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Informatics |Информатика

LESSON 10

Read the text:  IMPEDIMENTS TO GLOBALIZATION OF MANUFACTURING FACILITIES

To cope with the great variety of production requirements, the designer generally has the option of selecting either a capital-intensive process incorporating automated, high-semimanual output machinery or a labor-intensive process employing more people and general-purpose equipment with lower productive capacity. The automated machinery is severely limited in flexibility (variety of products and range of sizes), but once set up, it will turn out in a few days what may be a year’s supply for some markets. For many processes, this problem may be resolved by installing one machine of the type used by the hundreds in the larger home plant. However, sometimes this option is not available; some processes use only one or two large machines, even in manufacturing facilities with large output, as we mentioned in the discussion of standardized manufacturing. Until recently, when the option was not available, plan designers had to choose between the high-output specialized machinery and the lower-output general-purpose machines mentioned earlier. The major differences are that general-purpose machines require skills that are built into a special-purpose machine. The general-purpose machine usually produces a product of lower quality and higher per-unit costs than does the special-purpose machine.

A third alternative is available: computer-integrated manufacturing, which many international firms are using. However, its cost and high technological content generally limit its application to the industrialized nations and the more advanced developing nations. CIM systems enable a machine to make one part as easily as another in random order on an instruction from a bar code reader of the kind used in supermarkets. This reduces to one the economic batch quantity – the minimum number of a part that can be made economically by a factory. There is a limit, nevertheless, to the variety of shapes, sizes, and materials that can be accommodated.

Another economic factor that influences the designer’s selection of processes is the cost of production. Automation tends to increase the productivity per worker because it requires less labor and results in higher output per machine. But if the desired output requires that the machines be operated only a fraction of the time, the high capital costs of automated equipment may result in excessive production costs even though labor costs are low. In situations where production costs favor semimanual equipment, the designer may be compelled to install high-capacity machines instead because of a lack of floor space. Generally, the space occupied by a few high-capacity machines is less than that required for the greater number of semimanual machines needed to produce the same output. However, because the correct type and quality of process materials are indispensable for specialized machinery, the engineers cannot recommend this equipment if such materials are unobtainable either locally or through importation. Occasionally, management will bypass this obstacle by means of backward vertical integration; that is, manufacturing capacity to produce essential inputs will be included in the plant design even though it would be preferable from an economic standpoint to purchase those materials from outside vendors. For example, a textile factory might include a facility for producing nylon fibers.

The economic forces we have described are fundamental considerations in plant design, yet elements of the cultural and political forces may be sufficiently significant to override decisions based on purely economic reasoning.

1. Match the left part with the right:

2. Complete the sentences with the suggested words: skills, general-purpose, lower, per-unit

 The major differences are that ______ machines require ______ that are built into a special-purpose machine. The general-purpose machine usually produces a product of ______ quality and higher ______ costs than does the special-purpose machine.