An analysis of the learning curve and its application to industry

This paper studies The Learning curve and how it can be applied to industry. The “Learning Effect” was being firstly noted in connection with the production of Aircrafts. It explains that the time required to make a product decreases as the number of times it is made by the same person or group, who is working and relates the manufacturing cost to cumulative production. The learning process helps to improve the quality and stock of knowledge, technological abilities and estimate the labor hours of the firm.

The analysis is expected to show that higher the complexity and duration of the work more will be the learning rate and improvements. The rate of learning is affected by different factors such as changes in the technology, equipment, manpower training, personnel and methods. A steady phase is seen once the learning effect is over. The method used here for the application of learning curve to industry is the technique of “process based cost modeling”, that breaks down the production process into its constituent sub-process. The analysis showed that learning curve model is an important technique to predict how long it will take to complete the future task. It is extensively used in management accounting. The learning effect is not applicable to an expertise since, the time taken can never be zero.