In the second part of the interview Teresa talks about why it is important for a business to revise its plan regularly. Listen and answer these questions.

1. Which three things does she say a business plan is like?

a). a working tool

b).something you do for your bank for a particular day of the week

c). a template for any plan that you might produce for an external funder

d). a route map

e). n instrument that helps you to research the marketplace.

2. Which three sources of finance does she not mention?

a). a government grant

b). a bank

c). an equity partner

d). a loan

e). a business angel

f). leasing

(CD)Task 3.

Listen to the third part of the interview. Decide whether these statements are true (T) or false (F).

1. People are critical of SMEs because they do not usually have good business plans.

2. The best companies involve everyone in the creation of their plans.

3.William Kendall now owns a business called Green & Black chocolate.

4. Kendall was unable to find anyone who could run his old business as well as he could.

5. Kendall immediately asked Cadbury’s if they wanted to invest in his new business.

(CD)Task 4.

Tell your partner about something you planned well (in business, in your life). Then tell your partner about something you planned badly.

Unit 18 Product Design and Development

Exercise 1. Look at the following chart

1.Idea generation

2. Product selection

3.Preliminary design

4. Final design

5. Facilities exist and new facilities required

6.Process selection

7. Capacity planning. Production planning.

The chart above shows the standard product design and development sequence. Match up the sentences below with the different stages of the sequence.

a. Carry out a market analysis, an economic analysis , and a technical feasibility study.

b. Determine production capacity and production schedule

c. Develop and test preliminary designs and make final specifications.

d. Evaluate alternative designs in terms of reliability, maintainability, and so on , and their producibility.

e. Evaluate alternative technologies and methods, and decide whether to develop them or license them from other companies; select specific equipment and process flow.

f. Search for consumer needs, consider alternatives, select best idea.

g. Select production facility.

Exercise 2. Match the words in the box with the definitions below:

benchmarking	defect	durability	goodwill
reliability	to scrap	serviceability	warranty

1. a fault or imperfection or deficiency

2. a promise that goods will meet a certain specified quality level, or be repaired or replaced free of charge

3. customers’ satisfaction with and loyalty to a company

4. ease of maintenance and repair

5.going outside the firm to see what excellent competitors are doing, and adopting the best practices

6. performance according to specification

7. regular performance to specification

8. to sell defective goods for the price of the recyclable materials they contain

Exercise 3.

Read the text. Match up the following words with the underlined words in the text.

achieve	aspects	costly	disliked
expenses	guarantee	origins	permanent
present	selfish	setting up	stress

In production and operations management, over the past few decades, there has been increasing (1) emphasis on quality, as defined by the consumer, in terms of features offered, appearance, reliability, durability, serviceability, and so on.

An important concept has been Total Quality Management (TQM) , according to which management should ensure that quality extends throughout the organization in everything it does, or at least in all (2) features of products and services that are important to the customer. Rather than aiming for the best quality compatible with low unit costs, the company should aim for the highest quality level possible, because a lack of quality can be more (3) expensive than achieving high quality. As the production theorist Philip Crosby puts it, quality is free.

What he means is that there are many (4) costs that result from production that is not 100% perfect: inspecting, testing, identifying the causes of defects, implementing corrective action, training or retraining personnel, redesigning a product or system, scrapping, reworking or repairing defective products, replacing products in accordance with a (5) warranty, dealing with complaints, losing customers or their goodwill, and so on. Quality theorists such as Joseph Juran, W.E. Deming, and Crosby have shown that prevention is usually much cheaper than failures. Every extra dollar spent on prevention might save $10 spent on inspection and failure costs. Furthermore, even if the (6) current quality level appears perfect, the company should still continuously look for product improvement, and aim to be the best in the industry. Companies should always engage in benchmarking.

Although management is responsible for designing and (7) installing an overall system which excludes defects and low quality, everyone within that system, in the entire supplier-producer-customer chain, should be responsible for quality. In TQM, every worker is a quality inspector for his or her own work , trying to get it right the first time, aiming for zero defects. This approach, often described as “Quality at the source”, removes the need for the kind of “over the shoulder” inspection that is usually (8) resented by workers. Of course this often requires training, and depends on a co-operative attitude.

