Para. 5-8 Para. 9-11
BMW symbolic of German economy BMW’s highly automated Leipzig plant conducive to mass customization
Para. 12-18 BMW ’s attempt to handle the key issues of mass customization: workforce flexibility, production capacity expansion, product-line expansion.
juggle (Para. 4) v. to keep (several simultaneous activities) in motion or progress at one time example: He is an expertly project manager who can juggle multiple projects and still make progress on each.
Part II Sentence Interpretation
1. Faced with low-cost competition from Asia and Eastern Europe, he says, “many German firms did their homework, and now they are benefiting from it.” (Line 1, Para. 8) “ Do one ’ s homework ” is an idiomatic expression which means “to study a subject or situation carefully so that one knows a lot about it and can deal with it successfully”.
Q2: What are internal and external counter-forces which hinder German economy? Internal: Little sign of substantive change in the system of labor relations, hindering productivity level External: Low-cost competition from Asia and East Europe
Part I
Notes
Fine art something requiring highly developed techniques and skills
Part II Questions about Part II
What’s the main idea of Part II (Para. 5-8)? BMW is in some ways symbolic of German economy, which is resurgent from economic straitjacket but still hindered by both internal and external counter-forces.
Q2. What does “heavily unionized workforce” mean? What changes have been brought about by the deals BMW struck with its workforce? 1) A union is a group of workers who have come together to make collective decisions about their work and their working conditions. Heavily unionized workforce means that a relatively high proportion of employees belong to a union.
2. BMW does not break out details of the additional revenue, but given the profit margins on many add-ons, “it’s like a big dollop of cream on the cake”, says Peter Schmidt, a British-based auto-industry consultant. (Line 6, Para. 2) BMW does not categorize specific information of the additional revenues generated by its many add-ons, but on the condition of their profit margins, it’s just like adding a big dollop of cream onto the cake.
2) A number of challenges can arise for a company to manage a heavily unionized workforce, especially because of lack of flexibility. Union workers often work set hours, and they must take a certain number of breaks during the day, no matter how heavy or how light the workload. Deals BMW struck with its workforce enabled it to bring in new ways of working and manage its workforce more or less in accordance with production demands.
Part I
Sentence Interpretation
1. Your BMW dealer will be happy to oblige with as many changes as you care to make, until a cutoff point: six days before your particular car goes into production. (Line 7, Para. 1) Your BMW dealer will be happy to do a favor by making as many changes as you care to, until a point of termination...
MyMuesli’s customizing its cereal food?
Why or why not?
However, the company neglected robust processes of mass customization. Whenever a report on customers’ favor was published, the manufacturing capacity was insufficient. For lack of human labor mixing muesli from about 65 different categories of options by hand, the company had to turn down prospective customers by setting a daily order limit. Q2: Is there any solution to this problem?
Part II
Words and Expressions
formidable (Para. 6) adj. difficult to undertake, surmount, or defeat synonym: awesome example: As the workshop of world, China has become a formidable trading power to be reckoned with, causing other countries to view its massive potential market with hope and its cheap products with fear.
“ A big dollop of cream on the cake ” is slightly adapted from “icing on the cake”, which means “ a second great thing that happens in addition to the first”.
Q3: What lessons of potential risarnt from this
case?
Q4: In your opinion, what products are more suitable for mass customization?
Part I
Questions about Part I
Q1. What’s the main idea of Part I (Para. 1-4)? BMW used mass customization to promote its sales as a handy marketing device and to inject flexibility into almost every aspect of the company, particularly, manifested by its ability to cater for fickle customer desires and its rhythm of work.