It is important that a business makes effective use of
its assets. The investment in production capacity is often significant.
Think about how much it costs to set up a factory; the production line
with all its machinery and technology. One way to look at how
efficiently a business operates is to look at "productivity".
Productivity measures the relationship between inputs into the production process and the resultant outputs. Productivity can be measured in several ways: e.g.
Why is achieving high productivity important?
- Output per worker or hour of labour
- Output per hour / day / week
- Output per machine
- Unit costs (total costs divided by total output)
Why is achieving high productivity important?
- Most importantly, a more efficient business will produce lower cost goods than competitors. That means the business can either make a higher profit per unit sold (assuming that the product is sold for the same price as a competitor) or the business can offer customers a lower price than competitors (and still make a good profit/
- Investing in production assets (e.g. equipment, factory buildings) is expensive – a business needs to maximise the return it makes on these assets
- Training – e.g. on-the-job training that allows an employee to improve skills required to work more productively
- Improved motivation – more motivated employees tend to produce greater output for the same effort than de-motivated ones
- More or better capital equipment (this links with the topic of automation)
- Better quality raw materials (reduces amount of time wasted on rejected products)
- Improved organisation of production – e.g. less wastage
