Student Name: Matthew Jones

Student ID: J1636147

Unit 7: Business Operations in Engineering

Business Operations Assignment 2

Contents:
Pass 4: Page 2 – Page 5
Pass 5: Page 5 – Page 8
Pass 6: Page 8 – Page 11
Merit 2: Page 12 – Page 15
Distinction 2: Page 16 – 28
Memo
To:
Janet Sutton
From:
Matthew L Jones
Company:
Spline Gauges
Date:
5 February 2018
Re:
Business Assignment 2

P4: External and Economic Factors of Business

External Factors affect operations of all engineering companies. Some factors are predictable
and may be planned for years in advance, however, others may be random occurrences that
will not have been foreseen.
Some of these occurrences can be considered as opportunities and others as threats, such as;
the availability of a new manufacturing process which cuts costs and is more time effective, or
high interest rates meaning that the company can’t invest in new equipment without paying back
large sums.
Public Opinions
Public opinion affects a business’s number of sales. This is because people will read about the
company in local news and from the internet, from which they form opinions of the business
based on the treatment of employees, customers and product quality etc… This will either drive
the consumer demand up or down depending on whether the media attention is positive or
negative. Another reason it will drive sales down is that your competitors may have a better
reputation than you and customers would prefer to buy from them if they know that the product
they are receiving is reliable and staff who work there are treated better. For Example; If Spline
Gauges processes of creating their products is damaging to the surrounding area, they will have
less customers, which means they will have to invest in processes which aren’t as polluting. The
new (healthier) methods could take longer, which slows the rate at which work is completed.

Rival Businesses

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Competitors will sell similar products to Spline and will compete over sales and sustainable
resources. This will affect the company as both business will drive to have the best quality
products, prices and reputation. Spline will have to spend money on ensuring that the
workforces’ skills are refined to compete effectively against other rival companies. Consumers
will be divided on which company they should buy from as Spline and others offer similar
services. If the suppliers aren’t getting enough business from spline they may switch to a
company that will provide them with more regular deliveries and sales.
Customer Relations
How a business handles a client will determine whether they will be a returning customer. It will
also affect their reputation and sales if they handle it poorly. Poor customer service will
generally result in having fewer customers for the business, which will cause the businesses
profits to go down or potentially even liquidize the company itself. This because other business
in the tertiary sector will be less likely to buy from spline and more likely to buy from their
competitors. Having a poor customer service can also result in a loss of current customers and
will prevent spline from gaining new ones. It may potentially result in losing employees as they
won’t’ like being scorned and shouted at by unpleased clients.
Advancement of Technology
The technological factor is to do with the advancement of technology and whether businesses
such as Spline Gauges will implement it to gain an advantage over competitors or to cut time
and costs. For example; A new manufacturing process has been made available which cuts
costs and is more time effective. Whether spline gauges choose to implement this process will
affect their business as it will likely improve their reputation and give them an advantage over
rivals or stay in competition with them. If Spline don’t use this new process, there’s the chance
that their competitors will.
If the company does take advantage of developing technologies and processes, it will improve
the speed at which operations are completed and could improve the quality of products which
they produce as well. This will give Spline more business and make them more profit.
Demographic and Social Trends
Demographic and social trends aren’t very predictable, which is why companies have to be
careful with how much money they invest in areas of production. The threat of this factor is that
a sudden change may cause a business’s product to become obsolete and no one will want to
buy it, which is a huge problem. If Splines products aren’t wanted as much, they won’t have as
many orders or make as much profit which could cause the company to potentially collapse.
However, they only focus on producing two types of components, which are master gears and
master gauges, both of which are very much needed for engineering.

Resource Sustainability

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The sustainability of a resource depends on what kind of resource it is. If it’s a type of fuel its
likely to be more expensive to supply than plastics. Oil is a limited natural resource, there’s only
so much of it, and it takes millions of years to form. Whereas plastics are a more available
resource as they can be made from multiple methods and processes, like; Recycling. For Spline
it’s a problem if they cannot get new materials as they need it to produce their products.
Therefore, a business must manage how often they order in deliveries of materials. They also
need money to order in these resources which is why profit has to be re-invested to oil the
businesses functions. Operations at spline cannot continue if they don’t have the materials they
need to complete their orders. The business will then lose profit and popularity with their
customers as their orders won’t have been completed.
The group of Economic Factors which have their effects on the working of a business such as
Spline Gauges are known as the “economic environment”. Each factor of the “economic
environment” are called “economic factors”.
Balance of Payments
A businesses balance of payments, identifies whether there is a deficit or a surplus. The
purpose of BOP is to reveal if the company is saving enough to pay for its imports and is making
enough profit to pay for its economic expansion. A balance of payments deficit means that
Spline imports more goods and capital than it exports. In the long- term the company will
become a consumer rather than a producer which means it will have to go into debt to pay for
consumption instead of paying for economic growth, meaning it could collapse or be liquidized.
If the deficit continues long enough it’ll have to sell off its assets to pay its creditors, which will
mean that Spline won’t have quality products as they don’t have access to some processes, this
will damage the reputation of spline and they will lose out on business to other rival companies.
A balance of payments surplus means the business exports more than it imports and saves its
profits well. They make enough capital to pay for domestic production. A surplus in the short-
term pays for economic growth, meaning that Spline Gauges will expand as a company and will
increase its profits. The amount re-invested will be greater, meaning they will be able to afford
additional staff or processes that will further improve their products.
Gross National Product
The Gross National Product is the market value of all the products and services produced in one
year through labor and property supplied by the citizens of a country. GNP indicates the
production based on the location of ownership, and calculates it through location and residence.
GNP is an economic statistic that is equal to GDP plus any income earned by residents from
overseas investments minus income earned within the domestic economy by overseas
residents. GNP is a macro economic indicator of the strength of the businesses within the
country, the wealth of its employees and the overall strength of the economy. It affects
businesses because if the overall GNP for the year is lower, people and other companies will
have less money to buy Splines products, thus reducing their orders and profitability. Investors
use it to determine efficient capital deployment. If the GNP has grown, people will have more
money to buy Splines products, causing them to have more orders. Spline, as a company will
be more likely to have shareholders investing money into the company, meaning that they will
have more funds to invest in new equipment or staff that can offer the business a higher level of
skill or product quality.

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Interest Rates and Exchange Rates
The economy will at times go through fluctuations, which will massively affect the business.
These two types of changes are referred to as “economic booms” and “economic slumps”. The
terms refer to positive and negative changes in economic variables such like; Interest Rates and
Exchange Rates.
Lower interest rates for a business means a lower amount of money being paid back in long-
term loans, which means that it is safer for businesses like Spline to take out loans to invest in
new equipment and new staff for example. When the economic conditions are right they will be
encouraged to take more risks in the hope of making more profit and expanding themselves. If
spline choose to take out a loan while interest rates are lower, they will have to pay back a
smaller amount of money than if the rate was higher. If they take out a loan on a lower rate they
can receive the requested amount, which they can use to improve their services and pay back a
smaller amount. Higher interest rates will have the opposite effect.
Exchange rates will affect Spline Gauges as it has the potential to increase or decrease costs.
Spline will get some of its materials imported from other countries. If the exchange rate of the
pound is lower they won’t get as much for their money as they would if the rate was higher. This
will be because the British pound won’t be worth as much in other countries and will cost the
business more to purchase supplies of raw materials e.g. Titanium. A rise in the value of the
pound will have the opposite effect. The business will have more profit to re-invest in supplies
outside the UK etc.
P5: Legislation and Regulation Impacts in Business
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – This health and safety legislation is an act of parliament
that as of the year 2011, hereby defines the fundamental structure for the encouragement and
enforcement of health and safety welfare and regulations in the workplace. Warburton’s Case
Study: Warburton’s altered the design of their delivery vehicles to reduce the risk of accidents to
their employees. A change which took place after receiving reports of these injuries and after
conducting a risk assessment of the vehicles. Warburton’s handled the situation well and fixed
the situation correctly and in good time. The positive impact of the act is that Spline will be more
popular with public and with its staff if they act upon risk assessments as it shows they are
actually concerned about the safety of their employees, people will be likely to buy from a
company that treats its employees well than one which doesn’t. The negative impact of the act
is the cost of the changes that will have to be periodically made to the workplace to solve errors
and risks.
Employment Act 2002 – The employment act 2002 is a piece of legislation which made
amendments to the existing labor law in the UK. The employment act 2002 makes it illegal for
employers to discriminate between employees regards of ethnicity, age, sexuality or gender.
The act applies in situations where the employee feels that the company may have looked past
them because of their race, and have not defined them by their skills and accomplishments. It
was found that L’Oréal barred black and Asian women from their commercials. They were fined
under the employment act for £25,000.

