

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25
Q

What is procurement?

A

The process of finding the right supplier

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26
Q

What are the 6 factors affecting choice of supplier?

A
  1. Reliability
  2. Quality of stock
  3. Cost
  4. Location
  5. Reputation
  6. Volume
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27
Q

How does reliability affect the choice of supplier?

A

If a supplier lets a business down, the business may not be able to meet customer needs

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28
Q

How does quality of stock affect the choice of supplier?

A

If the quality of the supplied stock will be bad, it’ll decrease customer satisfaction and affect SPPU

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29
Q

How does cost affect the choice of supplier?

A

If the stock is expensive, businesses will lose more money - decreases profit and revenue

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30
Q

How does location affect the choice of supplier?

A

If the supplier is far away from the business, they may not be able to deliver in time or it’ll be more expensive to deliver the stock

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31
Q

How does reputation affect the choice of supplier?

A

If they are ethical and have never had any major scandals, they would be a good choice of a supplier

32
Q

How does volume affect the choice of supplier?

A

If the supplier can’t provide as much stock as necessary to meet customer needs, customers will be unhappy

33
Q

What is a supply chain?

A

The network of organisations, people, activity, information and resources that take the products/services from the supplier to the consumer

34
Q

What is the importance of having supply chain management?

A

Can help cut waste and minimise costs
Helps to uphold business ethics
Ensures that all processes are run efficiently and cost efficiently

35
Q

What is quality?

A

Meeting the needs and expectations of customers - customers want quality that is appropriate to the price they are prepared to pay

36
Q

Advantages of a business having products or services at a high quality?

A

More revenue made - more sales and a higher price of products
Higher customer satisfaction - higher customer loyalty
Leads to a better reputation - more customers

37
Q

Disadvantages of a business having products or services at a high quality?

A

High costs of production
Requires more staff training

38
Q

Advantages of a business having products or services at a low quality?

A

Products are sold for cheaper
May lead to more sales
Cheap production

39
Q

Disadvantages of a business having products or services at a low quality?

A

Declined reputation
Less sales in some cases

40
Q

How can a business measure their own quality?

A

Number of returns
Reviews
How many sales they make

41
Q

What is quality management?

A

Controlling activities to ensure products and services meet the expectations of customers

42
Q

What are the 2 methods of measuring quality during the production process?

A
  1. Quality control
  2. Quality assurance
43
Q

What is quality control?

A

Checking or inspecting quality at the end of the production process to detect faults

44
Q

What is quality assurance?

A

Self checking quality at each stage of the production process

45
Q

Advantages of using quality control?

A

Less time consuming
Cheaper - less staff

46
Q

Disadvantages of using quality control?

A

If there are faults, there’ll be more waste
Hard to locate the cause of an issue
Staff may not take responsibility for low quality

47
Q

Advantages of using quality assurance?

A

Less waste produced
Issue can be located and identified earlier in the process
Quality is everyone’s responsibility

48
Q

Disadvantages of using quality assurance?

A

More time consuming
More expensive - need more experienced staff to check the quality
Can be a waste of time if there are no issues

49
Q

What are quality standards? Example?

A

The minimum acceptable standard of quality, it’s awarded and is used as a measurement of quality
E.g. the BSI kitemark

50
Q

What is total quality management?

A

An approach to quality where everyone is focused on placing quality at the heart of all decisions and actions

51
Q

Advantages of TQM?

A

Ensures high quality of products or services
Increased motivation - workers are more involved
Increased customer satisfaction - it puts the customers first

52
Q

Disadvantages of TQM?

A

Costs may increase - more training may be necessary
Can be difficult and time consuming to introduce
Puts pressure on staff

53
Q

What is the important about TQM?

A

TQM IS CULTURE

54
Q

What are the 4 causes of quality problems?

A
  1. Poorly motivated staff
  2. No clear responsibility assigned
  3. Lack of consistency
  4. Outsourcing
55
Q

Why may a business have a poorly motivated workforce?

A

If there’s a lack of personal attention from managers

56
Q

What is the impact of having a poorly motivated work force?

A

Damaged reputation
Production levels may dip
Quality will worsen

57
Q

Why may a business have no clear responsibility?

A

It there are more layers of hierarchy and wider spans of control - more confusion about responsibility

58
Q

What is the impact of a business having no clear responsibility?

A

There may be more mistakes
It may lead to the employment of inspectors
Worsened quality - lack of direction for the staff

59
Q

Why may a business have a lack of consistency?

A

If a business has a high number of branches or staff - often in bigger businesses

60
Q

What is the impact of a business having a lack of consistency between branches?

A

May impact reputaiton
Customer loyalty may dip
Worsened quality - harder to control all staff and branches

61
Q

Why may a business using outsourcing impact quality?

A

The other business may not have the same standards about quality

62
Q

What is the impact of a business using outsourcing?

A

Strict quality checks may be needed - higher costs
May impact reputation
May decrease quality of products

63
Q

Benefits of maintaining quality?

A

Sales may increase - more word of mouth advertising, brand loyalty
Reputation will improve
Can charge a higher price for products and services

64
Q

Negatives of maintaining quality?

A

Costs may increase - more staff training necessary or having a quality inspector

65
Q

What is customer service?

A

The part of the businesses activities that is concerned with meeting as many customer needs and expectations as fully as possible

66
Q

What are examples of customer service?

A

How efficient staff are - how friendly and well trained they are
Well informed websites
How customers are greeted

67
Q

What are the benefits of providing good customer service?

A

Increased customer satisfaction and more recommendations (word of mouth advertising)
Increased customer loyalty
Better reputation and may outcompete competitors
May increase sales - people will be happy to be paying more for better customer service

68
Q

What are the 3 stages of customer service when purchasing a product?

A
  1. Before purchase
  2. During purchase
  3. After purchase
69
Q

What are examples of good customer service before purchase?

A

Greeting
Giving advice
Providing information

70
Q

What are examples of good customer service during purchase?

A

Persuading
Answering concerns

71
Q

What are examples of good customer service after purchase?

A

Offering a warranty or a post sales service - encourages loyalty

72
Q

What are the risks of having poor customer service?

A

May worsen reputation - increases bad reviews and increase in refunds or exchanges
Decrease in customer loyalty and retention
Decrease in sales

73
Q

How can customer service be improved?

A

Training staff
Seeking customer feedback or looking at reviews to locate the area that needs to be improved
Giving the staff more information about the products which they can pass onto the customers

74
Q

What can technology be used for in customer service?

A

Communication
It can show reviews and feedback
Can provide information

75
Q

What is logistics?

A

The area of the businesses which ensures the correct products are ordered and arrive when needed

76
Q

What are the benefits of having a good procurement and logistics system?

A

Improves efficiency of a business
Can reduce overall costs of a business