SQA Higher Business Management Management of Operations overview quiz quiz

High storage costs and money tied up that could be used elsewhere

Production stopping because materials have completely run out

Lost sales because customer orders cannot be met on time

Higher delivery costs from placing many small, frequent orders

The maximum amount of stock the firm is able to store

The stock level at which a new order is placed to allow for lead time

The buffer stock kept to avoid completely running out

The total amount of stock used up over an entire year

It requires very large warehouses to store buffer stock

It ties up a great deal of cash in unsold stock

Any delivery delay halts production because there is no buffer stock

It always forces the firm to buy in very large, bulk quantities

Flow production, making identical items continuously on a line

Batch production, making a group of identical items together

Capital-intensive production relying mainly on machinery

Job production, making one unique product to order

It makes identical products continuously, giving high output at low unit cost

It makes a single unique product to each customer's own specification

It is the most flexible method, easily switching between different products

It relies mainly on skilled people rather than on machinery

It relies mainly on skilled workers to make the product by hand

It relies mainly on machinery and equipment to make the product

It is used only for one-off, made-to-order custom products

It always produces the highest quality but at the slowest speed

Building quality in at every stage so faults are prevented

A whole-firm culture aiming for zero defects and continuous improvement

Groups of employees meeting to suggest improvements to quality

Inspecting the finished product at the end to detect and remove faults

Quality assurance, with agreed standards and every worker responsible

Quality control, inspecting only the finished product at the end

Benchmarking against the products of the best firm in the industry

Loss-leader pricing to attract customers into the store

Awarding the product a recognised symbol such as a kitemark

Comparing the firm's products and processes with the best in the industry

Inspecting a random sample of finished goods for faults

Holding meetings of employees to discuss quality improvements

Sending all production waste to landfill to save money

Using the cheapest possible suppliers regardless of conditions

Ethical sourcing, such as buying Fairtrade raw materials

Increasing emissions to lower the cost of production

It always reduces the firm's reputation with its customers

Ethical and sustainable materials are often dearer, raising costs

It makes it impossible to meet environmental legislation

It guarantees that the firm will immediately lose all its customers

Designing and testing new products on a computer screen

Controlling the robots that assemble products on a flow line

Scanning barcodes to record sales and update stock automatically

Carrying out market research surveys with customers online

CAD designs and tests the product on screen; CAM controls the machines that make it

CAD controls the machines; CAM designs the product on screen

Both are systems for recording sales and reordering stock automatically

Both are methods of inspecting finished products for faults

Machines work slowly and cannot run for long periods

Quality becomes inconsistent because of frequent human error

It is impossible to use automation for repetitive tasks

The high initial cost and possible redundancies and poor morale