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The positive effects on Spline Gauges from this act are that it makes employees more
comfortable being themselves, meaning they will want to complete work to higher standard
because they know they won’t be overlooked because of what defines them. The negative
impact of the employment act on Spline Gauges is that, people may take some of the
companies’ decisions as discrimination towards themselves and may damage the reputation of
the company such as the case study involving L’Oréal.
Factories Act 1961 – The factories act serves a similar purpose to the health and safety act, but
it also covers certain workplace situations dangers that the HASAWA does not and sets out
safety requirements for each. The positive impact of the factories act on companies like Spline
Gauges and Inflite Engineering (Case Study) is that workers are ensured procedures that
protect against uncleanliness, overcrowding, temperature and ventilation. The company Inflite
Engineering were charged over breaches of section 2 and 3 of the Factories Act and were fined
£160,000. The positive impact of the factories act is that it’s a factor in preventing harm to
Splines’ employees. It creates a safe working environment where employees can work, but also
to their highest standard. The negative impact is that when companies cut corners to save on
costs employees are at risk of getting injured like those at Inflite Engineering. The company can
receive a fine as large as £160,000 like Inflite which is a waste, when it could have been used
for something else. A majority of these cases are made public on the HSE website or may even
be included in national or local news which will damage Spline Gauges reputation and
popularity with the public. This may cause them to lose business or make their competitors a
more viable or moral option.
Fire Precautions Act 1971 – This act ensures that all companies have adequate protection and
procedures against fires. The fire precautions act 1971 designated that all offices, factories,
shops and railway premises are required to acquire and display a fire certificate issued by the
fire authorities. It was amended in 1987, that the bearer of the certificate now had a duty to
ensure that the means of escape can be safely and effectively used at all times, that means of
firefighting e.g. equipment, are maintained and that all employees have to receive training on
what to do in the event of a fire. A block of flats in London has been fined £100,000 for failing to
act on a fire risk assessment, they were ordered to pay the costs of £6000 to install new safety
equipment and processes/ protocols.
The positive impact of the fire precautions act on Spline is that it makes the work environment
safer in the event of a fire, and ensures that staff are provided with the knowledge of what to do
if a fire starts and prevents the spread of panic which can make the situation even worse. The
negative impact of the fire precautions act is that it costs money to install firefighting equipment,
and other alerts such as fire alarms or backdoor exits and it costs money to have to hire health
and safety staff to carry out periodic safety checks and risk assessments, when it could be
spent on improving more important issues. It also takes time for their training when employees
could be doing work and they also have to pay their salary. Much like the owner of the block of
flats in London, Spline could be fined if they don’t comply with the act.
Data Protection Act 1998 – The data protection act controls the way that businesses and
organizations use and handle employees’ information. Anyone who handles the information
must follow strict rules called data protection principles. The electronics company Sony have
been fined £250,000 over a serious data protection act breach, they were also ordered to pay

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the costs of new up to date security software. Sony were fined, due to the fact they failed to
keep up with up to date online security measures, which back in 2011 allowed hackers to
access sensitive monetary information of the people using PSN.
The positive impact of the data protection act is that it legally forces companies to have
adequate security measures for the information they store on their systems to prevent cases
such as Sony’s from occurring again. The negative impact of the Data Protection Impact is that
if my chosen company “Spline” wishes to store their data electronically on computers, it costs
them a lot of money and time to continuously update security measures and solve errors in the
system which could potentially be exploited. It also costs money to hire ICT staff and pay their
wages etc.
Employment Equality Regulations 2006 – The employment equality regulations 2006 is a
secondary piece of legislation which discourages employers from unreasonably discriminating
against employees on grounds of age. A positive impact of these regulations is that employees
will work harder for their employers as they know that they will be defined by their skills and
traits and not by what makes them who they are. This makes business operations more
successful as employees will strive to work harder if they know their efforts will be recognized. A
negative impact of the regulations is the bad publicity that the company will receive due to
decisions that they have to make. This will also sour their own employees’ opinion of the
business, which will cause the working efficiency of employees to drop.
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 – These regulations ensure that
all employers either prevent or adequately control hazardous substances that would harm
employees. A positive of these regulations are that it keeps employees out of harm’s way, which
prevents bad publicity or immediate costs to the company. The principles of the regulations give
employers and employees morals, making them more likely to report a problem. A negative of
the regulations are that, even though they are still in place it doesn’t necessarily stop all staff
from performing dangerous actions, which can still lead to harm. The fallout of this is that
employees will get injured and slow the operations of the business if an employee is missing,
meaning that it takes time for them to recover or for someone else to temporarily fill in their
responsibilities.
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 – These guidelines are used to prevent
injury to employees in the workplace from workplace equipment. The regulations state that,
each piece of equipment has to maintained to an adequate standard and that periodic checks
on the equipment has to be taken. A positive of these regulations are that they make accidents
to employees less likely. This means that the operations of a company won’t be slowed due to a
missing or injured employee. The negative of this are that employees have to trained in health
and safety checks and risk assessment which takes up time, or if the business hires staff
specifically for the checks then it costs the company money, which could have been invested
into different areas of the business, for example; new machinery, more updated design software
etc.
Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment 1998 – All lifting equipment must be maintained to
adequate condition so that it is safe for employees to use. The weight limit must never be
exceeded as it is a risk to health. The positive of these regulations are that since it requires a
member of staff to supervise the lifting operation, it makes the operations run smoother, making

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it more time effective and it can prevent injury to other employees. The regulations require that
the lifting equipment is maintained to a good standard and has periodic assessments on it. This
allows for the company to predict for when new equipment is needed. This could be beneficial
for the next lifting operation. The negative of this is that the supervising employee could be
completing other tasks that need doing.

Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1998 – The regulations define P.P.E as all
wearable equipment which protects the employee from harm such as: safety helmets or safety
boots. It also specifies that since it is the least effective way of reducing risks of hazards, it is
only to be implemented if the risk of a hazard cannot be reduced any other way: e.g. re-design
of the machine or separating the hazard from the employee, etc. The positive of the PPE
regulations are that it requires for other methods of risk reducing to be considered beforehand,
which could prove to be more effective for the operation that it could remove the time or risk
restrains, for the hazard to be removed or reduced. PPE is the least effective method of
reducing the risk of a hazard which is why other methods must be taken in account beforehand.
The negative of the PPE regulations are the cost of the equipment to the company which could
have been re-invested in other areas such as; supplies of raw materials. Another negative is
that although the harm to employees may be reduced because of the gear, they can still get
injured which can slow down operations, proving to be time- ineffective.
P6: Environmental and Social Constraints
What is a constraint?
A constraint is something that is considered as a barrier, a limitation or a restriction.
Environmental Constraints are the limits, that certain environmental factors have on a business,
for example; sustainability of resources, impacts of operations on the environment, recycling,
product end of life strategy. Social Constraints are the limits that certain social factors have on a
business, for example; Employment Levels, Workforce Skill Levels, Training Requirements,
Motivation, Impact of Outsourcing. (Key – S.C = Social Constraint, E.C = Environmental
Constraint)
Sustainability of Resources (E.C) – Sustainability of resources is maintaining resources at an
ecological level or rate to avoid depletion. For a; a type of resource is natural materials. A
company may decide upon a particular location because of the natural resources that lie
instilled in the earth, which the business requires to generate profit. However, there will always
be a limited amount of materials or only a limited amount of resources than can be delivered at
a certain time from suppliers. This will affect Spline Gauges as they are a producer of
components. The business requires periodic deliveries of raw materials to produce their
products, without this they aren’t able to make a profit and continue to be successful. This factor
changes the way the business operates, and uses up resources, the business will have to take
into account how limited their resources are and will look for ways to re-use their scraps or by-
products and to develop new methods of manufacture that are less wasteful and use up less
materials.

