Business

Operations in
Engineering
Dev

Business Operations in Engineering

-Learner name

Assessor name

Centre number

Eusabia Daisy
Chikuni

10386

Date issued

Deadline date

Submitted on

08/01/2016

27/01/2016

Qualification

Unit number, title, and code

BTEC L3 Extended

Unit 7 Business Operations in Engineering

Diploma Engineering

R/600/0257

Unit 7 Assignment 2 Brief

Assignment

External factors and legislation which affect the operation

title 2

of an engineering company

Unit objective
2 Understand how external factors and the economic
environment conditions can affect the operation of an
engineering company
3 Know how legislation, regulation, and other constraints impact
on the operation of engineering
businesses
In this assignment you will need to:
a.

Identify a UK-based engineering company and investigate how

profitability is affected by external factors over which it may not have

control.
b.

Carry out further research to determine what effect changes in the

economic environment may have on the operation of the company.

c.

Identify the statutory legislation and regulations which govern the

way that the company operates and explain how it complies with them.
d.

Describe the environmental and social issues which impact upon the

operation of the business.

Purpose of this Business assignment

You will appreciate that engineering businesses in the UK have to
compete against the rest of the world and that sometimes their
operations are affected by things over which they have no control. For
example, sudden changes in energy and raw materials prices caused by
economic uncertainty in other countries will have a knock-on effect if a
product has been promised to a customer at an agreed price and there
will need to be a strategy to take account of this eventuality. You will also
appreciate that businesses have to operate according to a set of rules
designed to protect their workforce, their customers, and the
environment.

Scenario
The main focus of this assignment is to carry out research based
on an actual engineering company in order to find out how it
operates in an ever-changing economic and legislative climate.
You have a number of options when deciding which company to
base your research on. Try to follow the current news about the
economic climate on a company to get the best information to
support your answer.

Criteria
referen

Grading criteria covered in this

Task

ce

assignment

no.

explain the external factors and

economic environment that
affect the way in which an
P4

engineering company operates

identify the legislation and

regulations that impact on the
way an information engineering
P5

business operates

describe the environmental and

social constraints that impact on
the way an
P6

engineering business operates

discuss the impact of legislation

on a specific operation within a
typical
engineering company in terms
of benefits and limitations
M2

Evidence

Date

evaluate the importance and

possible effect of the external
factors that directly impact on
D2

an engineering company

This brief has been verified as being fit for purpose

Assessor

Dat
Signature

Internal verifier

Dat
Signature

Learner declaration

I certify that the work submitted for this assignment is my own and
research sources are fully acknowledged

Learner
signature:
Task 1 [P4]

Date:

(a)

The

UK

manufacturing

company supplies most of its product to the USA and has negotiated regular
deliveries over a 15-year span. The contract was signed ten years ago. The product
was priced in sterling (UK ) with an agreed uplift each year equivalent to the
average of the USA and UK inflation rates. At the time, the exchange rate was
$1.66 (US) to 1 (UK). The American company has asked for a price review.
Explain why the US customer might want this review and consider what effect it
might have on the profitability of the UK business environment .
(b)Currently, the Chinese economy is booming. Chinese manufacturing
industries are able to produce goods much more cheaply than companies in the
West. The Chinese economy is unique in that it has a positive balance of
payments and is able to build up large reserves. To take advantage of the lower
cost base, many UK companies have relocated their manufacturing facilities to
China while maintaining design and support services in the UK and EU.

(i)Explain how the Chinese are able to produce manufactured parts more cheaply
than in the West while still maintaining quality.
(ii)What external and economic factors might derail the Chinese success in
manufacturing?
(c)On the BBC News website, there is an article about current events between
Saud Arabia and Iran. Imagine your company is based in either of the two
countries. What effect will this have on your business? Use 3 examples of external
factors that will affect your company.
Task 2 [P5& P6]
On the BBC News website on 29 May 2007, there was a short report about
Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC) reopening the MG sports car factory at
Longbridge, Birmingham. The article presented the reasons for this initiative and
included a number of statements from the chief executive at NAC. You can find
this report at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6700219.stm
To set this report in context, it might be worthwhile to look at earlier reports by
the BBC and other organisations when the MG Rover Company ceased trading in
2005.
As a newly employed Health and safety manager for MG Rover, it has come to
your attention that a technician operating a newly installed CNC machine has had
an accident and both his hands have to be severed. The technician did not have
the chance to even complete setting up the machine as it started without warning.
A worker working next to him was able to switch the power off and he is the one
who notified the floor supervisor.

1.

Using examples, describe the environmental and social constraints that

could affect the setting up of the new MG rover in Longbridge.

2.

What legislation and regulations will affect the company based on the
accident that has happened to their worker?
TASK3[M2]
You work for a company which carries out a range of electroplating processes on
its products. These products are made mainly from mild steel components which
are stamped, formed and welded together. The factory has two injection
moulding machines for producing small items such as covers, handles, and trim
pieces. The plating department employs 50 operators and there are baths for
plating gold, silver and chromium.The factory is long established on what was
once a Greenfield site. It is now ringed by housing estates with a single access
road to the factory. To remain competitive the management would like to move
from a two 8-hour shift system to a three 8-hour shift seven-day-a-week
operation. The total number of people on site at any one time would be about
160. Car parking is restricted and lorries movements number about four per day
with two of these being large articulated vehicles. Fuel oil is delivered by tanker
and there are specialist chemical deliveries once a month by a secure lorry.
People living nearby have specific concerns about two operations carried out at
the factory:Stamping, which is a noisy process and Plating, which uses cyanide
and is therefore perceived as a deadly process by some residents.The company
has decided to make a presentation to the local residents association explaining
how it complies with legislation and demonstrating its good green credentials,
particularly in respect of discharging waste water from the onsite treatment plant
into a nearby culvert which runs down to a river. Your manager has asked you to
put together the presentation which will explain the legislation appertaining to
the two operations and the benefits to the company of complying with the law.

For this task, you must prepare a presentation in a PowerPoint form that you and
your manager will use at the next resident meeting.
TASK 4 [D2]
Below are examples of external factors that can have an impact on a business.
Using current examples of named companies, explain how the factors have
impacted on your named
1.

Exchange rates

2.

Conflict between countries increases or is resolved

3.

Climate change and carbon footprint issues increase

4.

Raw material prices change

5.

the impact of outsourcing

6.

demographic and social trends