1. Ilhan's, a local bakery, is worried about increased costs - particularly energy. Last year's records can provide a fairly good estimate of the parameters for this year. Ilhan Balci, the owner, does not believe things have changed much, but he did invest an additional 3 000 MU for modifications to the bakery's ovens to make them more energy efficient. The modifications were supposed to make the ovens at least 15 % more efficient. I. Balci has asked you, as a brilliant graduate of EMU, to check the energy savings of the new ovens and also look over other measures of the bakery's productivity to see if the modifications were beneficial. You have the following data to work with:
|
|
Last Year
|
Now
|
|
Production (dozen)
|
1500
|
1500
|
|
Labour (hours)
|
350
|
325
|
|
Capital Investment (MU)
|
15 000
|
18 000
|
|
Energy (kw-hrs)
|
3 000
|
2 750
|
2. Serra's Ceramics spent 3 000 MU on a new kiln last year, in the belief that it would cut energy usage 25 % over the old kiln. This kiln is an oven that turns "greenware" into finished pottery. Serra is concerned that the new kiln requires extra labour hours for its operation. Serra wants to check the energy saving of the new oven, and also to look over other measures of their productivity to see if the change really was beneficial.
Serra has the following data to work with:
|
|
Last Year
|
This Year
|
|
Production (finished units)
|
4000
|
4000
|
|
Greenware (pounds)
|
5000
|
5000
|
|
Labour (hrs)
|
350
|
375
|
|
Capital (MU)
|
15000
|
18000
|
|
Energy (kWh)
|
3000
|
2600
|
Were the modifications BENEFICIAL?
3. Suzan has a part-time "cottage-industry" producing seasonal plywood yard ornaments for resale at local craft fairs and bazaars. She currently works a total of 4 hours per day to produce 10 ornaments.
a. What is her productivity?
b. She thinks that by redesigning the ornaments and switching from use of a wood glue to a hot-glue gun she can increase her production to 20 ornaments per day. What is her new productivity?
c. What is her percentage increase (or decrease) in productivity?
4. A company has asked YOU to evaluate the firm's productivity by comparing this year's performance with last year's. The following data are available:
|
|
Last Year
|
This Year
|
|
OUTPUT
|
10500
units
|
12100
units
|
|
Labour Hours
|
12000
|
13200
|
|
Utilities
|
7600 MU
|
8250 MU
|
|
Capital
|
8300 MU
|
88000 MU
|
Has the company improved its PRODUCTIVITY during the past year?
5. Mr. Ilhan DALCI makes billiard balls in his Beyarmudu plant. With a recent increase in taxes, his costs have gone up and he has a newfound interest in efficiency. Mr.Dalci is interested in determining the productivity of his organisation. He would like to know if his organisation is maintaining the manufacturing average of 3% increase in productivity. He has the following data representing a month from last year and an equivalent month this year.
|
Last year |
Now |
| Units produced |
1 000 |
1 000 |
| Labour (hours) |
300 |
275 |
| Resin (kg.s) |
50 |
45 |
| Capital invested (MU) |
10 000 |
11 000 |
| Energy (BTU) |
3 000 |
2 850 |
Show the productivity change for each category and then determine the IMPROVEMENT for labour- hrs, the typical standard for comparison.
6. Haldun LOP, the production manager of LOP Chemicals, in Gazimagusa, TRNC, is preparing his quarterly report which is to include a productivity analysis for his department. One of the inputs is production data prepared by Meltem SERIN, his operation analyst. The report, which she gave him this morning, showed the following:
|
|
2005
|
2006
|
|
Production (units)
|
4500
|
6000
|
|
Raw Material Used (barrels ofPetroleum by- products)
|
700
|
900
|
|
Labour Hours
|
22000
|
28000
|
|
Capital Cost applied to the Department (MU)
|
375000
|
620000
|
Haldun LOP wondered if his productivity had increased at all. He called Meltem into his office and conveyed the above information to her and asked her to proceed with preparing this part of the report. (Include your interpretations for each productivity figure)
7. Ahmet Uslu makes wooden boxes in which to ship motorcycles. Ahmet and his three employees invest 40 hours per day making the 120 boxes.
a. What is their productivity?
b. Ahmet and his employees have discussed redesigning the process to improve efficiency. If they can increase the rate to 125 per day, what would be their new productivity?
c. What would be their increase in productivity?
8. The manager of a local firm says "the forecasting techniques are more trouble than they are worth. I don`t forecast at all, and I`m doing 25% more business than last year". Comment.