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Unit4

Production Capacity of Factories

Park: This shows the size of the whole plant. Established in 1975, we, Universal, continue to export all
kinds of electronic parts and we build a full line of products as well. The monthly production capacity of
electronic parts is about 15,000 sets. That is the highest figure among all factories here in Korea. We’re
proud to hold that record.
Adams: That’s a large amount compared with those of Japanese companies. That is very impressive!
Park: Right. We are also going to construct a second plant with all the modern facilities that you can think
of within two years. With the addition of that new plant, you can even double the production figure that
we have now.
Adams: Really? That factory looks a bit larger than I had expected. Are you sure that you can
construct that within your target? That seems to be a very ambitious plan. How would the construction of a
new plant coincide with your current business affairs?
Park: It’s expected that the new factory will double our present output capacity. We have planned this since
five years ago and we have made long preparations for this. We have more than enough budget to sustain
the construction of the new plant without any negative effect on our usual production. In fact, while the
new plant is being constructed, production can already start in some areas, so that we will experience
an incremental increase in production that will culminate when the whole plant is fully constructed.

1. Do you think that it is indeed better to rely on machines rather thank on people for
faster and more efficient production?

Sample answer:
I think that the times now call for the domination of machines in production. Error percentage
is smaller when machines do the work. The speed of production can also be more accurately
determined if machines are used. Of course, hiring humans also has some advantages and I be-
lieve that we can never eliminate humans from the production. People will always have some
tasks in the production process, but if I will be made to choose, I’d say machines are better.

2. Based on the line of work that you are in now, what steps have you done to speed
up the production or service of your company?

Sample answer:
We always have a target production percentage, and we do our best to reach that. If we meet it, then we
try to set a slightly higher target in the next cycle. This means that we are continuously improving our
production rate. We invest a lot on our equipment. We have good maintenance of our machines and we
scour the market for more advanced and efficient ones. We also have good production supervisors who
have a lot of strategies to improve our capacity.

3. What are common problems that delay production? How does your company deal

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