Features of an Ideal Plant Layout

Plant layout and design is an important component of a businesses overall operations, both in terms of maximizing the effectiveness of the production process and meeting the needs of employees. Plant layout refers to the arrangement of physical facilities such as machinery, equipment, furniture etc. within the factory building in such a manner so as to have quickest flow of material at the lowest cost and with the least amount of handling in processing the product from the receipt of material to the shipment of the finished product. It may be defined as a technique of locating machines, processes and plant services within the factory so as to achieve the right quantity and quality of output at the lowest possible cost of manufacturing. It involves a judicious arrangement of production facilities so that workflow is direct. The basic objective of layout is to ensure a smooth flow of work, material, Continue reading

Duality between Production Function and Cost Function

Production functions and cost functions are the cornerstones of business and  managerial economics. A production function is a mathematical relationship that captures  the essential features of the technology by means of which an organisation metamorphoses  resources such as land, labour and capital into goods or services such as steel or cement. It is  the economist’s distillation of the salient information contained in the engineer’s blueprints.  Mathematically, let Y denote the quantity of a single output produced by the quantities of  inputs denoted (x1,…, xn). Then the production function f(x1,…,xn) describes how a given  output can be produced by an infinite combinations of inputs (x1,.., xn), given the technology  in use. Several important features of the structure of the technology are captured by the  shape of the production function. Relationships among inputs include the degree of  substitutability or complementarily among pairs of inputs, as well as the ability to aggregate  groups Continue reading

Tools for Effective Communication

The important  tools for effective communication are reflective listening, identifying nonverbal cues, and responding with understanding and using effective problem solving techniques. Thus, these techniques of communication are useful to increase your personal effectiveness at home, at work, in the community, in relationships, and with yourself. Opening up yourself to your feelings and the feelings of others requires practice. All forms of life upon the planet Earth were granted one great and wondrous gift: the gift of communication. Instead of being forced to exist in solitude, this gift allows interaction, a sharing of feelings. Humans are especially fortunate because they have developed many ways to use their gift. These include music, dance, art, theater, literature, gestures, the written word, and word of mouth. The creation of different ways to communicate does not mean we can sit back and take our gift for granted. When we were infants, all we needed Continue reading

Principles of Working Capital Management

Working capital management is concerned with the problem that arises in attempting to manage the current assets, the current liabilities and the inter-relationship that exist between them. The goal of working capital management is to manage a firm’s current assets and current liabilities in such a way that a satisfactory level of working capital is maintained. The financial manager must keep in mind the following principles of working capital management: Principle of Optimization:The level of working capital must be so kept that the rate of return on investment is optimized. In other words, the working capital should be maintained at an optimum level. This is the point at which the increase in cost due to decline in working capital is equal to the increase in the gain associated with it. According to the principle of optimization, the magnitude of working capital should be such that each rupee invested adds to Continue reading

Virtual Private Network (VPN) Tunneling Protocols

Virtual Private Network (VPN) create secure connections, called tunnels, through public shared communication infrastructures such as the Internet. These tunnels are not physical entities, but logical constructs, created using encryption, security standards, and protocols. The VPN tunneling protocols are set of standardized rules and policy that are employed on the transmitted data. There are various standard of protocol technologies used to create a VPN tunnel and each of these protocols is specially built with some unique security features. The most widely used  Virtual Private Network (VPN) Tunneling Protocols are discussed below. Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) The Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) has proposed in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comment (RFC) database in RFC (2401), provides data packet integrity, confidentiality and authentication over IP networks. The IPSec policy consists of sets of rules that designate the traffic to be protected, the type of protection, such as authentication or confidentiality, Continue reading

Accounts Payable – Meaning, Process, Advantages, and Disadvantages

Every business owner would like to have all sales on a cash basis, but that’s not always possible in a competitive marketplace. Sometimes, sellers need to offer sales on credit terms just to get customers to buy their products. Unfortunately, selling on delayed payment terms opens up an entirely new aspect of running a business: managing the extension of trade credit to customers. constitute a current or short term liability representing the buyer’s obligation to pay a certain amount on a date in the near future for value of goods or services received. They are short term deferments of cash payments that the buyer of goods and services is allowed by the seller. Payables is extended in connection with goods purchased for resale or for processing and resale, and hence excludes consumer credit provided to individuals for purchasing goods for ultimate use and installment credit provided for purchase of equipment Continue reading