Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Twelfth Edition

Learning Curves in Services and Manufacturing

Student Tip

Learning is a universal concept, but rates of learning differ widely.

Different organizations—indeed, different products—have different learning curves. The rate of learning varies depending on the quality of management and the potential of the process and product. Any change in process, product, or personnel disrupts the learning curve. Therefore, caution should be exercised in assuming that a learning curve is continuing and permanent.

As you can see in Table E.1, industry learning curves vary widely. The lower the number (say, 70% compared to 90%), the steeper the slope and the faster ...