Key Terms
This term refers to how well a business achieves its objectives
What is effectiveness?
One way a business can raise productivity by motivating workers.
What is offering training or incentives?
One way process innovation improves efficiency is by reducing this type of cost.
What are labor or operational costs?
One way a business can improve employee knowledge.
What is providing training or professional development?
A production method involving large quantities of identical products.
What is mass production?
This term measures output per worker or output per unit of input.
What is productivity?
Changing the way tasks are organized can improve this key performance measure.
What is better workflow or job redesign?
A common example of process innovation that automates manufacturing tasks.
What is robotics automation?
Capturing employees’ know‑how and storing it for future use builds this.
What is organizational knowledge retention?
A production method where items are created in groups with some variation
What is batch production?
Improving this metric helps businesses reduce waste and maximize resource use.
What is efficiency?
Upgrading this can increase output per worker.
What is investing in new technology or equipment?
Process innovation can improve product consistency by reducing this.
What is human error?
Creating a culture of teamwork helps grow this type of capital
What is social capital or collaborative knowledge?
One benefit of mass customization.
What is the ability to offer personalized products at scale?
This type of capital includes employee knowledge, expertise, creativity, and relationships.
What is intellectual capital?
Reducing this kind of time can increase productivity in manufacturing.
What is downtime or setup time?
This type of innovation can shorten the time it takes to produce goods.
What is workflow/production process redesign?
Hiring highly skilled staff improves this intangible asset.
What is human capital?
This production type relies heavily on human workers rather than machinery.
What is labor‑intensive production?
A production approach that blends high-volume output with customization features.
What is mass customization?
The formula for productivity.
What is output ÷ employed workers
The core goal of process innovation in manufacturing.
What is improving efficiency and output quality?
Two major components of intellectual capital.
What are human capital and structural capital?
A factor furniture businesses must evaluate before switching from mass customization to batch production.
What are cost changes, skill needs, equipment needs, demand patterns, or production flexibility?