Saturday 31 January 2009

Japan assessment 2 - car industry location

suggest why Mr Misato would be more likely to build his car assembly plant at location B than at location A

Do the words ' more likely' imply the need for comparison?

Location be is situated on the coast and this land is generally flatter and therefore it would fulfil the requirements for building a factory with a large assembly line. Furthermore location B is more densely populated providing the car manufacturers with a large market to which they can sell their goods. As B is located on the coast it is likely that a deep water port can be found nearby, this can be used to transport the goods made or to import components to the factory. Finally in these areas many factories are usually found which can supply the factory with components for their assembly line and there fore reduce transport costs.

This answer is rather lengthy - what is relevant and what could be omitted?
Location b is on the coast of Honshu where land is much flatter in comparison to the mountainous environment of location A. Therefore as car assembly plants require a large amount of land A would be unsuitable for him. In addition, Japan has little raw materials so they have to be imported. Therefore transporting from the port to the assembly line is expensive and ultimately the manufactured cars would have to be exported, so money from transporting can be saved by locating near the ports. The lowland areas near the coast are already popular with industries and therefore they could then apply the just in time process as the materials needed may be in a nearby component factory. This would increase their efficiency. The increased competition may lead to competitive process helping the assembly plant. The land in the centre of Honshu is steep and mountainous therefore many people live in the lowland coastal areas. Therefore there is a large supply of skilled labour nearby that would work in the car assembly plant.

At location B is closer to the sea to raw materials such as iron ore from Australia can be imported by ships. Also at location D it is easier for cars to be exported by ship to other countries to be sold. From location B it may be easier to get power from nearby power stations and at this location they might be near a steel works factory for it is easier for the car company to maintain steel with a lower transportation cost. The reason steel and power stations might be located there could be because they could use the water area. Location A is not close to the sea so transportation costs may be higher as they transport the goods not only over sea but by road as well.

This needs editing too:
Mr Misato is more likely to build his car assembly plant at location B rather than at A because B is on the coast. This means it will be near a deep water port where ships can unload components and other raw materials. This means by having his assembly plant here, the transport costs would be lower because the companies would not have to travel far to get to the plant. The components would probably follow the 'just in time' system and therefore location B is much better than location A because everything you need is there including: deep water port, steelworks, power plant, main roads and flat land. Having the steel works nearby is good to lower transport costs. The power plant and national grid means they can get the electricity they need. Main roads are good so components can get from one place to another efficiently. In location A, the land would be mountainous, and therefore not ideal for a large assembly plant however in Location B because it is near the coast there will be flat land. If any more land is needed it can be reclaimed from the sea, or terraces built to make flat land. Also location B will have a higher population than location A. The mountainous areas aren't highly populated because of high land. Whereas on flat land, where jobs and skilled labour forces are, there are many people to work in the new plant.
Are these Level 1 (basic) Level 2 (clear) or Level 3 (detailed) answers
How can these answers be improved?
What is meant by agglomeration?

No comments:

Post a Comment