Technology and Production

Machines take over the repeating

Technology in production means automation, computers and robotics: machines that do work a person used to do. It is easy to answer a question on it by listing what a robot can do. That is a description, and it earns few marks. The exam wants a judgement about whether a particular business should use it. ⭐⭐ Here is the idea that makes the judgement easy. Technology earns its keep by taking over the REPETITION. A machine does the repeatable part of a job faster, more consistently, and around the clock without tiring. So the value of technology depends entirely on how much a task repeats. Make the same item ten thousand times and a machine that does it a little cheaper each time saves an enormous amount. Make one item once, to a customer own design, and the same machine is dead weight. ⚠️ And it is never free. Automation costs a great deal to set up, it makes a business less able to switch to a different product, and it changes the kind of workers the business needs, fewer of one kind and more in maintenance and programming. ⭐ So the honest answer is always a weighing, not a list. Does the task repeat enough to earn back the setup cost? Can the firm afford it? Does it need to keep changing the product? What happens to the people? Carry one question through the module: does this task repeat enough to be worth automating?

What it gives, and what it costs

Every use of technology in production is a trade. Read the first column as the gain, the second as the price, and the third as the test of whether the trade is worth making.

Tap the two worth automating

Tap the TWO situations where investing in automation is MOST likely to be worth it, because the task repeats enough to earn back the setup cost.

• A firm makes many thousands of identical bottles of the same drink every day.
• A workshop makes one-off wedding cakes, each to a different design.
• A warehouse packs the same standard box, the same way, all day long.
• A studio designs a brand new product for a different client every week.

The wrong tool for a one-off

A small workshop makes bespoke furniture, each piece one of a kind to a customer own design. A salesperson urges it to buy an expensive automated cutting line. Why is that poor advice?

• Because the work does not repeat, so the large setup cost would never be earned back; automation pays off on high volumes of identical items
• Because machines always produce worse quality than people
• Because a small workshop should never use any technology at all
• Because it would create too many new jobs

Words for the technology topic

Six terms an answer on production technology should use precisely. Each is a lever in the judgement of whether to automate.

Match each tool to what it does

Two real gains from automating

A firm making a large number of identical items automates its line. Select the TWO genuine benefits it can expect.

• A lower cost for each item, because the setup cost is spread over a huge number of them
• More consistent quality, because the machine repeats the task the same way every time
• More flexibility to change the product often
• No setup cost to worry about

Justify it for this business

A question on production technology almost always asks you to advise a particular business, not to describe machinery. The mark scheme wants a judgement fitted to that firm. ⭐ So run four questions, in order. First, DOES THE TASK REPEAT? The more identical the work, the more a machine saves, so this is the question that decides most cases. Second, CAN THE FIRM AFFORD THE SETUP? The saving comes later; the cost comes first, and a small firm may not have it. Third, DOES IT NEED TO KEEP CHANGING THE PRODUCT? If it does, the loss of flexibility may cost more than the saving. ⚠️ Fourth, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE PEOPLE? Be even-handed here. Automation can reduce the number of routine jobs, and it can also create new ones in maintenance and programming and raise the pay of those that remain. State it as a trade-off, not as a verdict that machines are good or bad. Then commit to an answer and say WHY, in terms of that firm. A grade-9 answer never just lists what technology does; it says whether it suits THIS business, and the reason is almost always how much the work repeats.

Order the decision to automate

Put the steps a business works through when deciding whether to automate a task into a sensible order.

• Identify the exact task that might be done by machine
• Ask how often that same task repeats
• Weigh the setup cost against the saving on each item
• Consider how much flexibility to change the product would be lost
• Plan for the change to the workforce, and then decide

Build the case for the machines

A firm makes a huge number of identical tins. Assemble the justification for automating its line.

The technology run

Five quick decisions about technology in production. Three lives.

A dishwasher, or one cup

Leave the factory aside for a screen. Think about a dishwasher, a machine that does the washing up for you. For a single cup after a quiet evening, running a dishwasher is daft. You would spend longer loading it, filling it and waiting than it takes to rinse one cup at the sink. The machine costs more trouble than it saves. ⭐⭐ Now picture a busy cafe with hundreds of plates a night. Here the same machine pays for itself many times over, washing load after load while the staff do other things, and washing each one the same way. ⭐ Nothing about the machine changed between the two kitchens. What changed was HOW OFTEN THE SAME JOB CAME ROUND. The machine only earns its place when the task repeats again and again. And notice the trade in the busy cafe. The dishwasher is bolted in and plumbed to one spot; it washes plates and only plates. If the cafe suddenly needed to do something quite different, the machine could not help. It bought speed at high volume by giving up the freedom to do anything else. ⚠️ Hold that picture. A machine on a production line is exactly the same bargain: brilliant when the same job repeats enough to pay it back, dead weight when it does not, and always paid for by giving up the freedom to change.

Complete the technology facts

Using machines to do a task with little human involvement is _____, and using programmable machines to do physical work such as assembly is _____. Because the machines work quickly and without tiring, they raise _____, the amount produced for the effort put in. The saving shows up as a lower _____ cost, the cost of making one item, but only when the same item is made in large numbers. The main thing a business gives up in return is _____, the ease of switching to a different product, because the machines are set up for one job.

Advise a firm weighing machines

A growing firm that bakes and packs a single popular loaf is deciding whether to automate its packing. Work through the advice.

• What is the first thing to check before advising them?
• The task clearly repeats. They worry they might switch to a range of different loaves next year. How does that change things?
• Staff fear for their jobs. What is the fair thing to tell the firm?

Evaluate more technology for a business

A business making a standard product in large numbers is considering investing heavily in automation. Evaluate whether it should, and reach a supported judgement. You may invent details about the firm to support your argument.

• Explain what taking over the repetition means, and why it lowers the cost of each item at high volume
• Give one clear benefit besides cost, such as consistent quality or higher productivity
• Explain the setup cost and why the volume of production matters to whether it is earned back
• Explain the loss of flexibility and when that would matter to this firm
• Deal fairly with the effect on the workforce, as a trade-off rather than a verdict
• Reach a judgement that says whether this particular business should automate, and why