Section 10 - Organisational Structure

Question 1

What is job production?

Answer 1

Making a one off unique product, single + customised, tailor made, meet needs of consumer

Question 2

What are the advantages of job production?

Answer 2

• Unique
• Higher quality
• Can charge high prices
• High profit margin

Question 3

What are the disadvantages of job production?

Answer 3

• High costs - materials
• Need skilled workers as labour intensive
• Slower
• Machinery often idle

Question 4

What is batch production?

Answer 4

Making a group of similar products at once

Question 5

What are the advantages of batch production?

Answer 5

• Lower unit cost
• Wide product range
• Flexibility
• Less idle machinery

Question 6

What are the disadvantages of batch production?

Answer 6

• Lots of waste if one batch goes wrong
• Varying quality in batches
• Reliant on one machine
• Costly storage needed
• Lower quality products

Question 7

What is mass/flow production?

Answer 7

• Making lots of the same product continuously
• Identical
• Made in large quantities

Question 8

What are the advantages of mass/flow production?

Answer 8

• Quicker
• Cheaper as lower unit costs
• Same quality across all products
• Large outputs

Question 9

What are the disadvantages of mass/flow production?

Answer 9

• Not unique
• Mistakes result in a lot of wasyte
• Lower quality
• Inflexible
• Repetitive work
• Lower profit margins

Question 10

In terms of production, how might a business change as it expands?

Answer 10

• Moves from job/batch to mass/flow

- Labour intensive to capital intensive

Question 11

What are the advantages of moving from batch or job production to mass/flow production (labour to capital intensive) as a business grows?

Answer 11

• Reduced costs for staff as less skilled
• Lower unit costs
• Target larger orders, increase capacity
• Increase efficiency

Question 12

What are the disadvantages of moving from batch or job production to mass/flow production (labour to capital intensive) as a business grows?

Answer 12

• Initial high costs (machinery)
• Nothing unique, no USP?
• Quality could suffer
• Redundancies

Question 13

What are the different methods of lean production?

Answer 13

• Kaizen
• JIT (just in time)
• Cell production

Question 14

What is lean production?

Answer 14

• Cutting away anything that is not necessary for production so no wastage
• Carry no excess at all
• Efficient
• Maximum productivity

Question 15

What is Kaizen?

Answer 15

Making a product, see how it can be improved, make again, see how can be improved again

Question 16

What is JIT?

Answer 16

• Just in time
• Where inputs into the production process arrive only when they are needed
• Less storage
• Order when you need it
• Dependence on suppliers (can affect whether you can supply customers
• No economies of scale

Question 17

What is cell production?

Answer 17

• Where workers organised into multi-skilled teams w/ each team responsible for a particular part of production process
• Teams
• Different skills/ideas

Question 18

What are the advantages of JIT?

Answer 18

• Saves money on storage
• Less likelihood of wasted stock (e.g. out of date)
• Less build up of unsold product

Question 19

What are the disadvantages if JIT?

Answer 19

• No room for mistakes as could be costly

- Reliant on suppliers

Question 20

What are the advantages if cell production?

Answer 20

• More motivation from more variety of work
• Higher quality as each cell has ownership for quality on area
• Members within cell are close so better communication
• Become multi-skilled + more adaptable
• Can cover if one sick

Question 21

What are the disadvantages of cell production?

Answer 21

• Staff need to be trained
• Have to assign staff enough so they can work efficiently but not overdone
• Can not use machinery as much

Question 22

What are the advantages of kaizen?

Answer 22

• Constantly making product better
• Adaptable to customer requirements
• Less need for inspection as improved always
• Better teamwork

Question 23

What are the disadvantages of kaizen?

Answer 23

• Time consuming
• Can be demotivating, accepting failures
• Varying quality

Question 24

How can a business measure productivity?

Answer 24

• Output per worker, as high as possible

- Labour turnover, low = managing to retain staff, high = might be indicative of problem

Question 25

How do you work out output per worker?

Answer 25

Total output / number of staff

Question 26

How do you work out labour turnover?

Answer 26

Number of staff leaving / average staff x 100 [%]

Question 27

What is quality?

Answer 27

Achieving a standard for a particular product or service which meets customer needs

Question 28

Why is quality important (especially compared to in the past)?

Answer 28

- More competition, need to be cheaper - Lots of people want better quality - Brand image/reputation; customer expectations higher as review negatively otherwise - Expect life cycle - Constantly evolving in what expecting as customer - Government legislation

Question 29

What makes a product sub standard?

Answer 29

- Not fit for purpose - Not durable, breaks - Poor customer service - Poor instructions - Delivered late

Question 30

What methods are there to ensure quality standards?

Answer 30

- Quality control - Quality assurance - TQM, total quality management

Question 31

What is quality assurance?

Answer 31

Checking the quality of the product as you go

Question 32

What is quality control?

Answer 32

Checking the quality of the product at the end

Question 33

What is TQM (total quality management)?

Answer 33

Everyone responsible for managing quality

Question 34

What is specialisation/division of labour?

Answer 34

Work in specific area where skill set