Lean Production
Producing goods and services with the minimum of wasted resources while maintaining high quality.
Strategic Decisions
- Expanding or reducing capacity
- Locating a business or relocating it
- Offshoring and restoring
- Outsourcing
- Changing operations/productions methods
Computer-Aided Design
The use of computer programs to create 2 or 3 dimensional graphical representations of physical objects.
Benefits of CAD
- Lower product development costs
- Increases productivity
- Improved product quality
- Quicker development of new products and reduced time to intro to the market.
- Visualization of the product
- Greater accuracy, therefore errors are reduced
Limitations of CAD
- Complexity and cost of the program
- Extensive employee training
- Large amounts of processing power which can be expensive.
Computer Aided Manufacturing
The use of computer software to control machine tools and related equipment in the manufacturing of components or complete products.
Benefits of CAM
- Precise Manufacturing and reduced quality problems
- Faster production and increase labor productivity
- More flexible production operations
- Integration of CAD and CAM allows design variants of products to be produced. Niche products can be produced.
Limitations of CAM
- Costs of hardware, programs and employee training
- Hardware failure and breakdowns
- Quality assurance is needed
- Errors in programs can produce faults.
Operational Flexibility
The ability of a business to vary both the level of production and the range of products following changes in customer demand.
Process Innovation
The use of new or much improved production methods or service delivery methods.
Enterprise Resource Planning
The use of a single computer application to plan the purchase and use of resources in an organization in order to improve operations efficiency.
Lean Productions Techniques
- Kaizen
- Quality Circles
- Simultaneous engineering
- Cell Production
- JIT
- Waste Control
Kaizen
A Japanese term meaning continuous improvement.
Quality Circles
A group of employees who meet regularly to consider ways of resolving problems and improving production in their organization.
Simultaneous Engineering
Product development organized so that different stages are done at the same time instead of in sequence.
Cell Production
Flow production is split into self-contained groups that are responsible for a complete unit of work.
Advantages of Lean production
- Reduced waste of time and resources
- Efficiency Increases, Average costs decrease, higher profits
- The work area is less crowded and easier to operate in
- Quality is improved
- New Products are launched more quickly
- Damage to inventory is lesser in chance
Critical Path Analysis
A planning technique that identifies all tasks in a project, puts them in the correct sequence, and allows for the identification of the critical path.
Network Diagram
The diagram used in critical path analysis that shows the logical sequence of activities and the logical dependencies between them, so the critical path can be identified.
Critical Path
The sequence of activities that must be completed on time for the whole project to be completed by the agreed date.
Earliest Start Time
an activity cannot begin before this time.
Latest Finish Time
An activity cannot finish later than this time without delaying the project
Total Float
The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the whole project duration.
Free Float
The length of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the start of the following activities.
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Chapter 6 - External Influences On Business Activity26
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Chapter 7 - External Economic Influences On Business Activity31
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Chapter 8 - Business Stategy18
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Chapter 9 - Corporate Planning and Implementation21
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Chapter 13 - Organisational Structure18
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Chapter 14 - Business Communication14
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Chapter 15 - Leadership12
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Chapter 16 - Human Resource Management Strategy20
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Chapter 21 - Marketing Analysis27
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Chapter 22 - Marketing Strategy13
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Chapter 26 - Location and Scale28
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Chapter 27 - Quality Management14
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Chapter 28 - Operations Strategy25
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Chapter 33 - Financial Statements36
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Chapter 34 - Analysis Of Published Accounts35
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Chapter 35 - Investment Appraisal11
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Chapter 36 - Finance And Accounting Strategy10
