The case of THE END OF THE LINE Brakes Ltd. was among many companies hit hard by the travel chaos in the autumn and winter of 2018/2019. A number of rail crashes caused a nationwide examination of the tracks, and the consequent discovery that many were quite literally cracking up. The public outcry meant that Railtrack, the company responsible for the network's infrastructure, was required to undertake massive engineering work to replace worn out rails. This action caused chaos, not just while the work was carried out, but also because speed restrictions had to be imposed beforehand. Just to make matters worse, November turned out to be the wettest for centuries, bringing flooding and further travel disruption. Because people no longer trusted the railways, Britain's already crowded roads faced even more congestion. The net result was that freight lorries frequently missed their delivery schedules. For Brakes Ltd, the transport chaos was a major headache. The firm had embraced the concept of 'lean production' years before, adopting Tom Brakes's idea of a 'chain of customers'. Actually, it wasn't Tom's idea at all, but since no one else had read Schonberger's work, there was no one to challenge him! What Tom, and Schonberger, meant was that by dividing up production into units, or cells, the line workers would feel a sense of pride in their work because the next cell in the process would hold them responsible for its quality. Eventually, the finished product would be sold to other firms, who were the more conventional and obvious 'customers'. Sub-Assembly Cell A Sub-Assembl CellB Assembly CellA Assembly Cell B Despatch Cel Suppliers As part of the system of delegation to the shop floor, Tom also introduced 'just-in-time' production. This meant that as each cell used up its stock it called for more from the preceding one, hence the notion of 'pulling through production'. This system reduced levels of work-in-progress and costs of stock holding, but it did ultimately rely on suppliers delivering zero defect components on time, which is why the transport crisis hit Brakes Ltd so hard. The End of the line questions: 1. Explain what is meant by the following terms in the context of the case; ( a.) cell production (2) b.) chain of customers (2) c.) 'pulling through' production (2) 2. Outline two advantages and two disadvantages of 'lean production' as given in the case (4 marks) 3. Examine two ways firms might be affected by adverse transport conditions, other than delays in getting supplies (4 marks) 4. Discuss whether a firm moving to a JIT production system would be wise to do so through a process of continuous improvement, or whether itwould be better to make a single, radical change. (7 marks)