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What does it really cost?

Learning to improve productivity and cut costs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

R. A. Harvey*
Affiliation:
Economics and Statistics, British Aerospace

Extract

First, it is necessary to define productivity and the way it is measured. Productivity is a ratio of an output to an input; it is, therefore, somewhat analogous to the engineering concept of efficiency but unfortunately without the accompanying rigour of definition of input and output in energy terms. In productivity measurement, the output can be in value terms, in weight or volume or number, while the input can be numbers of men, man hours, wages or capital or some combination of these. These points are illustrated in Fig. 1, but in this paper I will be concentrating mainly on value outputs and manpower and labour cost inputs. A fuller account of the subject is contained in Ref. 1.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1981 

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References

1. Harvey, R. A. Diagnostic Charts for Aerospace Productivity Improvement. Aircraft Engineering, March 1978.Google Scholar
2. Census of Production — Provisional Results 1978. Business Monitor, PA1000, 1980.Google Scholar
3. Wright, T. P. Factors Affecting the Cost of Airplanes. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, 1936.Google Scholar
4. Harvey, R. A. and Walkerdine, R. J. New Light on Learning Curves. Flight International, 17 July 1976.Google Scholar
5. Davies, Handel. The Economics of Military Aviation. Paper presented at RAeS Symposium 13th Maf 1970. Published Aircraft Engineering, July 1970.Google Scholar
6. Davies, Handel. Barriers to Progress in Aerospace. Wright Brothers Memorial Lecture, 6th December 1979. Published Aerospace, September 1980.Google Scholar
7. Harvey, R. A. Learning in Production. The Statistician, Vol 28, No 1, 1979.Google Scholar