GNVQ Business Studies Unit 1

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Pascall was established in 1977 as an importer for high technology components, mainly from USA and Europe.

In 1980 Pascall set up a company in Ryde with a team of designers from the defense industry.

Pascalls specializes mainly in RF, microwave, digital and power conversion skills are applied to design and manufacture components used in avionics, terrestrial and satellite communications.

Pascall have a team of experts in analogue, digital, RF and microwave software design.

Pascalls customers are all over the world, as they sell 80% of the products to over 50 countries.

Pascalls customers do not buy ready made products, but Pascall design the products to the customers demand, as they are very specialized equipment, and need to be perfect for the type of machinery the customer is going to be using them in.

Pascalls main customers are British Aerospace, ICO, Lockheed, Martin, Marconi, NEC, Northrop Grumman, Ratheon, Rockwell Collins, Siemens and also many other worldwide companies.

Pascall have 116 employees, that work 37 ½ hrs a week that are flexible.

Pascalls main activity is building power solutions for worldwide customers, Pascall have to insure all there products work 100% efficiently with no faults or errors, this is because the products they sell cannot malfunction at any time because they are products that run machinery of great importance. (i.e. Army weaponry)

It is also very important for Pascall to make sure that they keep to promises and be prompt in deadlines, this is because if they fail to meet any deadlines the other company would fail to meet some of there deadlines which would mean they would rather not deal with Pascall again because they are not reliable.

Pascalls main objective is:

  • to get a clear understanding of there customers requirement, this aim comes down mostly to communication, Pascall need to know exactly what the product the customer wants Pascall to produce, with clear instructions, because if Pascall produces a product which is not the one the business wants then the business would return it, and Pascall can not return the good to any body because it was made by them, therefore Pascall would loose the money that was spent on making the product and in some cases loose the customer because the customer may have a dead line for when the product is needed, and if the product is not right then Pascall would need to redesign the product and produce it, which would obviously take more time than when it was meant to be due.
  • creating solutions and building partner ships, Pascalls job is mainly making solutions for businesses machinery power, so the objective is for Pascall to make a product which would work on the product the business wants produced. Also Pascall work to make partnerships with businesses, and to make new partner ships they need a good reputation, which Pascall only can get through a good reputation, so Pascall cannot let any businesses disappointed with there quality or timing, because if they produce a product with an error or too late then Pascall could loose the partnership with that business and the business would not recommend Pascall to any body else.
  • all there products to have great reliable quality, because Pascalls products are used for very technical important equipment, they cannot allow any of there products to have technical faults, if so, Pascalls customer would have a disaster if it goes wrong, which means they would loose that customer and loose many others because of there bad reputation, therefore 100% efficiency and quality is a necessary because the customer is relying that Pascalls product has no faults.

Production Department:

Pascalls production department works to produce all demanded customer goods, the production department have to meet customers expectations and keep there customer satisfied with the service and product, they do this by:

  • Meeting order dates, it is very crucial for Pascall to meet the deadlines that were agreed with there customers, these deadlines are crucial for both Pascall and there customer. It is crucial for Pascall because if they fail to meet an agreed deadline then they will loose there customers trust and loyalty, and they could also risk loosing there good reputation that they have been building for many years. Pascalls customers cannot allow Pascall to not meet dead lines because if so, it could make the customers business fail to meet there own deadlines because the part of machinery that Pascall are producing is needed for the customers company to run there own business, also the customer wants to deal with a business, Pascall, to be reliable.
  • 100% reliable quality, Pascall cannot allow under any circumstances allow any of there products that are sold to fail, this is because the products that Pascall make to sell to there customers are very vital peaces of machinery, that must not have any errors in them, because a lot of the companies that are Pascalls customers use the products that they bought from Pascall in Machinery in the army or Airplanes therefore if the product fails it would be a disaster, and Pascall would loose its reputation and many other customers because Pascall would not be trusted any more.

