Helena Company needs to increase its profits and so has embarked on a program to increase its overall productivity. After one year of operation, Kent Olson, manager of the Columbus plant, reported the following results for the base period and its most recent year of operations:

	20x1	20x2
Output	186,000	217,400
Power (quantity used)	18,600	11,100
Materials (quantity used)	46,500	48,200

Required:

1. Compute the productivity profiles for each year. If required, round your answers to two decimal places.

	20x1	20x2
Power	fill in the blank 1	fill in the blank 2
Materials	fill in the blank 3	fill in the blank 4

2a. Did productivity improve?

YesNo

2b. Explain why or why not.

An increase in output-input ratios reflects a productivity improvementA decrease in output-input ratios reflects a productivity improvementAn increase in output signals a productivity improvement