The Business pi answer key

2
1 8
2 5
th
– 8
th
February
3 No.
4 Two people could share one room.
3
1 Perhaps it is not an ideal solution, since many business people would not 
like to share a room with a colleague. Nevertheless, given there are king-
sized beds, it is not a bad solution in the circumstances.
2 It might have been possible to book the extra delegate into a nearby 
luxury hotel.
3 Perhaps he could ask for a discount on the bill.
4
not enough rooms available; hotel was too noisy; some rooms smelled of 
smoke; some rooms were too cold; the conference centre was too far away 
from the hotel; prices on display at reception were cheaper than Internet 
prices
3 Operations
2.1 About business
 Lean manufacturing
1
1 home
2 market
3 manager
4 Subcontractor
5 1769
6 quicker
7 Technology
8 check 
2
Section 1: Chaos
Section 2: TPS
Section 3: Lean manufacturing
Section 4: JIT
Section 5: The employees
Section 6: The result
Section 7: Beyond the Japanese car industry
3
1 F 2 T 3 T 4 T 5 F 6 T 7 T 8 F
4
1 c) 2 a) 3 b)
5
1 The TPS wasn’t successful in the company.
2 The employees weren’t used to working in that way.
6
1 workshops
2 Eastern 
Europe
3 Faith
4 strike
7
1 One advantage of lean manufacturing is that it can save money invested 
in stock; there is no need to have a lot of ‘dead’ stock, but simply to 
order when necessary. One disadvantage is that if there is a sharp 
increase in popularity of a product, it will sell out quickly and the 
customer may have to wait. A human mistake in ordering can lead to 
delays. 
2 Lean manufacturing could work in any industry where goods are 
assembled, e.g. the automotive industry. Or for a shop selling computers 
and televisions – when one is sold, another is ordered from the factory. 
Lean manufacturing may not work in making bread, since fresh 
ingredients are needed daily. There will not be enough time to order ‘on 
demand’. 
3 The company may need to employ fewer people in a shop, and more 
people in the production factory. Lean manufacturing may annoy 
customers in a shop if what they want is not in stock. Computer systems 
will be necessary. Smaller premises are needed, and stock can be held in 
a warehouse.