A car from Land Rover will take about 8 hours to make. Out of approximately 8,500 workers at Land Rover around 4000 of them work on the production line, there is a separate area of production for each model of Land Rover but they are all built in basically the same way. Robots under computer control represent virtually the whole of the production line, a person will programme the computer and the computer will tell the robot what to do. Robots are more efficient than a human, a robot can do the same job over and over again and will always do a perfect job, and it will be reliable and will never make a mistake and could also do the job faster than a human, will never get tired and doesn’t need breaks. A human may do a perfect job a few times but will quickly get bored and a human has to have breaks throughout the day. Land Rover also use a technique called ‘just in time’. This means that Land Rover will only order components for their cars when they need them, therefore they don’t waste money storing components.
Land Rover also use a technique called flow production, there are advantages and disadvantages to flow production. The advantages are that large amounts of a product can be made, this is good for Land Rover as thy have a high demand for cars and they need to be produced quickly. Not all the products have to have the same design, changes can be easily made in the computer programming and the robot will do a different design. This is useful for Land Rover as it means they can use the same machines to make all the different models. Costs can be made cheaper due to the fact that the machinery used can be used over and over again. This is also useful for Land Rover because it means that if they wanted to make a new design of car they wouldn’t have to spend a lot of money buying new machinery because they can use the machinery they already have.
Disadvantages of flow production are that the goods are mass-produced and may not be good quality, however with Land Rover the goods are high quality and therefore this is not a problem. Large stocks of materials may have to be kept to keep the production line supplied meaning paying for storage, again Land Rover have overcome this problem by using the just-in-time technique. A big problem for Land Rover is if the production line stops for any reason. For each minute that the production stops the company loses large amounts of money and so Land Rover try to keep the production line moving at all times.
The workers at Land Rover operate in teams. Each team has a team leader who is in charge and tells the other workers what to do. If there is a problem the team leader will sort it out. There are also inspectors on site who ensure that everything is being done correctly
There are a lot of health and safety issues at Land Rover that must be followed at all times to ensure that workers and visitors stay safe. On the floor of the factories there are yellow lines showing visitors and workers where they must not come past and where they must walk to ensure that they stay safe. Watches and jewellery are not allowed in any part of the factory as they could get caught on something and this could be a serious problem. Vehicles are continually moving around the factory floors and so care must be taken when walking around in the factory. Safety goggles must be worn in designated areas to ensure that no damage is done to the eyes of workers or visitors and high visibility jackets must be worn to ensure that workers see the person walking around the factory. No mobile phones are allowed inside the factories as they may interfere with the robots and computers working on the production line. Safety guards are fitted on all of the machines to ensure that workers stay safe when they need to operate dangerous machinery.
There are a few disadvantages to the environment in which the Land Rover building is situated. There is noise pollution that is damaging to the environment and a nuisance to the public and also an increase in traffic congestion when workers are starting and finishing their shifts.
To conclude, I think Land Rover is a successful business that has evolved over time. It looks after the people that work for the company and pays them well, I think it is successful as it is in a good area and attracts a good quality workforce.
