Operations

What Operations covers

Operations is examined in Component 02, Business 2: operations, finance and influences on business. It covers production processes, quality of goods and services, the sales process and customer service, consumer law, business location, procurement and choosing suppliers and logistics and supply chains.

The 7 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Production processesJob, batch and flow production with their advantages and drawbacks, why flow production has low unit costs, and automation, computers and robots in modern manufacturing.Open →
• Quality of goods and servicesWhat quality means, quality control and quality assurance compared, product recalls, how quality builds reputation, loyalty and price, and keeping quality consistent in services.Open →
• The sales process and customer serviceFace-to-face selling, telesales and e-commerce, how online selling changed the high street, customer and after-sales service, product knowledge, and customer engagement.Open →
• Consumer lawThe Consumer Rights Act 2015, satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described, rights over faulty goods and services, product safety, Trading Standards, and the costs and benefits of compliance.Open →
• Business locationCosts, proximity to the market, labour and raw materials, transport links, clustering near competitors, how e-commerce changed location decisions, and trading off one factor against another.Open →
• Procurement and choosing suppliersThe stages of procurement, choosing suppliers on price, quality, reliability and payment terms, using several suppliers, bulk buying, checking deliveries, and technology in procurement.Open →
• Logistics and supply chainsLogistics and the supply chain, delivery times and reliability, just-in-time stock control, what happens when a link breaks, holding large or small stocks, and online retailers' logistics.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Operations further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Job production vs Batch production

  Job production: making a single unique item to one customer's order. Batch production: making a set quantity of identical items before switching to another item.

• Batch production vs Flow production

  Batch production: making a set quantity of identical items before switching to another item. Flow production: continuous manufacture of identical items along an assembly line.

• Quality control vs Quality assurance

  Quality control: inspecting finished goods to find and remove faulty items. Quality assurance: building checks into every stage so that faults are prevented.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define job production.

   Model answer

   Job production makes a single, unique product to meet one customer's exact requirements. Examples include a wedding dress, a made-to-measure kitchen and a new bridge.

2. 2

   What are the advantages of job production for a business?

   Model answer

   A business can charge a high price for a product made to the customer's own order. Workers doing varied, skilled tasks also tend to be well motivated.

3. 3

   What are the disadvantages of job production?

   Model answer

   Job production is slow and relies on skilled, well-paid workers. Unit costs are high because the business gains no economies of scale.

4. 4

   What is batch production?

   Model answer

   Batch production makes a group of identical products together before the equipment is changed over for a different group. A bakery making a tray of white loaves, then brown loaves, uses batch production.

5. 5

   What are the advantages of batch production?

   Model answer

   Batch production gives lower unit costs than job production because products are made in quantity. A business can still offer variety by switching between batches.

6. 6

   What are the disadvantages of batch production?

   Model answer

   Machinery stands idle while it is cleaned or reset between batches. Each batch must also be stored until it is sold, which ties up cash.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Operations revision questions

What does Operations cover in OCR GCSE Business?

7 subtopics: production processes, quality of goods and services, the sales process and customer service, consumer law, business location, procurement and choosing suppliers and logistics and supply chains. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Operations organised?

By the OCR J204 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.