Find the words in the text which mean the following. 1. people who work with their hands: manual workers 2. a union for workers with a particular type of job: trade union 3. to ask someone‘s opinion before making a decision: consult 4. an opponent or enemy: adversary 5. too expensive, wasteful, loss-making: uneconomic 6. unlimited and unfairly used power: tyranny 7. ending or relaxing restrictive laws: deregulation 8. areas of the economy run by the local or national government: the public sector 9. hostile, almost aggressive, seeking conflicts: confrontational 10. a large corporation, made up of a group of companies: conglomerate
2d Discussion
Peter Drucker says ?Management is and has to be a power.‘ What does this mean? When Peter Drucker writes ?Management is and has to be a power‘, he means that management has a distinct role, which is quite simply to manage --- to decide what the company is going to do, today and in the future, how it is going to allocate its resources, and so on --- without unnecessary outside interference. But by saying that power without any restraint or control becomes tyranny, he implies that unions have a legitimate right to defend the interests of workers.
Regarding the final question, large companies sometimes receive fiscal advantages (such as reduced taxes) from governments if they open a factory and create jobs in an area with high unemployment. In these cases they perhaps should not be allowed to close the factory as soon as the subsidies end.
New words in this unit 07
Adversary; 共同商讨collective bargaining; 咨询consult; deregulation; go-slow; industrial action; manual worker; partner; picket; slowdown; strike; trade union; uneconomic; working practices; working-to-rule
Unit 08 Production
1a Discussion
1. What particular skills do you think production and operations managers require?
Production and operations managers should presumably be interested in making products or providing services rather than simply making money. They usually need a lot of technical knowledge (about manufacturing processes) and mathematical abilities. Even in these days of increasing automation, good human relations skills are also a clear advantage.
2. What do you think the objectives of a production department usually are?
The objectives of the production department are usually to produce a specific product, on schedule, at minimum cost. But there may be other criteria, such as concentrating on quality and product reliability; producing the maximum possible volume of output; fully utilizing the plant or the work force; reducing lead time; generating the maximum return on assets; ensuring flexibility for product or volume changes, and so on. Some of these objectives are clearly incompatible, and most companies have to choose among price, quality, and flexibility. There is an elementary trade-off between low cost and quality, and another between low cost and the flexibility to customize products or to deliver in a very short lead time.
1b Vocabulary:
These are some basic words used in relation to industrial production. Match them up with the definitions below.
Capacity, component, inventory, lead time, location, outsourcing or contracting out, plant, subcontractor 1. Any company that provides goods or services for another one: subcontractor
2. Any of the pieces or parts that make up a product, machine, etc.: component
3. Buying products or processed materials from other companies rather than manufacturing them: outsourcing or contracting out
4. The (maximum) rate of output that can be achieved from a production process: capacity
5. The buildings, machines, equipment and other facilities used in the production process: plant
6. The geographical situation of a factory or other facility: location
7. The stock of any item or resource used in an organization (including raw materials, parts, supplies, work in process and finished products): inventory
8. The time needed to perform an activity (i.e. to manufacture or deliver something): lead time 1e Comprehension
According to the text, are the following sentences TRUE or FALSE? If they are false, say why.
1. T In JIT, products are ?pulled‘ through the manufacturing process from the end, rather than ?pushed‘ through from the beginning. (Each section of the production process makes the necessary quantity of the necessary units at the necessary
time – which is when it is required by the next stage of the manufacturing process, or by distributors or customers.
2. F JIT originated in American manufacturing. (Ohno mentioned American retailing)
3. F JIT encourages production workers to exceed their production targets. (Quite the contrary: it encourages them to produce exactly the amount required)
4. T Companies using the JIT system and outsourcing many of their components are highly dependent on their subcontractors. (…if a single subcontractor fails to deliver a component on time, the whole production process is sabotaged)
5. F In a JIT system, a delivery of defective components can be replaced from the reserve inventory (There is virtually no inventory)
6. T JIT depends on harmonious partnerships between a company and its suppliers (…the Japanese industrial system relies on mutual trust and long-term relationships.)
7. T Japanese production systems generally speed up the entire manufacturing process. (This avoids all the waiting and moving time involved in sending half-finished items from one department to another… JIT… should ensure that there is no waste… from idle workers waiting for parts.)
8. F JIT leads to economies of scale. (The Japanese also prefer small, specialized production plants with a limited capacity… very small production runs are possible.
9. T JIT production – manufacturing only when a customer places an order – does not encourage
innovation or the creation of demand. (This is not mentioned in the text, but follows logically from the concept of JIT, as business students should be able to understand. In fact it was one of my students who suggested this as a disadvantage of JIT since I wrote the first edition!)
2a Discussion
1. When consumers talk about quality, what different aspects or criteria do they have in mind? How would you define quality in relation to the following?
A fast-food snack, a restaurant meal, a tennis club, a small car (US automobile), a raincoat, hi-fi equipment
Fast-food customers are usually looking for speed of service, relatively low prices, reasonable food, and consistency – an identical product in all fast-food chain‘s outlets.
A restaurant meal usually takes more time, but the service should not be too slow. The food is expected to be good, and possibly distinctive – not the same as in all other restaurants. The décor and atmosphere are important.
A tennis club should have good facilities, a good atmosphere, and offer sufficient opportunities to play, i.e. not have too many members.
A small car is probably a relatively cheap one (luxury cars tend to be big). It will not perform like an expensive sports car, but it should be reliable and durable. It may not have as many features as larger cars, but should still have a good appearance.
A raincoat should keep you dry, i.e. be waterproof, but also last a reasonable length of time,
and look good. Appearance is probably important. ?Serviceability‘ might also be important: can you just throw it in the washing machine, or does it have to be dry-cleaned?
Hi-fi equipment should obviously reproduce sound with high fidelity, i.e. what comes out of the speakers should be exactly what is recorded on the CD, tape, etc. On expensive hi-fi equipment it is also possible to change the sound by boosting the bass, middle and treble frequencies, and so on. Hi-fi equipment should also be durable, i.e. it should last a number of years without needing to be repaired.
2. A well-known book on production is called Quality is Free, in which Philip B. Crosby argues that what costs money is a lack of quality – not doing things right the first time. List some of the expenses a company can avoid by preventing poor quality before it happens.
Examples of avoidable expenses relating to a lack of quality include: identifying the causes of defects, implementing corrective action, training or retraining personnel, redesigning a product or system, scrapping, reworking, repairing, servicing or replacing defective products, handling complaints, losing customers or their goodwill, and so on.
2b Listening
You will hear part an interview with Alan Severn, the Quality Manager of Arcam, a British manufacturer of specialized, high quality hi-fi equipment: CD players, amplifiers, tuners and cassette decks.
Listen to the interview and then answer these