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As the production quantity of a given item is doubled, the cost of the item decreases at a fixed rate. This phenomenon is the basic premise on which the theory of learning curve has been formulated. As the quantity produced doubles, the absolute amount of cost increase will be successively smaller but the rate of decrease will remain fixed. It occurs due to the following distinctive features of manufacturing environment:
(i) Better tooling methods are developed and used.
(ii) More productive equipments are designed and used to make the product.
(iii) Design bugs are detected and corrected.
(iv) Engineering changes decrease over time.
(v) Earlier teething problems are overcome.
(vi) Rejections and rework tend to diminish over time.
In the initial stage of a new product or a new process, the learning effect pattern is so regular that the rate of decline established at the outset can be used to predict labour cost well in advance. The effect of experience on cost is summarized in the learning curve ratio or improvement ratio.
