What are inputs needed in a process of conversion or the production of goods and services?
What is Productivity? > InputsWhat are inputs?Inputs are any resources used to create goods and services. Show Examples of inputs include labor (workers’ time), fuel, materials, buildings, and equipment. Labor inputLabor input is the time people spend working to produce goods and services. Other inputs to productionCapital is the property used by businesses to produce goods and services. It includes both physical assets and intellectual property. Examples:  Material inputs are goods that are used in making other products.¦ They include both raw materials and manufactured products. Examples: Energy is the fuels and electricity needed to produce goods and services. Purchased services inputs are services purchased from other businesses in other industries or sectors. Examples: 3.4 Transformation processesA transformation process is any activity or group of activities that takes one or more inputs, transforms and adds value to them, and provides outputs for customers or clients. Where the inputs are raw materials, it is relatively easy to identify the transformation involved, as when milk is transformed into cheese and butter. Where the inputs are information or people, the nature of the transformation may be less obvious. For example, a hospital transforms ill patients (the input) into healthy patients (the output). Transformation processes include:
Often all three types of input – materials, information and customers – are transformed by the same organisation. For example, withdrawing money from a bank account involves information about the customer's account, materials such as cheques and currency, and the customer. Treating a patient in hospital involves not only the ‘customer's’ state of health, but also any materials used in treatment and information about the patient. One useful way of categorising different types of transformation is into:
Several different transformations are usually required to produce a good or service. The overall transformation can be described as the macro operation, and the more detailed transformations within this macro operation as micro operations. For example, the macro operation in a brewery is making beer (Figure 2). The micro operations include:
Figure 2 Macro and micro operations Show description|Hide description This mapping diagram builds on the one shown in Figure 1. There are two rows of objects. The first row begins with a large white box, in which is written Malt, Water, Hops, Yeast. The ‘Inputs’ arrow points from this to the ‘Transformation Process’ box, which now also has the label ‘Macro operation’ written beneath it. The ‘Outputs’ arrow leads from this box to another large white box in which is written Beer. There is a narrow black dotted line above the arrows, linking them. It leads from ‘Outputs’, with an arrow head pointing to ‘Inputs’. This dotted line is labelled ‘Feedback’. Bold white lines lead from the bottom left and right edges of the ‘Transformation Process’ box to the mid bottom left and right sides of the diagram. Below this, is another row of objects. The heading for this states ‘Can be broken into’. The row consists of three identical rectangular white boxes. Inside each of the three boxes is a miniature representation of the arrow, rectangular box, arrow mapping presented in Figure 1, the difference being that each of the objects contains no writing or labelling. Beneath the first rectangular box is the label ‘ Micro operation 1’. Beneath the second is the label ‘Micro operation 2’. Beneath the third is the label ‘Micro operation 3’. Figure 2 Macro and micro operations Activity 5Identify the principal resources (inputs), the type of transformation process and the principal outputs (goods or services) in each of the following operations.
DiscussionYou may have identified various inputs such as materials, energy, machines, equipment, buildings and people. For example, the inputs used by a car assembly plant include components, equipment, buildings, labour and energy. You may also have included less tangible inputs to the transformation process, such as information and skills. You might have noticed that, midway down the list, the activities changed from primarily the production of goods to the provision of services. In the case of car designing, the principal inputs are ideas and the outputs are materials used to communicate the finished idea, such as blueprints or computer models. Which are inputs needed to produce goods and services?Inputs are any resources used to create goods and services. Examples of inputs include labor (workers' time), fuel, materials, buildings, and equipment.
What are the 4 inputs of production?In economics, factors of production are the resources people use to produce goods and services; they are the building blocks of the economy. Economists divide the factors of production into four categories: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.
What are inputs in the transformation process?Operations is often defined as a transformation process. Inputs such as raw materials, labor, equipment, and capital are transformed into outputs (goods and services). Customer feedback is used to adjust the transformation process.
What are the inputs and outputs of the production system as the conversion process?As previously stated, production involves converting inputs (natural resources, raw materials, human resources, capital) into outputs(products or services). In a manufacturing company, the inputs, the production process, and the final outputs are usually obvious.
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