Grammar
● Fill in the prepositions if necessary.
1. TV commercial has been one _________ the most effective creators _________ brands.
2. _________ this spot of time you can say whatever you like ________ whatever form you like ________.
How can you generate extra sales ________ your consumer base, and expand _________ your potential market?
Why did we read that Heinz was pulling __________ TV advertising?
5. Slots of time are sold _________ popular programmes, anything ____________ 60 seconds.
6. I will even negotiate ________ you the whole break, so no one else can compete _______________ you.
7. Look these facts, _______ you rush _________ the Internet, or search _________ some fashionable alternative media.
8. Imagine _________ a moment you are the marketing and sales director _________ a large company.
9. The average adult _________ the UK watches _________ more than 24 hours _________ TV every week, 60 percent _________ children have a TV set ____________ their bedrooms.
10. So why is it that you can hardly pick _________ a marketing magazine _________ reading __________ the death _________ this medium?
● Make words using the given roots and suffixes.
Suffixes: -ive, -able, -or, -er, -ing, -less, -ous, -tion, -al, -ment.
Roots:
1) commerce ______________________
2) arrive _________________________
3) sleep __________________________
4) effect _________________________
5) create _________________________
6) product ________________________
7) fashion ________________________
8) market _________________________
9) manufacture ____________________
10) advertise ______________________
11) fact __________________________
12) imagine _______________________
13) sponsor _______________________
14) negotiate ______________________
● Read the text.
The unforgiving demands of “Six Sigma” process controls
The term “six sigma” is one familiar to statisticians. In practical terms, it means reducing the defects in a process to just over three per million. It is thus an extremely demanding target for quality control.
The term was thought up 10 years ago by the US electronics group Motorola, based on Japanese methods of total quality management. The approach is particularly suited to the high-volume, high precision electronics industry. For example, a mobile phone such as Motorola produces might contain 400 components. If a company operates to two-sigma – 45 000 defects per million – on each part, the chances of the phone being defective are far too high.
General Electric is now in its second year of applying “six sigma” across its businesses. Last year, it spent $ 200 m on the initial parts of the programme. This year it aims to spend $ 300 m and expects cost savings in the year of $ 400–500 m: that is, a profit of $ 100–200 m.
“Six sigma” is by no means confined to manufacturing. GE Capital, the financial services division of General Electric, applies it to processes ranging from billing to various kinds of customer service. Denis Nayden, president of GE Capital, says that in practical terms the hard part of applying “six sigma” is obtaining real data. “It’s highly dependent on the data you have,” he says. “And given all the businesses we’re in, the data are all different.” Thereafter, he says: “The real question is whether you can put the right model in place, so the process has fewer moving parts and less things to break down. It’s very important to change the process fundamentally. You need to change the whole behavior of the company, to become more responsive to the customer”.
This last part is crucial. GE Capital surveys its customers regularly – some weekly, some monthly or quarterly, depending on their business – to check their performance. “It’s very important that the customer is engaged in this,” Nayden says. “We use a score card, whereby customers identify what’s going wrong and what we should focus on”.
from the Financial Times
● Answer the questions.
1
.
What does the term “six sigma” mean?
_____________________________________
2. How often does GE survey its customers? __________________________________
3. When was the “six sigma” term introduced? ________________________________
4 . If a company operates to two sigma, is there a big chance you will gat a defective product? ____________________________________________________________________
5. Where was the “six sigma” term invented? _________________________________
6. Is the “six sigma” approach equally suitable for all goods? _____________________
● What do these figures refer to in the text?
1) 2 ___________________ 7) 300 ________________
2) 200 _________________ 8) 10,000 _____________
3) 400 _________________ 9) 6 __________________
4) 400–500 ____________ 10) 3 _________________
5) 45,000 ______________ 11) 10 ________________
6) 100–200 ____________
● Read the statements and correct the false ones.
1. GE says six sigma makes it more aware of customers’ needs. _____________
2. GE changes the way it does things when it applies six sigma. _____________
3. GE has found it easy to apply to different activities. _____________
4. GE only uses six sigma in manufacturing. _____________
5. GE expects to save over $ 400 million in the second year by using it. _____________
6. GE spent $ 200 million on six sigma in the first year. _____________
7. GE has been using six sigma for three years. _____________