Final answer:
The correct term for assets like production facilities, office equipment, and heavy machinery that are expected to last many years is 'fixed assets.' Fixed assets are part of the fixed costs for a business, which do not change with production levels.
Step-by-step explanation:
Production facilities, office equipment, and heavy machinery are assets that are expected to last many years and are called long-term or fixed assets. When we discuss the costs associated with running a business, we can decompose them into fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are expenditures that do not change regardless of the level of production, and are related to fixed inputs, such as capital. These inputs include things like the rent on a factory or a retail space, the cost of machinery or equipment to produce a product, research and development costs to develop new products, and advertising expenses to popularize a brand name. The amount of fixed costs varies according to the specific line of business, for example, manufacturing computer chips might require an expensive factory, which is a fixed cost.