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Once the learning materials have been designed they have to be produced in a form suitable for distribution. This means, for example, printing copies of the text, producing television or radio programmes in the studio, or making multiple copies of video or audio cassettes for postal distribution. Such production may take place 'in house' or be contracted out. In either case it takes time.
Project control
It is crucial that all materials reach students at the right time. By now you will appreciate that there are all sorts of hazards in the way of ensuring that this happens. These range from failure of the 'team' to produce its design on time to failure of any part of the production process to operate on time. One vital feature of a successful system is a powerful project control office that prepares the development, production and distribution schedules, monitors progress, and signals any potential failure.
'In house' production
'In house' facilities are easier to control but are expensive to set up and to run. They must be used to full capacity in order to compete economically with external contractors. Furthermore, once such facilities are established 'in house' the institution is virtually committed to using them, and this can impose inflexibility in the choice of media that can be used. It is, therefore, wise to rely on external contractors until it is absolutely certain that a facility is needed on a long-term basis and can be fully utilised. Of course, if the external contractors do not do the job properly or cheaply enough, then you will have no alternative but to do it 'in house'.
Stock control
Materials, once produced, are used up as they are given to students, lost, or wear out. It is possible to order quantities large enough to last for several years. This has benefits in that a long production run gives much cheaper unit costs than a short one. On the other hand large stocks mean that alterations are much more difficult and costly to make, however necessary they may be. Good anticipation of demand and of probable alterations can make very large differences to the overall cost.
Stocks have to be stored. The benefits gained from the lower unit costs of long production runs have to be set against the cost of warehousing.
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