Which actions could ABC take to improve efficiency in the e-waste factory?

• A. Outsource all operations to third parties.
• B. Increase marketing spend to attract new customers.
• C. Improve workflow, train employees, reduce waste, and maintain equipment.
• D. Ignore maintenance to cut costs.

Answer: (C)

Efficiency in operations means getting more output from the same or fewer inputs by smoothing processes, reducing downtime, and cutting waste. In an e-waste factory, this comes from making the workflow flow more smoothly, ensuring workers are well trained, minimizing scrap and rework, and keeping machinery reliable through good maintenance. Improving workflow helps remove bottlenecks and standardizes steps so everything moves through the plant more quickly. Training boosts worker speed and accuracy, which lowers errors and rework. Reducing waste cuts the amount of material and energy wasted per unit of output, lowering costs. Regular maintenance prevents unexpected breakdowns, keeping production steady and predictable. Put together, these changes lift throughput while lowering costs, which is the essence of improving efficiency.

Outsourcing all operations can reduce control and complicate coordination, which doesn’t inherently improve internal efficiency. Increasing marketing spend targets demand rather than how efficiently the factory runs. Ignoring maintenance leads to more breakdowns and downtime, clearly harming efficiency.