首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Read the following article about Grasmere, a small British company that manufactures steel components, and the questions on the
Read the following article about Grasmere, a small British company that manufactures steel components, and the questions on the
admin
2013-04-20
58
问题
Read the following article about Grasmere, a small British company that manufactures steel components, and the questions on the opposite page.
For each question(15-20), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet.
In a tough climate for UK manufacturers, Malcolm Drake thinks he has hit on a way for his company, Grasmere, to succeed: by becoming a bespoke manufacturer This involves working very closely with customers to produce precisely what they want. As a result, Grasmere has become indispensable to its big customers, which are based around Europe. Grasmere makes a range of small metal items that are tailored to fit into much larger products, and its customers include big electronics and electrical goods manufacturers. ’When we start talking to customers about an order; they often have only a rough idea what they want,’ says Drake. ’We assist them in identifying and specifying their needs, and we advise them on the best way to manufacture the product. Then we fulfil the order, which could involve making anything between 40 and one billion parts in a year’
Grasmere’s main tools are press machines that stamp out metal items in its Birmingham premises. The company was started by Drake’s great-grandfather in 1903, when its best-selling products were pen nibs, and the company prides itself on never having fallen below the exacting standards which it set then. While today’s range has moved a long way from those pen nibs, some of the original machinery stands in the reception area, as a memento of the company’s roots. Only in the last year has the company relocated from the cramped and grimy workshop it moved to in 1910, to a more modern and open-plan building on the outskirts of Birmingham, an operation that involved a major logistical exercise to move the machinery. The new site has allowed Grasmere to make itself more efficient. The company has cut staff from 150 to 125 by shedding low-skilled employees without reducing turnover
Malcolm Drake says that 18 of Grasmere’s customers each contribute revenues of more than £100,000 a year with half of all turnover coming from three of them. ’It isn’t the usual supplier-customer relationship,’ he explains.’We are very open with them and provide them with a lot of internal information about costs. But we select them as much as they select us. If we are asked to do something that is too difficult or expensive, we say "no". We educate the customer as to what is possible. If you allow yourself to be dictated to, that’s not a partnership -it’s grovelling.’
Grasmere’s business has spread more widely to other parts of Europe in the past few years, though not because of any deliberate strategy to push up exports. As Drake points out, if a company such as his is keen to yoke itself to successful companies that think strategically, inevitably this will mean more overseas sales to relatively far-flung divisions of these businesses, to meet their own demand for the components Grasmere can produce.
The company depends on having technically literate people who can talk intelligently to customers. Hence 90 of Grasmere’s employees are engineers employed in a range of jobs including making products, sales, marketing and purchasing. While about 100 of the staff are directly involved in shop-floor production work, they frequently also have an outward-facing role, such as talking to customers about design or manufacturing.
Malcolm Drake sums up his company’s strengths as offering five attributes that customers want: quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and low costs. As a result, the company is flourishing.
Grasmere’s workforce has fallen because
选项
A、productivity has improved.
B、it is difficult to recruit skilled staff.
C、new machinery has been introduced.
D、some staff chose to leave the company.
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ED7d777K
本试题收录于:
BEC高级阅读题库BEC商务英语分类
0
BEC高级阅读
BEC商务英语
相关试题推荐
Whattypeofbusinessdothespeakersmostlikelyworkfor?
Whatistheadvertisementmainlyabout?
WhattypeofbusinessisHarmonyforLess?
WhatdoesthecompanyplantodoinChina?
A、 B、 C、 B问变更的设计内容的How疑问句。(A)是重复问句中的design和change、有重复词错误的错误选项;(C)是使用和问句中的design形态类似的designer、有派生词错误的错误选项。因此对问产
Lookatthegraphic.Whichcellphoneplanwillthemanmostlikelychoose?
Askingquestions询问
Leavingamessageonanansweringmachine
•YouwillheararadiointerviewbetweenawomanjournalistandMichaelDell,ChairmanofDellInc.andhisnewCEO,KevinRolli
随机试题
用倾斜法铣削具有两段工作曲线的等速圆盘凸轮,已知Ph1=75.9mm,Ph2=72.19mm,若假定导程Ph’=80mm。试求分度头倾斜角α1、α2和立铣头扳转角β1、β2。
男,10个月,吐泻1周,嗜睡、口渴、尿量减少,皮肤弹性差,前囟眼眶明显凹陷,脉细速,四肢稍凉,测血钠125mmol/L,考虑为( )
在突发公共卫生事件发生期间,散布谣言、哄抬物价、欺骗消费者,扰乱社会秩序、市场秩序的,由公安机关或者工商行政部门依法给予什么,构成犯罪的,依法追究刑事责任
A.水醇法B.酸碱法C.盐析法D.活性炭E.醇醚法纯化总皂苷通常采用方法是()
以下制裁形式属于行政处分的是()。
【背景资料】某城市轨道交通工程项目,在施工过程中项目经理部对施工阶段的质量控制措施摘录如下。(1)单位工程、分部工程和分项工程开工前,施工负责人向分包方全体人员进行书面技术交底。(2)项目经理对监理工程师提出的设计变更要求在执行前向
施工作业交底是最基层的技术和管理交底活动,()要对施工作业交底进行监督。
下列各句中,没有语病的一项为:
网卡的功能是将PC机或服务器连接到网络上,下面关于以太网网卡的叙述中,不正确的是______。
Whatpositiondoesthewriterapplyfor?Sheappliesforthe______Whendoessheknowthatthereceiverneedscandidates
最新回复
(
0
)