Professional Documents
Culture Documents
E-4
© 2011 Pearson
Learning Curve Effect
Cost/time per repetition
Figure E.1
E-5
© 2011 Pearson
Learning Curves
T x Ln = Time required for the nth unit
T = unit cost or unit time of the first unit
L = learning curve rate
n = number of times T is doubled
E-6
© 2011 Pearson
Learning Curve Examples
Learning-
Curve
Improving Cumulative Slope
Example Parameters Parameter (%)
Model -T Ford Price Units produced 86
production
Aircraft Direct labor-hours Units produced 80
assembly per unit
Equipment Average time to Number of 76
maintenance replace a group of replacements
at GE parts
Table E.1
E-7
© 2011 Pearson
Learning Curve Examples
Learning-
Curve
Improving Cumulative Slope
Example Parameters Parameter (%)
Steel Production worker Units produced 79
production labor-hours per unit
produced
Integrated Average price per Units produced 72
circuits unit
Handheld Average factory Units produced 74
calculator selling price
Table E.1
E-8
© 2011 Pearson
Learning Curve Examples
Learning-
Curve
Improving Cumulative Slope
Example Parameters Parameter (%)
Disk memory Average price per Number of bits 76
drives bit
Table E.1
E-9
© 2011 Pearson
Uses of Learning Curves
Internal: labor forecasting,
scheduling, establishing
costs and budgets
External: supply chain negotiations
Strategic: evaluation of company and
industry performance,
including costs and pricing
E - 10
© 2011 Pearson
Arithmetic Approach
Simplest approach
Labor cost declines at a constant rate,
the learning rate, as production doubles
An example using an 80% learning curve
Nth Unit Produced Hours for Nth Unit
1 100.0
2 80.0 = (.8 x 100)
4 64.0 = (.8 x 80)
8 51.2 = (.8 x 64)
16 41.0 = (.8 x 51.2)
E - 11
© 2011 Pearson
Logarithmic Approach
Determine labor for any unit, TN , by
TN = T1(Nb)
TN = T1(Nb)
Learning
where TN = time
for the
Rate Nth
(%) unit b
T1 = hours to70 produce the
– .515
first unit 75 – .415
b = (log of the learning
rate)/(log 2) 80 – .322
= slope of 85
the learning
– .234
curve
Table E.2
90 – .152
E - 13
© 2011 Pearson
Logarithmic Example
Learning rate = 80%
First unit took 100 hours
TN = T1(Nb)
T3 = (100 hours)(3b)
= (100)(3log .8/log 2)
= (100)(3–.322)
= 70.2 labor hours
E - 14
© 2011 Pearson
Coefficient Approach
TN = T1C
E - 15
© 2011 Pearson
Learning-Curve Coefficients
Table E.3
70% 85%
Unit Number Total Total
Unit Time Unit Time
(N) Time Time
1 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
2 .700 1.700 .850 1.850
3 .568 2.268 .773 2.623
4 .490 2.758 .723 3.345
5 .437 3.195 .686 4.031
10 .306 4.932 .583 7.116
15 .248 6.274 .530 9.861
20 .214 7.407 .495 12.402
E - 16
© 2011 Pearson
Coefficient Example
First boat required 125,000 hours
Labor cost = $40/hour
Learning factor = 85%
TN = T1C
T4 = (125,000 hours)(.723)
= 90,375 hours for the 4th boat
90,375 hours x $40/hour = $3,615,000
TN = T1C
T4 = (125,000 hours)(3.345)
= 418,125 hours for all four boats
E - 17
© 2011 Pearson
Coefficient Example
Third boat required 100,000 hours
Learning factor = 85%
100,000
= 129,366 hours
.773
E - 18
© 2011 Pearson
Strategic Implications
To pursue a strategy of a steeper curve
than the rest of the industry, a firm can:
1. Follow an aggressive pricing policy
2. Focus on continuing cost reduction
and productivity improvement
3. Build on shared experience
4. Keep capacity ahead of demand
E - 19
© 2011 Pearson
Industry and Company
Learning Curves
In
C du
om st
ry
Price per unit (log scale)
pa pr
ny ice
co
st
(c)
Loss
(b)
Gross profit (a)
margin
E - 21
© 2011 Pearson
Limitations of Learning
Curves
Any changes in personnel, design, or
procedure can be expected to alter the
learning curve
Learning curves do not always apply to
indirect labor or material
The culture of the workplace, resource
availability, and changes in the process
may alter the learning curve
E - 22
© 2011 Pearson
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
E - 23
© 2011 Pearson