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Impacts of Operations on the Environment (E.C) – Impacts on the environment means; How do
particular processes such as; manufacturing, extracting materials, or dumping waste affect the
surrounding area? This factor will affect the way the company operates because of how
successful and sustainable they want their business to be and also because of publicity. Spline
will have to alter how destructive or damaging their processes are to the environment because it
could mean that the location of the company may no longer be viable for business. For
example; they can’t receive deliveries as fast because the terrain has been damaged because
of destructive processes they carry out, or the company is fined because of the damage to the
environment or wildlife. This affects Spline as they will have to research the most beneficial
methods for themselves and those that are healthiest for the surrounding area.
Another factor in this constraint is the publicity that the business can receive based on their
attitudes towards the environment. It can either be positive if they handle it well, meaning they
have more business are customers will be more likely to buy as they will have been identified of
having good morals. However, vice-versa if they don’t take the impact they have on the
environment into consideration they can receive bad publicity and will make it more likely they
will lose popularity with customers. This means their competitors will likely dominate a larger
percentage of the market.
Use of Renewable Energy Resources (E.C) – This constraint is how limiting implemented
renewable energy resources are. Examples of renewable energy are; Hydropower, Wind and
Solar etc. Overall statistics show that 80% of the UK’s energy comes from the use of fossil fuels,
meaning that only 20% comes from renewable resources as they don’t give out as much energy
as non- renewable sources. The constraint itself is how much power the renewable energy
produces against how much is required for the company to work efficiently. This will affect
splines operations as this means that if they choose to implement these methods, effective yet
power consuming CNC machinery may have to be priority over others as less power is
produced from renewable sources than non-renewables. It also affects spline if they choose to
use a combination of fossil fuels and renewable sources, as this means more machinery will be
able to used, unfortunately at the cost of the fumes that will be pumped out into the
environment.
Carbon Footprint (E.C) – This constraint is to do with the amount of carbon and other pollutive
gases that are released into the environment from the processes that companies such as Spline
use. Spline Gauges must limit the amount of unhealthy gases they produce through the types of
machinery they use, the quantity of machinery and the methods they employ to prevent
environmental damage. Power plants in the UK use fossil fuels to create electrical energy for
production. However, the downside of burning these fuels are that they emit dangerous gases
into the atmosphere such as; Carbon and Sulfur Dioxide. Sulfur Dioxide is the most dangerous
out of the two as it causes acid rain which can kill plants and alter the PH of surrounding lakes
which wildlife drinks from. Spline has to limit the processes they use which produce these gases
and morally should implement methods to counteract them. If spline chooses not to its likely
they will lose business to their competitors if the public feels that they are an unhealthy option
for the area that they live in.

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Recycling (E.C) – This constraint mainly involves the opinion the public will have on Spline
Gauges if they don’t healthy dispose of their waste products. In the 1980’s the company Coca
Cola, were criticized over the way they disposed of their by-products, which involved slot of
dumping in local ravines and lakes and also burning them, thus damaging the atmosphere. It’s
because of this the publics opinion of the company was very low and the number of sales were
depleting due to their incorrect morals and ethics. Therefore, this factor changes the way Spline
operates as they will want to remain in favor of the public, to stay in competition with their rivals
and to maintain or even increase their number of customers. If my company chooses to invest
extra funding in recycling their waste, they will gain positive publicity, however, if they simply
dispose of it unhealthily a similar thing will happen to Spline Gauges as that of Coca Cola in the
1980’s.
Product End of Life Strategy (E.C) – This constraint involves the life cycle of a product and how
Spline Gauges chooses to adapt to the changing engineering environment and the evolution of
their customers’ needs. Spline Gauges, focuses on developing and producing only Master
Gears and Master Gauges, these components are very valuable and needed in the production
of vehicles. The fact that spline gauges has chosen to produce, highly demanded products is a
very clever investment, as it likely that vehicle producing businesses will always need master
gears and gauges for their vehicles. However, over time the development of these vehicles will
require that Spline, produce more sophisticated and developed master gears and master
gauges. This will affect the company’s operations as they will need to monitor the changing
needs and wants of their customers. If they don’t monitor the changing trends, their competitors
will, which means that spline will lose business and their products will enter the product stage
called “decline”. The process of developing the more advanced designs will cost more and take
more time to produce and manufacture.
Unemployment Rates (S.C) – Employment rates are the percentage of people within the UK
who are unemployed. Unemployment rates affect the operations of spline gauges because if the
rates increase, it will slow the operations of my company as people will have less money to
spend. Whereas if the rates go down the number of operations will increase as people will have
more money to spend. An if the economy has high unemployment rates and the company has
to lay off a number of staff they can expect higher UI taxes, which will mean that less money will
be able to be re-invested in product production.
Workforce Skill Levels and Training Requirements (S.C) – Workforce skill levels and
requirements are very important to businesses as their work needs employees who know what
they are doing and can complete it to the required standard. If workforce skill levels aren’t up to
standard then it means that some customers need may not be met, and the company will lose
sales and its reputation. This is why companies invest so much in training employees to the
standard they need to be, otherwise the companies’ capabilities will be more limited.
Opportunities for self-improvement and progression (S.C) – Opportunities for self-improvement
are very important for companies such as Spline who are looking to develop their products even
further. Opportunities such as this will affect Spline Gauges because if their workforce is more
developed it will give them more of an edge over their competitors, it will also boost the quality
of their products, giving them a better reputation and even may allow them to charge a premium
for their services. However, there is a negative of advancing their employees skills, this is that

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they may feel they can be paid more and could leave for a higher paid position, which will slow
operations due a loss of employees.
Motivation (S.C) – Motivation plays an important part in a business. Employees perform better if
they feel they are working towards something. Something they can feel proud of or for personal
gain. Employees needs must be satisfied within a company to maintain motivation. Operations
can be affected if their needs aren’t met or in the right way, employees can either feel
unappreciated and motivation will drop, thus slowing operations. Or they could be met too fast
and employees will grow greedy which will make it more difficult to motivate them in the long
term.

Outsourcing (S.C) – Outsourcing is the action of obtaining goods or services from an outside
supplier. Outsourcing affects Spline Gauges as they rely on receiving their goods from suppliers
rather than extracting and processing them themselves. If Spline Gauges needs and emergency
shipment of raw materials to keep up with demand it’s likely that the delivery will take longer to
arrive than if they supplied it by themselves, which slows their processes as they need raw
materials to create their products. However, if the company were to also extract materials, being
a small company, their profit margin will also be smaller. This means, it will take more time to
invest in new equipment or they may not even be able to maintain doing so. Outsourcing from a
different company means that they aren’t in as much control over the cost of new materials.
Although they would have an influence. If prices increased it would mean they may also have to
increase the cost of their own services, which means they can lose business. If they don’t wish
to increase the cost of their services, their profit margin will decrease meaning they will have
less money to re-invest.