The main activities that are carried out in this department are

  • :Production Management: This deals with what is produced in the business, it deals with identifying what type of equipment is needed, what it is to be used for, its specs, size and how many the customer wants, this activity is mostly done by communicating with the customer to find out what they want, then its to the designers to design what is needed for the customer.
  • Order needed parts: when an order is made the production department orders the goods needed to produce the needed product, so Pascalls production department would contact there main supplier and order what is needed (i.e. Bolts).
  • Storage: when Pascalls ordered are received, they are stored perfectly so no damage can be made, so they have specialized storing facilities that are also temperature controlled.
  • Scheduling: The production depart  would also schedule a date for when the product will be ready, this is so that the customer can plan ahead and know what is going on, customers always want to be up to date and want to know when there product will be ready. This is also done so that Pascall and the customer can agree on a delivery date.
  • Assembly: When all the parts are made and purchased and a deadline is set, then the team of specialists start to assemble the product.
  • Testing: The production department also have to test all products that they make, to make sure there are no chances of the product failing to work, and to make sure that they last for as long as they are intended to. This is very critical because as I stated before these products are high priority parts of important machinery, and the business rely on Pascall to make there are no mistakes done.
  • Shipping: When the product is ready, the production department will then ship the product to the business, Pascall have there own private mail service because these products are very valuable and cannot risk going to the wrong person, because some of these products are for military use.

What do they do?

-Manufacturing- R/F products         Core function

                           Power products

-Use of machine – error, time, cost

Staff trained to solder PCB

-Sell production- (research this!)

Custom made to customer requirement in batches

How do they contribute to the activities/aims of the business?

“Sustainable growth, world class” “quality” “niche markets”

Contribution – quality product. 70% repeat customers

Aiming at high performance markets – extreme conditions heat/cold. Bottom of worth sea, space. Aircraft can’t afford product failure – quality vital to be competitor.

  • Quality test to high standards (quality standards – ISO 900l?)

Keeping costs down/competitive.

  • Manufacturing methods, minimize waste etc.
  • Delivery dates vital – on time – else customer production delayed (components)

Job Roles

The production department communicate to different functional areas of the business for many reasons, these are:

  • Production department             Human Resources: the production department would communicate with the Human Resources department if there is need for more employees, this could be because that there is more work meaning there is need for more staff to get jobs done faster, or could be because an employee has died, retiring…etc. The production department could also contact the human resources department to let them know that an employee is sick or sick, or some times to tell them that an employee is not working as they should and should be warned. This would be done by phone or face to face because they do not wish for it to fail in any way and could be urgent.
  • Production department             Marketing: Production department sometimes communicate with the Marketing Department to let them know of a new type of machinery that can produce new products and should be advertised, or to let them know that a type of machinery that is not working and needs to be repaired so until it is they cannot make a certain type of product so they should not advertise that product. This is normally done by using a notice board or email because it is not urgent and marketing do not change there adverts too much.
  • Production department             Sales: Production department would contact the sales department to let them know how much the parts for a requested peace of machinery is and the time it will take to make it, and if a new peace of machinery is needed to make it. They would also tell them if they can not make a product for a while if a peace of machinery is not working which means that certain product cannot be made, they would let them know this so the Sales department does not sell any products to customers thinking that the production department can do it without a problem. They also contact sales when they want to let them know that an ordered product is ready to be shipped. This is normally done by phone then an organized meeting, it is first done by phone because this information has to be received and sent quickly, an organized meeting is so that they can explain what is needed and what must be done.
  • Production department            Supplier: Pascalls production department have a contract with a business that supplies all goods that are needed for the department to produce requested products, this business supplies Pascall with products monthly, but when Pascall need more or new products they contact them to let them know what they want, and how many, and how long for. This is normally done by email because it is not to urgent because the supplier wont send it until the second shipment of supplies (weekly).
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Marketing department:

Pascalls marketing department works to sell their service and products to their customers, they have to go through many different methods and ways to make their business more visible to attract customers.

Pascalls marketing department has to make sure that the business get new customers and keeps there existing ones, they do this by advertising and promotion, this makes new customers aware of the business and makes existing customers feel satisfied with the business and would recommend it to people ...

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