Production and Productivity



Production is a process in which the raw materials are transformed into finished or semi-finished products suitable for use and delivered to consumers to satisfy wants.  It is the process of transforming inputs into outputs.  Inputs are resources or factors of production
Productivity is the relationship between the amount of or quantity of goods or services produced and the work, money, etc., that is used to produce it.    That means the Productivity is the measure of efficiency with which the goods and services are produced.   Productivity of a particular factor of production is measured by the output of that factor per unit time. [Example for explanation:  There are two workers A and B, both use the same kind of machines to produce the same kind of commodity.   If both of them work 40 hours in a week and A produces 400 units of the commodity and B produces 600 units of commodity.  Their productivity per hour is as follows.  A’s productivity is 400/40 = 10 units.       B’s productivity is 600/40 = 15 units.  Here B produces more units of the commodity per hour and therefore B is the more productive than A.
Production function describes the relationship between the output of a commodity and the input combine to produce it. A simple production function may be written as; O = f (k, l),   where O = output,  k = capital,  l = labour  and the symbol “f” means  the function of   or depends on.
Difference between production and   productivity: A Production figure does not give and idea about productivity.  Productivity is different from production.  
 The following example explains this.
                                    Firms                           Production figures
                                     A                                     10,000 units
                                     B                                       5,000 units
From the above production figures we cannot get any idea about the productivity of the firm.  If we are given with the  inputs  used to produce it, then we can  calculate the productivity  Here the firm A uses less than double the amount of inputs used  by B, then firm A can be considered as more productive.
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