A premium chocolate business is deciding how to produce gift boxes for a winter festival. Standard milk chocolates are made continuously in large quantities...
Question 1 Report
A premium chocolate business is deciding how to produce gift boxes for a winter festival. Standard milk chocolates are made continuously in large quantities, while personalised boxes with names written in icing are made only after customers order them. The production manager wants to increase profit without reducing the quality expected by customers.
(a) Identify the most suitable process for the standard milk chocolates. [1]
(b) Identify the most suitable process for the personalised boxes. [1]
(c) Explain one reason why the two products need different processes. [2]
(d) Calculate the labour productivity if 6 decorators complete 96 personalised boxes in one shift. [1]
(e) Explain one way training decorators could increase profit. [2]
(f) Which business objective is supported by reliable personalised orders arriving on time? [1]
Answer Details
(a) Standard milk chocolates are best made using flow production or mass production [1].
(b) Personalised boxes are best made using job production [1].
(c) Standard chocolates are identical and sold in high volumes [1], so repeated flow stages are efficient. Each personalised box has individual customer requirements, such as a name in icing [1], so it needs a flexible job-based process.
(d)
\[\text{Labour productivity}=\frac{96\text{ boxes}}{6\text{ decorators}}=16\text{ boxes per decorator per shift}\]
16 boxes per decorator per shift [1].
(e) Training can improve decorators' speed or accuracy [1]. This reduces waste or enables more boxes to be sold, increasing profit [1].
(f) Reliable orders arriving on time support customer satisfaction [1]. Increasing sales or building reputation are also acceptable objectives.
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