Reference no: EM132700732

Unit 4 Applied commercial and quality principles in engineering - BTEC Level 3 Foundation diploma in engineering RQF

Assignment - Understanding Applied Commercial and Quality

Principles in Engineering

Learning aim A: Examine business functions and trade considerations that help engineering organisations thrive
Learning aim B: Explore activity-based costing as a method to control costs and to determine if an engineering product or service is profitable
Learning aim C: Explore how engineering organisations use quality systems and value management to create value

Assignment - Understanding Commercial and quality principles in Engineering

Unit Aim:
Aim of this unit is to enable learners to explore commercial engineering, for example key business activities, cost control, quality systems and value management, which is used by engineering organizations to create value.
Activity: A
Scenario
You are working as a final year apprentice in a small engineering company. Your supervisor is pleased with your work, your understanding of the way in which the company operates and the efficient way in which you carry out tasks.
As a result, your supervisor has asked you to investigate ways in which the company can become more competitive and respond to trade considerations more efficiently. She wants you to explore how similar sized companies are able to gain a competitive edge over other companies, and to evaluate methods which could be used to create a competitive advantage.
Your supervisor has asked you to explore the business activities and trade considerations which influence the decisions that engineering companies make. You are to report back on these, as these will influence the competitiveness of the company.
1. You are going to evaluate the key business activities of an engineering organization and the trade considerations which together combine to influence the competitiveness of an organization: Your tutor will provide you with a case study for an engineering organisation that either manufactures engineering products or provides an engineering service. You need to:
a) Research and explain the key activities of the different business functions within the given engineering organization, including manufacturing of products or delivering services, supply chain management, marketing and sales, customer relations, resource management, staff recruitment, staff management and finance.
b) Research and explain how tendering and contracting impacts on trade considerations within the engineering organisation.
c) Research and analyse methods employed by the engineering organisation to gain a competitive advantage.
Note
You need to produce a report based on the study you have done; the report should explore the following.
a) explores the key business activities of a given engineering organisation.
b) investigates the trade considerations that influence a given engineering organisation.
c) considers how the two combines for the benefit of the given engineering organisation.

The report that you are preparing should include the following.
a) Information on the various business functions within your given engineering organisation. You should provide details of how each of the functions within the organisation contributes to and influences the competitiveness of the business.
b) Information on trade considerations, including contracts and tendering and how these influence the given engineering organisation. You should refer to terms, warranties, and the consequences of non-performance along with the documentation that would accompany a contract or tender.
c) Information relating to the methods that the given engineering organisation could adopt to gain a competitive advantage, and their benefits, including protecting intellectual property rights and outsourcing to manage costs.
The evidence for Activity A written report detailing how key business activities and trade considerations influence an engineering organisation and how these can be adopted to create competitive advantage, based on a case study for a given engineering organisation.
Activity A covers learning aim A and assessment/grading criteria: A.P1, A.P2, A.P3, A.M1,A.D1

Activity: B

Scenario

Your supervisor has now asked you to investigate reasons why an engineering organisation would wish to control costs, so they can be considered in your organisation. To do this, your supervisor wants you to find out about the different types of costs that an engineering organisation will encounter, and ways in which these costs could be controlled.
1. You have been tasked to cost the following project in your company and to establish the benefits of Make or Buy.
From the data below, carry out the calculations showing all steps and any assumptions made for finding:
a. The total cost of the batch and unit cost.
b. The profit/loss made on this batch
c. the marginal cost for Job No.: 2012.
Your company has received an order for 200 brackets at AED65 each. They manufactured these and recorded their manufacturing data on Job card No.:2012. Job 2012 passes through three cost centers (processes), blanking, forming and welding whose direct labour and machine rates were:
Blanking - Machine rate per hour -AED 35 per hour.
Forming - Machine rate per hour -AED 40 per hour.
Welding - Labour rate per hour-AED 25 per hour.
Production overheads are recovered through a variable element using the appropriate machine or labour rate and by adding a fixed element to each batch:
Charge of AED500 per batch.
30% of the Machine rate.
25% of the Labour rate.
Administration overheads are to be included, by adding a fixed and variable element to each batch produced:
Charge of AED 1000 per batch and adding 10% to the total production cost.
On the card for Job No.: 2012 the following actual data was recorded:
Blanking - 40 machine hours
Forming - 80 machine hours
Welding - 105 labor hours.
Raw materials used -AED 630.00
Note: Your excel sheet should mention income, direct cost, indirect cost, expenditure, fixed cost and variable cost

