Question

Identify and discuss the two common methods of production planning. What are the
advantages and disadvantages of each method?

Answer 1

1) Job Production: Under this approach, the entire task of manufacturing a product is handled either by an individual worker or by a group; and often incorporated when the specifications by customer are essential in the production.

Advantages:

-- Work quality is high because high skilled workers are employed

-- Motivation for workers as they do not perform the same work again and there is more learning

-- Customers may order exactly what they want instead of accepting something mass produced

Disadvantages:

-- It tends to be labour intensive with limited opportunities for automating huge parts of the process

-- It is a costly approach for producing a product as high quality labour demand higher wage

2) Batch production: Under this approach, the process of manufacturing is split into a different number of operations; each of which is carried out on the entire batch before it is moved on and the next batch is received. It is usually applied when the product's demand is relatively constant

Advantages:

-- It is less expensive to produce a whole batch of a product instead of a single item at a time

-- Effective utilisation of machinery thus saving money for the business

-- Reduces the overall wastage by creating the correct number of required products

-- Useful for seasonal items because of the ability to order less or more of a particular item

-- It allows for flexibility and reduces the risk of concentrating on individual product

Disadvantages:

-- Storage cost is increased due to the large quantities of produced products

-- The product cannot be unique or personalised for the individual customer

-- Each batch can cause a meticulous quality control and assurances, thus leading to an increased employee downtime