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M2: Impacts of Legislation on Spline Gauges Turning Activities and Other Operations
Impacts of HASAWA on Turning Operations
One of the benefits of the health and safety act on turning processes are that employees are
less likely to get injured as they will have been made to use the PPE provided. Employees will
not be getting injured as the risk of it will be lower, meaning that the abilities of workers won’t be
as limited. This maintains the quality and efficiency of results produced from Splines turning
operations. A limitation however, is that components may take longer to complete because of
the methodical way employees are trained to set out their work which will slow the rate of
production in operations. This may not always be the case as once employees become
accustomed to setting out their work this way they will start working at a more effective pace. A
benefit of the methodical training is that employees will be safer while working and the quality of
the products made will be better.
The health and safety act require that only safe machinery is able to be used, meaning that it
has to abide by the EU’s standard which is recognizable by a “CE” mark having been printed
onto it. This beneficial for working employees as will be able to focus on their tasks better
knowing that the machinery is legally safe. It is also beneficial for the operations as employees
will complete their work to a better quality because they will be able to focus more and not have
to worry as much about their own safety. The act require that workers are kept informed and are
adequately trained for the machinery they have to use this means that the production rate of
turning operations will be maintained or even increased because the workers will have the
know-how and less will be off work due to injury. A negative of this is production could be
temporarily slowed because of staff training or distracting them from their work with updates.
This isn’t necessarily some problem as other employees can take over their duties or temporary
staff can be hired to take their place.
The RIDDOR regulations of the health and safety at work act require that after an injury,
disease or dangerous occurrence has happened, a report on the accident has to be completed
and submitted the HSE and a risk assessment has to be taken out to identify and solve what
caused the accident. This is beneficial to turning operations as a measure will have been
implemented to prevent the issue occurring again which will allow work to continue, the risk to
the employees to return to a safe level and it will keep up staff morale.
Impacts of HASAWA on other Operations
Spline Gauges also uses a number of chemicals for their engineering processes. Which means
that the Control of Hazardous Substances to Health regulations affect these activities. Research
has to be taken out on the used chemicals to identify the type of hazards and risks they pose,
this is beneficial to these operations as employees will be able to be equipped with PPE that is
more suitable to their needs, this means that the risk to them will be reduced resulting in less
employees being off work due to injuries. Spline Gauges has to implement control measures to
prevent the substances causing harm to its employees. The benefit of the control measures
such as: Protective Gear e.g. boiler suits, face protection, breathing filters. Is that without them
the tasks involving the hazardous substances aren’t allowed to be completed.

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Legally the control measures have to be maintained to prevent any harm coming to splines
employees. The benefit of this is that the risk to employees is maintained at a safe level. The
limitation however, is that the maintenance of these control measures will consume time of
employees involved in these processes, which will temporarily slow the rate of production in
these operations. The regulations require that the department which is involved with these
processes have to have preparations for an emergency situation, such as: an employee is
exposed to one of the dangerous chemicals. The installation of these preparations may disrupt
those working which will slow the rate at which the tasks will get done. However, because of the
time that has been taken to install these precautions in the event of an emergency, it will be
possible to control the issue which could save an employee’s life.
Impact of The Fire Precautions Act on Turning Operations
A positive of the fire precautions act on turning operations and its staff is that because of its
requirements it reduces the risk to employees and increases their knowledgeability of what to do
in the event of a fire. However, the act will mean increased costs. This is due to the regulation
that fire precautions etc. be tested and updated periodically, this can prove to be a slight
limitation to turning operations as some of the money for new gear and machinery will have to
be diverted towards updating and repairing fire precautions in their area. The periodic testing of
fire alarms and occasional repairs for the precautions can prove distracting for those working on
turning operations, meaning the productivity of the department could be shaken.
Impact of The Fire Precautions Act on Other Operations
The fire precautions act benefits other operations as it gives employees the knowledge of what
to do in the event of a fire. This reduces the risk of employees getting injured from a fire
incident, this is also because of the safety measures put in place because of the act. The act
also results in increased costs. This is because of the regulation that requires that fire
precautions such as; emergency exits or glowing fire door signs have to be updated periodically.
A benefit of the fire precautions act on other operations is that staff in other areas of work will be
better trained to handle different types of fires than those working on turning operations. This
means that staff working in offices will be able to return to work faster as they will be able to
solve the situation in an effective way due to their training as of the FPA. The fire precautions
act will result in an increased level of cost, but not as much that to turning as the fire precautions
needed for offices cost less those working with machinery. Water Extinguishers cost more than
Powder Based extinguishers which would be used in offices meaning that limitation of monetary
funding for the department will be less. A limitation of the act is that working efficiency of those
working in offices will also be disrupted by the testing and updating of fire precautions. As they
may not be able to deliver files to other areas because of work being done or they may get
distracted by fire alarms being tested each week.

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Impacts of the Employment Act on Turning Operations
As of the employment act, employees have the right to belong to a trade union. Staff working on
turning operations will feel that their jobs are more secure and will hence strive to prove
themselves, by working harder. As a result, all operations will be more productive because
employees will be more competitive for promotions etc. However, a limitation of the act is that, if
the company wishes to make a change that will affect staff in way they are unhappy with they
may get their trade union involved, which means the company may not end up making this
change or it will take longer to implement this change because of involvement of unions or due
to the amount of consideration and planning involved in each change. This isn’t very time
effective for the operations. The employment act grants employees reasonable time off if they
are being made redundant this will slow turning operations because less employees will be
working. Another regulation of the employment act is that it gives employees the right to be paid
for up to 26 weeks if they are off work on medical grounds. This will slow production of turning
operations because employees will be off work injured and will still be costing the company
money.
Impacts of the Employment Act on Other Operations
The employment act will boost the productivity of other operations because employees will be
more enticed to work, this is because of the regulations that states employers cannot unfairly
discriminate against their employees. However, a limitation of the act is that, the company has
to take more in consideration about how changes will affect employees, otherwise workers may
get trade unions involved which could pose legal threats. This means that they may not end up
making the change or it will be more time consuming to do so.
Impacts of the Factories Act on Turning Operations
As regulation of the Factories Act companies have to implement safety guidelines and safety
measures where it is needed to protect against: uncleanliness, overcrowding, workplace
temperature and ventilation. As a result of this regulation problems including uncleanliness etc.
will no longer be a worry for employees working on turning operations which will allow them to
continue with their work meaning more will be completed. It also allows them to work more
comfortably thus focusing meaning workers will work more effectively and to a better standard,
this results in the increase of productivity in turning and other practical work. The act ensures
that the workplace be kept clean and free from any sanitary inconveniences which is important
in a workshop as maneuverability and cleanliness are important.
The benefit of this is that employees who are moving around are less likely to trip and injure
themselves which means that turning operations will remain productive. A limit of this regulation
is the time-consuming processes of removing dirt and sanitizing workplaces. Less work may be
completed because less time is being spent on tasks and more on maintaining a healthy
workspace. “A factory shall not while work is being carried out, be so overcrowded as to cause
risk of injury to person’s health”. A benefit of this regulation is that it prevents employers from
overcrowding the workshop to an extend that it would cause harm to turning staff, this will stop
productivity of turning activities being slowed due to the limited abilities of staff due to injury or
because employees working because of them being off work.

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Impact of The Factories Act on Other Operations
The factories act protects employees against: uncleanliness, overcrowding, workplace
temperature and having correct ventilation. Therefore, these issues won’t be a problem which
will give employees the chance to focus and get more work done, thus increasing productivity of
other operations. The regulations for Ventilation will be important in activities which involve the
use of chemicals. The gases produced from heating these substances may cause harm to
employees. The act ensures that workshops have the correct ventilation. A benefit of this is that
is reduces the risk of gas and chemical poisoning to employees. A limitation of this regulation is
that it will increase costs to implement and repair ventilation units.
The cleanliness regulations protect against employees getting infections and tripping and
injuring themselves, this is beneficial because it reduces the risk to employees, if they are off
work due to injuries it will slow the rate at which work gets done. It is also beneficial because it
reduces the likelihood of the company being sued. A limitation of the factories act is the cost of
implementing and updating all the safety measures, the consumption of time to do so and that
updating the safety measures etc. can distract employees from their work which can slow down
production cycles.
Impacts of the Data Protection Act on Turning Operations
A benefit of the data protection act is that is prevents employers from selling their employees
information onto third parties like telemarketing companies etc. The act keeps employees’
information safe. Any confidential information that workers aren’t comfortable giving doesn’t
have to be handed over. This will make employees feel more comfortable working knowing their
information is safe. A limitation of the act is that specifications and other details of customers
have to be processed with private and secure methods which is more time absorbing meaning
that turning operations can’t place until this is done.
Impacts of the Data Protection Act on Other Operations
The data protection act makes employees more comfortable working for their employers
knowing the details they provide them with aren’t going to be sold onto anyone else. A limitation
of the act is that companies can’t generate additional capital by selling this information onto third
parties. If companies did these employees would feel badly toward the company and may quit
or have poor motivation which will slow other operations. Another limitation of the data
protection act is that it slows operations within the business because the data from each activity
has to processed securely which takes up a longer amount of time.

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D2: Evaluation of the importance and possible effects of the external factors which
directly affect Spline Gauges
Public Opinions
Public opinion is about, what the local population think of spline gauges. This includes their
opinions on the what the company does and how their activities and processes affect their lives,
this factor affects the business because customers will likely carry out research on spline
gauges as a company which includes their relationship with the public. Depending on whether
their relationship is good or bad, it could make a difference between them making a sale or
customers taking their needs elsewhere. Another point is that because of relationships with the
public, it will become more difficult to employ new members of staff meaning that the company
will have to waste resources on making their offers more enticing to make people interested.
Whereas if the companies’ relationship with the public good then more people will want to work
there meaning it will be easier to employ new people and they won’t have to waste as much
time or resources in the process.
This factor is important to the business because it can affect the number of customers and
amount of business that spline gauges receives. It also important for being able to find new and
higher skilled candidates for positions, it’s also important for maintaining employees and their
morale at work. If spline gauges have a poor relationship with the public, less employees will
want to work there if they feel they are upsetting the locals or making their lives more difficult by
working for this business, if employees leave or their working morale drops it can slow the
production cycles of products which isn’t good for the business. Slowed productions cycles put
the business at a disadvantage with their competitors and leaves displeased with spline gauges’
services. This will make them less likely to be a returning customer, meaning in the future the
company won’t get as many sales and has the potential to damage their reputation as a
business, this could potentially cause the branches profit margin to decrease. The lack of sales
could also make spline gauges’ suppliers unhappy with them as a customer because they won’t
be placing as many orders, meaning the relationship between spline gauges and its suppliers
could also deteriorate.
This factor is important to spline gauges because it can also increase the number of customers
the business receives. If spline gauges have a positive relationship with the locals, potential
clients will recognize this when researching the business making them a more viable option than
a business that has a negative relationship. The company will have an increased number of
sales therefore, their profit margin will grow meaning that they will be able to invest in new
processes that could further improve their reputation, time and cost effectiveness as a business
allowing them to expand at a faster rate. Employees will have higher working morale if the
business is being successful and that their processes aren’t a problem for the surrounding area,
meaning they will be more focused on their work resulting in production cycles being completed
more time efficiently. This will make clients happy with spline gauges’ services and make them
more likely to be a returning customer which means more business in the future for the
company. Suppliers will be happier with spline gauges as a customer because they will be
placing more orders at more regular intervals because they will have more orders. This will
improve the relationship between suppliers and the business, this may even reduce the costs
for the company if they are buying more or more consistently.

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A possible effect of this factor is that it can increase the number sales that spline gauges
receives. An advantage of this that the company will make more profit, this is because they will
be making an increased amount of income from them completing their increased amount of
orders. This is an advantage because it means that businesses will have more monetary funds
to re-invest in itself. Another advantage is the increased morale from knowing their company is
successful. This will prove advantageous to the business because production cycles will be
completed at a faster pace because employees will be working more efficiently meaning that
customers will be more pleased with their services making them more likely to return in the
future. This will also mean that spline gauges will have been chosen over their competitors. The
disadvantage of an increased amount of sales is that the company they may not be able to cope
with the increased number of outstanding orders, meaning that it will take longer for customers
to receive their products which can sour their opinion of the business or give them a reputation
for taking an increased amount of time. This is a negative effect because if the customers don’t
return they will take their business elsewhere, to splines competitors meaning that other
companies will be getting more order and spline gauges will have gotten less. My
recommendation for this outcome is to invest and promote the companies healthier and safest
processes and also invest in spline gauges’ carbon footprint and energy consumption. I have
selected this recommendation because it will improve the companies’ image, which will appeal
to some and will improve the surrounding area and those that live there, thus making the
business more likeable.
Another Possible effect of this factor is that it can make spline gauges’ more recommendable.
An advantage of this is that spline gauges’ will receive more business because of word of
mouth, this means that if they maintain a positive relationship with locals and their company
becomes relevant in a conversation they will be more likely to be recommended. This will be
advantageous the business because they will make increased income from the extra sale.
Another advantage of this that it will improve spline gauges’ reputation with their suppliers
because they will be making more orders for materials. This is an advantage to spline gauges
because if supplies are tight for the supplier spline gauges will be the more likely recipient of
those supplies than a rival business. A disadvantage of this factor is that is if the sale is handled
poorly, it will mean they are less likely to recommended by that customer in the future, which
reduces the amount of potential business. My recommendation for this outcome is to keep up
with orders, this can be achieved by maintaining employee morale and investing in more time
effective processes. This will help to prevent clients being dissatisfied with the amount of time it
takes for their order to completed.
In my opinion, public attitudes and opinions is the least important external factor because the
effects and the range of them aren’t as large as rival businesses or client relationships because
they are more easily managed and don’t have as stronger impact i.e. profit increase or
decrease, on the business because sales are more likely to be decreased if spline treats its
customers poorly or if another company such IMI precision engineering has cheaper prices and
a higher quality. These other factors have a stronger influence on how well the business
succeeds more so than what the local people in the surrounding area think of the company.
However, the public opinion factor is still relevant because it can still have an effect on how
much profit the business makes and encourages the business to partake in healthier processes
because spline gauges will still want to make a positive impression on those who live nearby as
they may know people who could be potential customers.

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Client Relationships
The client relationship is the way that spline gauges is connected to their customers and
whether they handle those relations in a positive or negative way. How a business handles a
client will determine whether they will be a returning customer or not. It will also affect their
businesses reputation and following that their number of sales. Poor customer service will
generally result in having fewer clients and orders for the company because their customers will
be dissatisfied or even offended with how they are treated or handled. A good customer service
will likely result in clients returning again and gaining more clients because they will be satisfied
with how they have been treated and will want to return again to receive the same experience,
they will also recommend the business to their friends.
The client – business relationship affects the company in terms of sales, reputation and
employee motivation.
If the business has a poor customer service, for example; leaving them on call for long periods
of time, failing to meet their needs, failing to communicate effectively. Spline Gauges customers
will be unhappy and make them less likely to contact spline regards of orders again. Therefore,
a bad client relationship will result in having less sales in the future. This is important for the
business because the company will only have a limited range of contacts and customers,
meaning that giving them a good service or bad service will make their choice in whether they
will want to be a returning customer or not. The relationship is also important for the businesses
growth via maintaining and increasing their margin of profit. This is because if their service is
bad, the company won’t receive as many sales and then profit. However, if customers prefer
their experience with Spline over others then they will return meaning more money for the
business.
Having a positive client – business relationship is important for making people view spline in a
positive way, this is because it makes them more likeable and thus more recommendable to
other people meaning the business will make more profit. If the customer service is bad it can
affect or be because of employee motivation. This is because the two factors can be
proportional to each other meaning that if the customer service is bad the business will have
less sales and employees will grow lazy due to lack of work to be done. This means that if one
variable changes e.g. employees will to work, the outcome of the company and client exchange
will also be varied.
Employees gaining motivation from having more work to do is advantageous to spline gauges
because the workers will be working more efficiently and time effectively. This is an advantage
because it allows the business to compete better against other rival companies such as: IMI
Precision Engineering. Splines’ customers will also be more satisfied with the service they have
received which means that they will likely order again, resulting in more business and profit for
the company. A disadvantage of this is that employees may grow lazy and tired from having an
overwhelming workload to do. Also, since they will have been working harder before they may
want recognition or some other reward, however not all wants will be able to met which cause
motivation to decrease again but the workload will still be the same, meaning that production
cycles will be slower causing splines customers to grow impatient or annoyed with the company,
which can berate sales employees even more if they are being shouted by clients over the
phone.

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My recommendation is to try and meet employees’ needs so that they remain motivated but to
also balance their workload so that they don’t get fed up or tired. This can be done by
communicating with members of staff around the workplace, building a bond with them so that
they feel more comfortable and motivated to work. Balancing an employee’s workload can be
done by only accepting a certain number of orders at a time, which isn’t necessarily good for the
business as its an opportunity to make profit but its less costly than hiring additional employees
to share the weight of the increased amount of work.
Another possible effect of the factor is a decreased number of orders for the company. The
disadvantage of this effect is that because employees won’t have as much work to do they will
become lazy and lose momentum and motivation. This is a disadvantage because production
cycles could slow down meaning that customers become annoyed at spline gauges because of
the time it is taking for them to receive their specifications. Its also a disadvantage because if
employees grow lazy they will be more likely to make more mistakes, resulting in customers
being dissatisfied with their products and less likely to return again, meaning that spline will
have less customers in the future. An advantage of a loss of orders is that instead of employees
growing lazy and unmotivated they could simply put more time and more focus into the work
that is currently at hand. This is an advantage because although it may take longer, employees
will be tackling each task more precisely resulting in a higher quality product which will improve
the client relationship, the companies’ reputation and the likelihood of the company making
more profit due to an increased amount of orders.
In my opinion the relationship between a business and their customers is the most important
external factor because if the relationship is poor then how is business going to survive without
going into deficit which is where the company becomes unhealthy because it doesn’t have
enough profit to re-invest in itself to keep the business going. By only maintaining a ‘suitable’
relationship it means that not all customers may be loyal if they feel they a get a better service
from one of spline gauges rivals. But if spline gauges provide the best service possible which
involves good management, communication and efficient production cycles, they will secure
regular customers and therefore regular cash injections into the business.
Rival Businesses
Competitors, i.e. rival companies are an external factor in how well spline gauges will succeed
as a business because those other companies will offer similar services some of which they will
share with spline gauges meaning they will have to compete in over who can offer the highest
quality product at the cheapest price and also over suppliers since they will consume similar
resources for production. Rival businesses can be beneficial as it leads to business growth and
expansion because it pushes each company to develop faster and encourages employees to
work harder so that their company can succeed which will result in more profit and more
efficient work being completed. However, the existence of these other businesses can also be a
threat to spline gauges because they will have to compete over a limited number of customers
and will have to invest more in the quality of their results and will compete over suppliers
because they will both consume similar materials and they will only have a limited amount.
IMI precision engineering will affect spline gauges in terms of competition because both
companies work for some similar and some common industries meaning they consume similar
resources and will compete over customers.

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Rival businesses could drive spline gauges toward success because employees will be more
motivated to work to beat their companies rivals and make themselves more successful which
will mean more time effective processing and higher quality work will be done. If the work
completed is more time effective, production cycles will have been completed faster meaning
customers will be more satisfied because they will receive their order quicker and also to a
higher standard. This is important because it will improve their businesses reputation and will
make spline gauges customers happier with their orders because they will be higher quality.
Competition makes companies re-invest in themselves so that they can stay ahead of other
businesses meaning they will invest in new processes that will give them higher quality results
making customers more likely to return again which will make the business more profitable and
improves their reputation. It can also cause the businesses workforce to grow as they will
require higher skilled employees to create better products. It will make the business more profit
meaning they will have the capability to expand themselves into different markets, this is
important to businesses such as spline gauges because it means that they will be able to make
more profit and even escape from certain rival companies.
However, the downside of competition is that it can mean the loss of employees because
competitors such as IMI might offer better working conditions and pay, this will affect the
business because processes will be slowed due to less employees working and those that stay
will become tired and fed up because they will have a bigger workload. Spline gauges could
also end up losing money because their customers may end up buying IMI’s products instead of
theirs. IMI and spline gauges will also compete over suppliers, this will affect the business
because they won’t be able to function without the correct intake of goods. It’s important that
spline gauges secure a supplier because without materials to use they can’t complete any
customer orders. Both businesses will also have a limited supply of resources because
suppliers will have multiple businesses to feed meaning not all will receive what they need.
A possible effect of rival companies is that spline gauges could lose business because of
customers buying from their rivals instead of buying from them. The disadvantage of this is that
this means that their customers prefer other companies’ products or prices to spline gauges,
this can cause the business to lose money and a decrease in their profit margins because they
will have less customers making them profit. Another disadvantage of this is that spline gauges’
rivals will be making more money whilst they are losing money, this is a disadvantage because
it means that they will own a larger portion of the market than do and also because they may
use this increase in profit to gain an even bigger advantage over spline gauges by improving
processes, employing higher skilled staff etc. The advantage of spline gauges losing business
is that it allows them to evaluate what they are doing wrong that their competitors are doing
right, and gives them an opportunity to improve themselves. This is an advantage because it
can give them the chance for business to return to the company.
A way that spline gauges can prevent the loss of business is for them to always be evaluating
and trying improve on how they complete tasks. This can be done by training their staff with new
LEAN processes to eliminate waste from the workplace such as wasted time when working for
example: two departments that work closely together could be on opposite sides of the building,
meaning that it takes longer for people to travel and deliver information between them.

20
Another possible effect of the introduction of rival companies on spline gauges is that they may
have to lower their prices to stay in competition with those businesses, in order to secure more
customers. The advantage of lowering their prices is that their services will be more affordable
meaning that more customers will be more enticed into buying their products. This is an
advantage because it will increase the number of customers that spline gauges gets, which will
then make them more profit. Another advantage of this is that the company will become better
known because of communications between people, this will mean that spline gauges will
receive more orders because their range of customers will have increased. This an advantage
for spline gauges because they will make more profit and will become more well-known
amongst the public.
The disadvantage of having to lower prices is that they may lose money because they won’t be
making as much money off of each individual sale. This is a disadvantage to the business
because they won’t have as much profit to re-invest in themselves to improve the branches’
capabilities, for example: investigating new time saving processes or investing in more
advanced CNC machinery.
Spline gauges can avoid dropping its prices as much by charging a “premium” for their services
which is a technique used by some businesses so that they can make more money off of an
individual sale and still promote themselves by making their services seem a higher quality
because they charge more for it. The advantage of the business using this recommendation is
that they will be indirectly promoting themselves and will be able to make a larger amount of
profit per sale which will allow them to still stay ahead of their competitors and still maintain a
wide customer base.
Another recommendation is to lower their prices, because this will mean that they can still
possibly maintain their profit margin because spline gauges’ customers will buy more because it
will cost the customers less money. Whilst in the process they will also gain the favour of their
customers because spline will be charging less while still being of a high level of quality which
will provide spline gauges with more loyal and regular customers and will give the business
regular monetary injections.
My opinion of the external rival business factor is that it’s one the most important factors
involved with running a business. However, it is not as important as the relationship between
spline gauges and its customers because even if the business did receive more sales because
of the competitive environment, the customers would still become displeased with the company.
If anything, this could colour the opinion that splines customers will have on the business
because they could grow unhappy because of the long time it will take them to receive their
specifications because the company will be so busy handling such a large quantity of orders.
However, rival businesses like IMI are more important to spline gauges than public opinions
because rival businesses will have a stronger impact and influence than simply what people
think of the company. Rival businesses are also a lot more difficult to handle than the opinions
of the public because spline gauges aren’t in competition for the market, suppliers and
customers with them.

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Demographic and Social Trends
A demographic trend is a term used to describe changes in a population of a certain area over
time. E.g. an increase or a decrease in the population of an ethnic group. A demographic trend
can also be considered as a change in a particular characteristic or profession of a population
over a certain period. It could be as simple as that the number of people living in the west
midlands has shown fluctuations from the year 2000-2018. The main demographic trend in the
UK is that we have an “ageing population”, this trend reduces the number of working age people
which reduces the supply of labour – a key source of economic growth.
Demographic trends will affect spline gauges because it can be used to select an ideal location
for the business by using the data to predict whether more people are moving into the vicinity of
the business or not, which could mean that there are more people moving into the area. This
can be an advantage depending on where a majority of spline customers are based, whether or
not they have easy access to trade routes like motorways etc or what the density of traffic is
like. It can also be a disadvantage if they don’t have fast access to motorways or if traffic is
often congested, which will mean that the delivery of their goods will take longer to arrive.
Where spline gauges are located it has easy access to different motorways and doesn’t have a
massive amount of people living there which will improve delivery speed and therefore what
customers will think of the experience they have had being supplied by spline gauges. This is
important to the business because as they have a limited number of customers they will want to
make the best impression possible. One way to do this is to give them a good service which will
be made easier by where the deliveries will set off from and whether they will have good access
to trade routes and less traffic congesting the roads. Another reason this is important is that
spline gauges will want to be securing customers for the future so they will make more money,
by improving their service through choosing a prime location.
Demographic trends will because with Kingsbury (the area the branch is located) the
demographic could be that the majority of the people living there are referred to as the “ageing
population” which is a demographic trend that shows that a large percentage of the population
in areas of UK are retired. This means that some of the people from Kingsbury are not of a
working age which is a limitation to spline gauges in terms of a lessened supply of labour. The
limitation is that because the majority of the people living within Kingsbury are retired, the
business wouldn’t have as large amount of labour available to them from the local area
compared to if the business was located somewhere else. However, the benefit of having an
older population is that are engineers will be able to mould the minds of the younger,
inexperienced employees working at spline gauges which will give the company a more efficient
workforce having worked with more experienced engineers. Since the business will then have
what is referred to as an “older workforce” is makes the positions available at spline gauges
more appealing to new or potential employees because it will mean that since some other
workers will be retiring soon it will give them the chance to advance up the businesses structure
to higher paid positions with more benefits.
A demographic trend of the surrounding area of Kingsbury is that the largest percentage of the
population is older and retired. A possible effect of this could be that it makes it harder for the
business to hire new employees. The disadvantage of this is that its harder for spline gauges to
employ new staff members if they ever need to.

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This is a disadvantage because it will mean that the businesses current workload will fall onto a
lessened workforce which will result in employees getting worn out or work orders being slowed.
This will cause clients of spline gauges to become displeased and will give the company a
reputation for having slow production cycles, which has the potential to drive down the
companies’ number of customers because they would prefer to go somewhere else. The
advantage of this is that since its harder for the business to hire new employees they have to
make the positions at their firm more enticing. This will make employees happier to work there
resulting in higher production levels which will result in more loyal and regular customers as will
have received a better service from spline gauges.
A way that the business can solve this issue is to promote their open positions more widely
through the use of the internet and its job sites. This will mean that spline gauges won’t have to
rely as heavily on the community for a support of labour. The advantage of this is that it could
bring in higher skilled and more experienced engineers to the business, which will improve the
efficiency of practises within the branch. Another advantage of using this method is that
because the internet is widely accessible to everyone with an internet connection, more people
will view the post meaning that spline gauges will be more likely to receive more potential job
candidates. The disadvantage of this is that posting these on a website will cost the business
money for what kind of post they want to write, how long and detailed it needs to be and how
long they want it to be posted.

A social trend is an interest or an activity that is taken part in by a particular fraction or by

society as whole. Social trends can be unpredictable in how they will fluctuate because they are
influenced by real-life events. However, most are predictable, which allows businesses lie spline
gauges to adapt to them, for example: the sales of winter gear will decrease in the summer
season because people won’t want them as it won’t be cold.
Social trends will affect spline gauges because they can either increase sales or decrease them
because the products they create could become popular amongst the engineering community,
due to a sale they’ve promoted making their products more viable than other companies
products. These trends can also make spline gauges products lose value because other
components that other companies make become more sought after. It affects the business
because it can play a part in how much profit spline gauges can make off of its products,
whether other companies feel that it’s valuable enough that they will pay a premium or that they
would go to another business-like IMI instead. For example: a new type of component has been
created that serves the same purpose as a master gear has proved to be more efficient. Spline
gauges can interpret this as a threat to the business because more people will want this other
product because its better, which cause them to have less customers. Or, it can be interpreted
as an opportunity to grow and expand into a newly created market which will mean less
competitors and more sales.

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A possible effect of a social trend is that it could increase the amount of business that spline
gauges will get. The advantage of this is that it will make the business more money because the
branch in Kingsbury will be drawing in an increased number of customers which will not only
bring in more sales but will also increase other businesses awareness of spline gauges,
meaning that they will have more potential clients for the future. The disadvantage of this is that
the increased amount of work could overload the workers which will make them tired and could
cause the production cycles of the additional orders to be slower which can result in customers
becoming displeased with spline gauges services meaning that those clients will likely not return
in the future. Therefore, meaning that when the trend has sub-sided spline gauges could have
less customers than before.
A way of spline gauges managing social trends is to only accept a certain number of orders
before they begin turning customers away. The advantage of this that the business will still
make an increased amount of profit because of the additional amount of customers. This is an
advantage because spline gauges will still make more money without the employees there feel
overworked. The disadvantage of this is that the business is throwing away additional profit at
the cost of not tiring out their employees. This is a disadvantage because the business won’t be
making as much money as they possibly could be.
Another way of managing this is to hire extra temporary staff for the period of time that they
have this increased amount of business. The advantage of this is that it allows spline gauges to
take on the additional number of increased orders. This is an advantage because it will mean
that it will allow the business to make an increased amount of profit while also preserving their
other employees’ stamina. This is also a disadvantage because it will also bring increased cost
to the business as well, paying their wages and it also makes it more difficult for management to
manage extra staff members because they will already be busy dealing with the extra number of
orders.
My opinion of the Demographic and Social Trends factor is that it is the fourth most important
external factor in business. This is because although these trends are important as they can
alter the amount of profit spline gauges will make over a certain period of time while the trend is
active. The trends won’t be necessarily to do with spline gauges directly, its likely they will get
more orders from a company like Renault due to a rise in popularity of SUV’s. This means that
these trends are important but they don’t have a big effect on the business as other external
factors like the relationship between the business and its customers, spline gauges rivals.
However, it is more important than the publics opinions because the trends will have more of a
boost or a subtraction on profits than what the public think of the business because, public
opinions aren’t as important to companies like spline gauges because the public isn’t their main
source of income.

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The Advancement of Technology
This external factor is about how ever-changing leaps in technology such as CNC machinery
and CAD and CAM design will assist in businesses like spline gauges to compete wit their rivals
and to draw in more customers and profits to the business. The recent technology that has been
implemented into the engineering field is the use of CNC machinery which produces higher
quality results than that of other more manually assisted machines used in the past through the
combination of detailed programming, the use of those programs on different dimensional
planes and the knowledge and experience of the engineer operating the machine. Technology
is beneficial to spline gauges because it will help to increase their reputation as a viable choice
to potential customers thus securing more profits and by increasing information flow within the
business through offering numerous options of more advanced, faster and more accessible
methods of communication.
The technological factor can enhance the quality and reduce the time constraints of spline
gauges processes by these new methods being made available to them to implement. This is
an advantage to the business because it will improve spline gauges reputation in their field,
meaning that customers will be more likely to buy from them rather than other rival businesses.
An example of this is the use of CNC machinery which is faster and more accurate, which will
improve the product quality and the time it takes to be completed which if used for production
will leave spline gauges customers more satisfied with their results. The disadvantage of this to
the business is the cost of purchasing these technologies is extremely costly to the business.
Another advantage of this factor is that it can be used to increase communication speeds which
is useful for increasing the efficiency of operations because employees will have more
accessible tools to use to communicate with each other. This is a disadvantage because the
money used to buy these machines could be used to secure higher skilled employees instead
which could have a similar effect of buying the machines in the first place but at a lower cost.
This factor is important to spline gauges because it can affect how successful they are as a
business because keeping up with technology gives them an advantage over competitors but its
also very costly and new developments can make their previous investments obsolete. It makes
them more viable as an option for customers, thus securing more profits but maintenance can
also be time consuming and costly. Its also important for the business because it make the
operations carried out more likely to succeed which will overall make the branch more
successful and thus more profitable.
A possible effect of the technological factor is that a new process could be made available for
spline gauges to implement which will cut time constraints in half and increase production
efficiency. If spline gauges choose to implement this the advantage of this effect is that it will
reduce the time it takes for the production cycles of components involving this process. This is
an advantage for spline gauges because it will improve the relationship with the businesses
clients as they will have received a better experience which will likely make them want to return
thus securing future profits and could potentially bring more customers to spline gauges as well.
Its also an advantage because the employees there will become more experienced with
different and more advanced machinery meaning that by implementing these new processes,
spline gauges are developing its workforce further.

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This is an advantage because if their workforce is more advanced and experienced, the
efficiency of working processes will improve thus making the recipients of those orders more
loyal to spline gauges which will make the business more profitable and will draw more attention
to other people which increase their range of potential customers. The disadvantage of this
effect is that if spline gauges chooses to implement this it can prove to be very costly to the
business if it is made obsolete by another process. This is disadvantage because it will mean
that their investment in this “new process” will have been wasted if a new development is made.
Another disadvantage is that the money invested could have been used to renew stock, invest
in new staff or rewarding the current employees that have stayed loyal to the business. The
disadvantage of this is that if it’s available to spline gauges its likely that it will also be available
to their rivals meaning that since they could also implement this new process, the business
won’t be drawing in as many customers because their rivals will also be an option because their
products will be of a similar quality to spline gauges. This is a disadvantage because spline
gauges won’t be drawing in as many customers because there will be more viable option for
them to go to, meaning that their investment could be wasted.
A way that businesses can avoid wasting their investments is by researching the new process
heavier and possibly by communicating with some their customers that also use the same
process to their opinions on it. The advantage of this that it will give spline gauges a trustable
input about the process without having to waste as much time deciding whether or not it’s worth
it or not and won’t have to waste any resources other than a decreased amount of time. The
disadvantage of this is that their opinion might not relate to spline gauges activities meaning that
the opinion received from spline gauges clients might not be very viable to reference. This is a
disadvantage because the company will have wasted time attempting to get an outside opinion
on the process. Time which the sales team could have spent in securing new customers.
Another possible effect of the technological factor is the availability of higher quality ad new
communication methods. The advantage of this is that the rate of information flow through the
business will be better because the technology such as skype or email will be faster and more
widely accessible meaning that work will be done faster as people will be able to notified faster
and will be able to exchange feedback faster as well. Resulting in the same quality of results
being produced but at a faster rate which is an advantage because it will make customers
pleased at the speed that orders have been completed increasing the chance of them returning
again. Meaning that because of the time of production cycles being cut down, the branch will
secure regular and more loyal customers because their services will have improved. The
advantage of this is that most new communication methods are based around computers
making them more accessible because most employees will know how to operate a computer
and accounts can be accessed from any other computer once the software has been
downloaded and logged into. Another advantage of this factor is that communication mediums
like telephones and email etc that is used for departments to communicate is very cheap or free
to use. This is beneficial to the business because it wont cost them much to setup the new
methods of communication.
The limitation of this is that not all staff members of spline gauges will be able to operate
computers effectively meaning that it could ending taking longer and not faster to use. This is a
disadvantage because information flow around the business could also end up being slowed
which will affect the rate that processes will be able to be started because they will lack the

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necessary information to do so. Another disadvantage is that new technology being used also
means more potential faults which will waste the time of the ICT departments trying to figure out
and fix the problem or will waste some of spline gauges monetary resources in replacing the
faulty or damaged tech. A danger of the increased use of technology such as computers and
laptops are the potential of electrical fires being started because their will be more hardware
around for an electrical fire to take place. This is dangerous because fires can spread quickly,
can kill and injure staff members which is a disadvantage because they may no longer want to
work for spline gauges as they may not feel safe and can result in them having to pay out sick
pay, the fines for injuries by the HSE and compensation for the injured employees. This is a
disadvantage because the company will have lost a number of profits, potentially lose
customers and employees which will slow down their processes causing even more problems.
Although the potential outcomes of electrical fires are unlikely to occur that doesn’t mean that
they can’t happen. A way that spline gauges can manage the increased safety hazards is to
periodically refresh their training because if they have only been taught it once they won’t be
able to continually remember the important parts. The benefit of refreshing employees training
against computerised hazards is that it will reduce the risk to employees because they will have
the knowledge of what to do and how to manage those hazards. The advantage of this to spline
gauges is that they will be less likely to have to pay compensation for injured employees or hire
temporary inexperienced replacements which will mean that the production cycles within the
branch won’t be as likely to be slowed.
Another recommendation for spline gauges to manage the use of computers is to train
employees how to use them efficiently. This is advantageous to spline gauges because it will
mean that production cycles are less likely to be slowed down because of employees not
knowing how to use the updated methods of communication. A benefit of training to use these
methods is that they will be more likely to use them. This is a benefit because the rate of
information flow within the business will be increased because of more employees using these
faster methods. Another advantage of employees being trained is that it only takes a short
amount of time to do so meaning that the other spline employee won’t be distracted from their
work for very long.
The disadvantage for this recommendation is that employees will be dragged away from their
current work at hand to have to train these other employees how to use a computer which will
meaning that work will be done slower or it will mean that other members of staff will have to do
more than should have to do because the ones that should be doing the work are occupied with
something else. Another disadvantage of this recommendation is that those employees who will
have to take on the additional workload may not be as experienced doing that kind of work,
which can result in the work not being completed to the required standard as they wont be able
to or may not have the right support because there will be less people to guide them as they will
be occupied training those other employees.

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My opinion on the technological factor is that it’s the third most important external factor
because it will have more of an effect on the business than the pubic opinion and more of an
effect than demographic and social trends because the use of technology in businesses
involved in the field of engineering like spline gauges because the use of the technology will
result in them having more customers thus making spline gauges more profits. It will also mean
that it will give spline gauges a more experienced workforce which will make the operations and
processes carried out run smoother, more efficiently and give out a higher quality of results.
This is due to the fact that more experienced workers will produce better work than those that
are less experienced because they will be more knowledgeable. It’s my opinion that its only the
third most important external factor I have researched because client relationships and other
rival businesses will have a more direct effect.

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