1. Investigate and report on the reasons why engineering organisations want to analyse and control costs, including how decision making can be influenced.
2. Use the above given case study to research the costs associated with either producing a product or providing an engineering service. You should investigate how costs are allocated to individual activities, including direct costs, indirect costs, variable costs, semi-variable costs, fixed costs and general/administration costs.
3. You should then use the case study to complete and record an iterative activity-based costing exercise to generate an activity-based cost model for an engineering product or service. This costing exercise should include five stages:
a) Identifying activities.
b) Assigning resource costs to activities.
c) Identifying outputs.
d) Assigning activity costs to outputs.
e) Assigning activity cost pools.
4. As a conclusion, you should reflect on the results of your activity-based costing exercise, by:
a) Explaining how costs are categorized.
b) Identifying those cost areas that have the greatest impact on the profitability of the product or service that you have investigated.
c) Evaluating the reasons for producing an activity-based cost model.
The evidence for Activity B should be a written report detailing how key business activities and trade considerations influence an engineering organisation and how these can be adopted to create competitive advantage, based on a case study for a given engineering organisation.
Activity B covers learning aim B and assessment/grading criteria: B.P3, B.P4, B.M2, B.D2

Activity C

Scenario
Your supervisor has now asked you to investigate quality management systems and how these can be used to give your engineering organisation a competitive advantage over your rivals. Once you have done this, your supervisor would like you to carry out a value analysis exercise for a product or service so that you can identify areas where the value of the outputs could be increased.
1. Case study provided has background information for an engineering organization that either produces a product or provides an engineering service. You should use this as a starting point from which to carry out your own research. Prepare a valid proposal for solving the problem and present it.
a) The quality standards that engineering organisations use to demonstrate that they have quality management systems in place. You should include information about both the ISO9000 and ISO14000 families of standards in your report.
b) How an engineering organisation can apply quality assurance systems. To do this, you should investigate the implications of implementing Total Quality Management, including the PDCA cycle, for an engineering organisation. Bring the elements together in a formal presentation.
c) the reasons why an engineering organisation would want to apply a quality system; this should include reference to the fundamental purposes of implementing a quality system.
d) how engineering organisations make use of quality control systems, and the activities employed to check the quality of a product or service; you should include information about inspection, sampling, testing, condition monitoring, planned maintenance and some of the other tools employed within a quality system, as well as the benefits of employing a 'right first time' philosophy.
e) the principles and purpose of value management and its tools, including the impact of efficiencies on engineering activities.
f) how quality management systems and value management can be used to give an engineering organisation a competitive advantage.

2. Having completed your research you are now going to carry out a value analysis exercise for an engineering activity. You will use your results from this activity to identify which aspects of the activity can be improved to increase the profitability and efficiency of the process being investigated. You should also suggest methods to improve the activity, identifying those aspects that will offer the greatest benefit to the organisation.
To do this Your tutor has already provided you with a case study with information for an engineering activity, such as the manufacturing of a product or the carrying out of a service. You should use this as the basis from which you carry out your value analysis exercise.

a) investigate and record the reasons for poor value for your given product or service; this could include aspects such as a lack of innovation within the organization or factors such as poor communication.
b) use your investigation as a starting point to complete and record a value analysis exercise for your given engineering product or service. Your value analysis should be divided into five distinct sections: information phase; analysis phase; creative phase; evaluation phase; and development and reporting phase.
c) include information about the key issues relating to the engineering activity, including costings for the processes that make up the activity. You should determine which processes add value, and which are non-value-added processes.
d) evaluate the outcomes of your value analysis exercise to suggest and prioritize possible improvements for your given engineering activity and its processes.
e) evaluate your findings from the quality management/standards report and the value analysis exercise to identify which areas can increase the profitability and efficiency of the process being investigated. In doing this, you should suggest methods to improve the activity, and identify those aspects that will offer the greatest benefit to the organization, using evidence to back up your suggestions.
The evidence for Activity C should include: a research exploring the quality management systems and value management processes used by engineering organisations; and an applied value analysis exercise to determine if further value can be created from a given engineering product or service, and an evaluation of findings based around the principles of value management and quality systems.
Activity C covers learning aim C and assessment/grading criteria: C.P5, C.P6, C.M3, C.M4,C.D3

Academic Misconduct' Statement:
‘Academic Misconduct' is a term used to describe a deliberate attempt by a student to take unfair advantage over other students to undermine the quality, standards and credibility of the programs and qualifications offer by UKCBC. Academic Misconduct includes plagiarism; collusion; falsification; replication; cheating; bribery; and impersonation. A student suspected of Academic Misconduct will be investigated by the College and appropriate action will be taken.

‘Contract Cheating' Statement:
‘Contract Cheating' is defined by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) as occurring when, "a third party completes work for a student who then submits it to an education provider as their own, where such input is not permitted." Such third-party companies have become known as ‘essay mills', and it is the responsibility of students to avoid contact and association with such third-party companies throughout their entire period of study. A student suspected of Contract Cheating will be investigated by the College and appropriate action will be taken.

Attachment:- Applied commercial and quality principles in engineering.rar