V. FINANCE

Finance division is engaged in raising and managing of funds by business organizations. Planning, analysis, and control operations are responsibilities of the financial manager, who is usually close to the top of the organizational structure of a firm. Much of the day-to-day work of business finance is conducted by lower-level staff; their work includes handling cash receipts and payment, borrowing from commercial banks on a regular and continuing basis, and formulating cash budgets. Financial decisions affect both the profitability and the risk of a firm's operations. Besides, this department is responsible for making financial reports which show the financial state of affairs of the company – cost and price indicators, income indicators, turnover objectives, etc.

VI. PRODUCTION

Production department is engaged in manufacturing goods. The production process typically uses common resources such as labor, capital (for machinery and equipment, materials, etc.), and space (land, buildings, etc.). Economists call these resources the “factors of production” and usually refer to them as labor, capital, and land. Production managers refer to them as the “five M's”: men, machines, methods, materials, and money.

The heart of the production process is an assembly line which means industrial arrangement of machines, equipment, and workers for continuous flow of workpieces in mass-production operations. An assembly line is designed by determining the sequences of operations for manufacture of each product component as well as the final product. Work assignments, numbers of machines, and production rates are programmed so that all operations performed along the line are compatible. Most products, however, are still assembled by hand because many component parts are not easily handled by a simple mechanism. The number of products automatically assembled is steadily increasing but at a low rate because a product must be designed for automatic assembly and must be accurately and consistently manufactured. Expensive and somewhat inflexible, automatic assembly machines are economical only if run at very high outputs. However, the development of multipurpose automatic machinery and industrial robots is increasing the flexibility of fully automated assembly operations.

VII. R&D

Research and Development means two intimately related processes by which new products and new forms of old products are brought into being through technological innovation. The basic purpose of the R&D laboratories is to provide new products for manufacture and new or improved processes for producing them. One difficulty facing those who plan these projects is the relationship between development costs and predicted sales. In the early stages of development, project expenditures are typically low. They increase to a maximum and decline slowly, disappearing as early production difficulties are overcome and the product settles into a market niche.

At any particular time, a company may have a number of products at different stages of the cycle. Project R&D managers must ensure that the total development effort required is neither greater nor significantly less than available human and financial resources. To maintain such a balanced condition, each R&D proposal must be studied by technical, commercial, financial, and manufacturing experts. Planning within an R&D department, then, consists of selecting for development new products and processes that promise to employ the resources available in the most profitable manner. R and D managers have a key part to play in proposing projects as well as in carrying them out.

At each stage of the research and development process, there are numerous technical, financial, and managerial issues that have to be resolved and coordinated with many groups.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 1233