Refer to Problems 1.12 and 1.13. If Charles Lackey’s utility costs remain constant at $500 per month, labor at $8 per hour, and cost of ingredients at $0.35 per loaf, but Charles does not purchase the blender suggested in Problem 1.13, what will the productivity of the bakery be? What will be the percent increase or decrease?

Problems 1.13

Refer to Problem 1.12. The pay will be $8 per hour for employees. Charles Lackey can also improve the yield by purchasing a new blender. The new blender will mean an increase in his investment. This added investment has a cost of $100 per month, but he will achieve the same output (an increase to 1,875) as the change in labor-hours. Which is the better decision?

a) Show the productivity change, in loaves per dollar, with an increase in labor cost (from 640 to 800 hours).

b) Show the new productivity, in loaves per dollar, with only an increase in investment ($100 per month more).

c) Show the percent productivity change for labor and investment.

Problem 1.12

Charles Lackey operates a bakery in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Because of its excellent product and excellent location, demand has increased by 25% in the last year. On far too many occasions, customers have not been able to purchase the bread of their choice. Because of the size of the store, no new ovens can be added. At a staff meeting, one employee suggested ways to load the ovens differently so that more loaves of bread can be baked at one time. This new process will require that the ovens be loaded by hand, requiring additional manpower. This is the only thing to be changed. If the bakery makes 1,500 loaves per month with a labor productivity of 2.344 loaves per labor-hour, how many workers will Lackey need to add? (Hint: Each worker works 160 hours per month.)

Juniper Networks to Benefit From Digital India Programme

Juniper Networks is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California that develops and markets networking products. Its products include routers, switches, network management software, network security products and software-defined networking technology. Company competes with Cisco, Ciena and Hewlett-Packard, among others. The NYSE-listed company has invested $1 billion in India in the past six years, mostly on research and development, and has about 2,600 workers in the country across locations including Bengaluru and Delhi. Juniper Networks is planning to invest $1 billion more in the Indian operations to tap into the opportunities which will arise from India’s digital transformation led by cloud-based services. The company wants to be part of Government of India’s digital vision. The Digital India programme is centred on three key vision areas: