Vocabulary Building Introduction

A: Vocabulary in context

Determining Meaning from Context

The following sentences indicate the meaning of the underlined word either directly, as in a definition, or indirectly by means of another element in the sentence. Read the following sentences and try to understand their meanings from the context.

1. Layout refers to the arrangement of workspace and equipment in a factory.

2. Production equipment refers to the tools and machinery used in the manufacturing process.

3. A bottleneck exists where raw materials or semi-finished products collect or bunch up at a point on the production line because they arrive there at a faster rate than they can be processed and moved on. Work is crowded together at a bottleneck. It does not continue smoothly on its route.

4. We want to reduce production because we have large inventories of unsold products. We should also reduce our purchasing since we have large inventories of raw materials.

5. Continuous production is generally a more efficient method of manufacturing than intermittent production. We can produce more at a lower cost and use less labor.

6. Product layout refers to an arrangement of workspace and equipment for production of a specific product. Automobiles, appliances, and other mass produced identical products are manufactured on assembly lines using a product layout.

7. When the assembly line shuts down because of the failure of one part, the workers are idle.

8. Maintenance personnel regularly service the machines to ensure that they are in proper operating condition.

9. As the cars move along the assembly line, doors, engines, and windshields are installed at stations along the way. Henry Ford used the assembly line to bring the work to the worker. Each worker performed a separate job in the assembly of the car.

10. All the parts are uniform; that means they are all exactly the same, and the same tools and machines can be used to produce and assemble them. Producing parts by machine instead of by hand allows us to produce uniform parts. Uniform parts are exactly identical. In order for a nut to fit on a bolt, the threads must be uniform. The teeth of the gears must be uniform in order for them to operate smoothly.

11. Uniform parts are interchangeable. The wheel from a particular car will fit all the others of the same model, and one part can be substituted for another. All the lug nuts on a wheel are interchangeable. It doesn't matter which nut goes on which bolt. Radial tires and bias ply tires are not interchangeable. If the wrong tire is used, it can cause serious handling problems.

12. The assembly line is shut down while the company retools. Certain modifications and improvements are being made in the product. The equipment must be adjusted to produce next year's models.

13. Since the machinery is operating at maximum speed, production can be increased only by duplication of the assembly line. We have to purchase equipment exactly like the equipment we already have.

14. If the workers fear that a company may go bankrupt, they will not be very productive and their morale will be very low. When a company has been making good profits, which it shares with the workers, the employees feel good about their jobs. Then employee morale improves significantly, and productivity increases.

15. The first shift of workers begins at 8 a.m. and finishes at 4 p.m. The second shift begins at 4 p.m. and finishes at midnight. By adding a second shift, we have been able to double production.

16. When the total cost of operating the factory is divided by the total number of items produced, we can determine the unit cost. Continuous production usually results in lower unit cost.

17. Due to a scheduling error our gluing machine is unable to do this job for your department today. The scheduling of machinery in a furniture factory using intermittent production is the responsibility of the shop supervisor.

18. Routing refers to the path which products follow in the intermittent production process. In continuous production routing is handled by proper design of the assembly line.

19. Pallets are wooden frames on which the finished product is stacked. Pallets can easily be handled by forklifts. The use of pallets eases the loading and unloading of trucks. When products are packed in large containers, we say they are containerized. When the products reach the end of the assembly lines, they can be quickly and easily palletized.

20. An electrical failure caused a complete shutdown of the factory.

21. This machine was designed to produce truck tires. But it could be easily adapted to produce automobile tires or trailer tires.

22. Working on an assembly line sometimes can be very boring. The workers perform the same job for eight hours per day. It is very routine work.

B: Matching

Match the words in the first column with expressions of similar meaning in the second column.

1. obsolete ____ a. repetitious and boring

2. assignment ____ b. factory

3. layout ____ с. change and adjust continuous production equipment

4. routine ____ d. doubling of production, equipment, and workers

5. plant ____ e. an attitude of not caring about the product

6. alienation ____ f. how workers feel about their work

7. uniform ____ g. a group of workers who start at 4 p.m.

8. interchangeable ____ h. production expenses divided by the number of items produced

9. retool ____ i. changed to be used for another purpose

10. duplication ____ j. plan for placement of machines and workers

11. morale ____ k. duty

12. second shift ____ l. raw materials and unsold products in storage

13. unit cost ____ m. old fashioned

14. adapted ____ n. exactly equal

15. inventory ____ о. able to be substituted for another part

C: Completion

Supply the correct form of a word from the previous exercises to complete the sentences below.

1. Since the present equipment is producing at maximum speed, production can be increased only by ________________ of the assembly line.

2. The machines are ________________ during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day when all the employees are off.

3. ________________ can be kept to a minimum by carefully planning production schedules and delivery dates.

4. We try to schedule maintenance procedures at night to avoid having to pay the line workers for ________________ time. They cannot produce anything when the machines are being serviced.

5. If we could produce this product on an assembly line, we could reduce the________________.

6. The reason these two parts have different stock numbers is that they are produced by different manufacturers, but you can use either one since they are________________.

7. If American manufacturers change to the metric system, all industrialized countries will have a ________________system of measure.

8. The camera can be ________________ for underwater use by sealing it in a watertight plastic case.

9. Every year about this time, the automobile factories shut down in order to ________________ for production of next year's models.

10. Employee _______________ has improved since the office has been redecorated. Productivity has also increased.

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