Producing Goods & Services Flashcards

All 5 cards in this deck

What is job production?

Items are produced individually to meet the exact requirements of a customer.
e.g. a tailor making a bespoke suit.

What is flow production?

Making large numbers of identical products on a continuous production line.
e.g. bottled drinks or cars.

Give two advantages of job production.

The business can charge higher prices for a high-quality, tailored product; work is varied so employees are less bored.

True or false? Job production usually has a higher cost per unit than flow production.

True. Items are made individually by skilled employees, while flow production spreads costs over large volumes of identical products.

What are the steps to recommend a production method for a business?
e.g. a bakery that makes thousands of identical bread rolls each day

1. Ask whether customers want one-off tailored items or identical standard items: identical rolls.
2. Check the output needed and whether the machinery investment is affordable: very high volume needed.
3. Recommend the method and justify it using costs, quality and workforce: flow production, as cost per unit falls, though some jobs may be lost.