Many large Japanese companies –especially those guaranteeing (9) lifetime employment – have been able to (10) attain high quality, because of the motivation of their staff, and the long-term nature of nearly all the relationships among employees, suppliers, distributors, owners and customers. The Japanese invented quality circles: voluntary groups of six to twelve people, who are usually given training in problem-solving, analysis, and reporting methods, and who then meet once a week, during paid hours, to discuss their department and the problems they are encountering. If there are problems with quality variations, the group will try to identify their (11) sources , find solutions to eliminate them, and propose these to management. There are an estimated one million quality circles with ten million members in Japan. Quality circles have been successful in the more (12) individualistic cultures of America and Europe.

Exercise 4.

Complete the following collocations from the text.

1. operations …………

2. compatible …….

3. unit …….

4. ………. level

5. corrective ……

6. ……. with complaints

7. ……. improvement

8. overall …..

9. the supplier –producer –customer …..

10. ……… defects

11. lifetime …….

12. …….. circles

Exercise 5.

Complete the following collocations from the text.

1. to retrain …….

2. to repair …….

3. to deal with ……

4. to lose customers’

5. to install …….

6. to eliminate …….

Listening

(CD)Task 1.

Six people were asked the question “What is the best thing you have ever bought?” Listen and match each person with the thing he/she mentions.

1. Sharon	a. a bed
2. Marina	b. a house
3. Mark	c. a car
4. Nada	d. a pair of wellies
5. Fiona	e. play kitchen
6. Clare	f. book

(CD)Task 2.

Listen again and answer these questions.

1. Which speaker has lived abroad for a long time?

2. Which speaker is a manager?

3. Which two speakers certainly have children?

4. Which two speakers value comfort more than appearances?

Task 3.

Work in pairs. Agree on the interview you like best. Write three questions you would like to ask that person if you could interview him/her

(CD)Task 4.

Listen to a sales manager presenting a product to some buyers. Which of the adjectives below does she use?

Attractive, fashionable, stylish, robust, elegant, user –friendly, high-quality, well-designed, reliable, flexible, popular, practical

Task 5.

(CD)Listen again to the presentation. How does the sales manager describe the product? Fill in the missing words and phrases.

1. As you can see, it’s … and …

2. The tower …of wood.

3. Let me … its dimensions.

4. It … in three colours.

5. It’s … is just under ₤25

6. It’s … for storing CDs and CD-Roms.

7. It has several … which should appeal to our customers.

8. …is that it’s easy to select the CD you want.

9. The tower is well-designed. It’s … and user friendly.

10. It really does … of music lovers.

Task 6.

Work in small groups. Prepare a short presentation about your product. Mind the examples given below .Invent any additional information that you wish. Then form new groups and present your products to each other . Answer any questions you are asked about them.

Product 1: Outdoor heater Function: To heat the air outside a building Gives out a lot of heat for 26 hours Powered by propane gas Easy to regulate the heat Light and easy to move Can be used in all weathers Easy to clean Attractive design Price :€299

Product 2 : leather attaché case Function: to carry business documents Expandable case with desktop facility Twin combination locks 3 compartments 2 extra pockets Pen and credit-card holders 2-year guarantee Dimensions: 40 cm (height) 49 cm (width) 15 cm (depth) Price € 70

Product 3 : Baby monitor Function: To check the health of a sleeping baby Works up to a 100-metre range Powered by mains or battery Low-battery indicator Adjustable volume Has a belt clip and also a stand Easy to use and very light 3-year guarantee Price: € 48

Product 4: Juice extractor Function: To extract juice from fruit and vegetables Juices whole fruit and vegetables 9hard and soft) Powerful motor Easy to pour juice Safety locking lid All parts easy to remove and can be washed in a dishwasher Stainless steel filter 10-year motor guarantee, 3 year parts and labour guarantee Free recipe book Price:€ 68

Useful language

Introducing the product This is our new product I’m going to tell you about our new product

.

Describing the product Let me tell you about its special features. It’s made of leather/wood/steel/aluminium. It weighs just 2.3. kilos. It comes in a wide range of colours

Stating the product’s uses It’s ideal for traveling It’s designed to be used with any type of material.

Mentioning selling points It has several special features. A very useful feature is the energy –saving design. Another advantage is its very small size.

Inviting questions Does anyone have any questions? Would anyone like to ask a question?