Production Management:

Production management is a function of Management, related to planning,

coordinating and controlling the resources required for production to produce
specified product by specified methods, by optimal utilization of resources.
Production management is defined as management function which plans,
organizes, coordinates, directs and controls the material supply and
processing activities of an enterprise, so that specified products are
produced by specified methods to meet an approved sales program. These
activities are being carried out in such a manner that Labor, Plant and
Capital available are used to the best advantage of the organization.

OBJECTIVE OF PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT:

The objective of Production Management is to produce the desired product or
specified product by specified methods so that the optimal utilization of
available resources is met with. Hence the production management is
responsible to produce the desired product, which has marketability at the
cheapest price by proper planning, the manpower, material and processes.
Production management must see that it will deliver right goods of right
quantity at right place and at right price. When the above objective is
achieved, we say that we have effective Production Management system.

CRITERIA OF PERFORMANCE:
Three aims of performance of the Production and Operations Management
system may be identified.
They are,
(a) Effectiveness, (b) Customer satisfaction, (c) Efficiency.
The case of Efficiency is productive utilization of resources is clear. Whether
the organization is in private sector or in the public sector, is a
manufacturing or non-manufacturing organization or a profit or a nonprofit organization, the optimal utilization of resource inputs is always a
desired objective. The effectiveness has more dimensions to it. It involves
optimality in the fulfillment of multiple objectives with a possible
prioritization within the objectives. Modern production and operations
management has to serve the target customers, the people working within,
as also the region, country or society at large. Thus Production / Operations
Management system, has not only to be profitable and / or efficient, but
must necessarily satisfy many more customers. This effectiveness has to be
again viewed in terms of the short and long-term horizons depending upon
the operations system.

Optimum, Good, Better operations management can improve:

(i) Efficiency of operation system to do things right and broader concept.
(ii) Effectiveness of operation system refers to doing right things that is
seven rights, they are:
Right operation, Right Quantity, Right Quality, Right Supplier or Right Vendor,
Right
Time, Right Place and Right Price.
Basically, efficiency and effectiveness of the operations system can be
measured by four dimensions, they are: (a) Cost, (b) Quality, (c)
Dependability, (d) Reliability,
In fact these directly relate to the competitiveness of the organization, both
nationally and internationally. Modern developments in better tools and
techniques, methods and systems like Automation, Flexible manufacturing,
CAD, Production and Operations Management CAM, CIM at management,
CADD, CIMS, Use of Robotics, TQM, OR Techniques etc., are taking place to
achieve improvements in Cost, Quality, Dependability, Reliability and
Flexibility and thus to help for better management.

Production and operations management concern with the conversion of

inputs into outputs, using physical resources, so as to provide the desired

utilities to the customer while meeting the other organizational objectives of

effectiveness, efficiency and adoptability. It distinguishes itself from other
functions such as personnel, marketing, finance, etc., by its primary concern
for conversion by using physical resources. Following are the activities
which are listed under production and operations management functions:
1. Location of facilities
2. Plant layouts and material handling
3. Product design
4. Process design
5. Production and planning control
6. Quality control
7. Materials management
8. Maintenance management.
LOCATION OF FACILITIES
Location of facilities for operations is a long-term capacity decision which
involves a long term commitment about the geographically static factors that
affect a business organization. It is an important strategic level decisionmaking for an organization. It deals with the questions such as where our
main operations should be based? The selection of location is a key-decision
as large investment is made in building plant and machinery. An improper
location of plant may lead to waste of all the investments made in plant and
machinery equipment. Hence, location of plant should be based on the
companys expansion plan and policy, diversification plan for the products,
changing sources of raw materials and many other factors. The purpose of
the location study is to find the optimal location that will results in the
greatest advantage to the organization.
PLANT LAYOUT AND MATERIAL HANDLING
Plant layout refers to the physical arrangement of facilities. It is the
configuration of departments, work centers and equipment in the conversion
process. The overall objective of the plant layout is to design a physical
arrangement that meets the required output quality and quantity most
economically.
According to James Moore, Plant layout is a plan of an optimum
arrangement of facilities including personnel, operating equipment, storage
space, material handling equipment and all other supporting services along
with the design of best structure to contain all these facilities.

Material Handling refers to the moving of materials from the store room to
the machine and from one machine to the next during the process of
manufacture. It is also defined as the art and science of moving, packing
and storing of products in any form. It is a specialized activity for a modern
manufacturing concern, with 50 to 75% of the cost of production. This cost
can be reduced by proper section, operation and maintenance of material
handling devices. Material handling devices increases the output, improves
quality, speeds up the deliveries and decreases the cost of production.
Hence, material handling is a prime consideration in the designing new plant
and several existing plants.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Product design deals with conversion of ideas into reality. Every business
organization have to design, develop and introduce new products as a
survival and growth strategy. Developing the new products and launching
them in the market is the biggest challenge faced by the organizations.
The entire process of need identification to physical manufactures of product
involves
three
functions:
marketing,
product
development,
and
manufacturing. Product development translates the needs of customers
given by marketing into technical specifications and designing the various
features into the product to these specifications. Manufacturing has the
responsibility of selecting the processes by which the product can be
manufactured. Product design and development provides link between
marketing, customer needs and expectations and the activities required to
manufacture the product.
PROCESS DESIGN
Process design is a macroscopic decision-making of an overall process route
for converting the raw material into finished goods. These decisions
encompass the selection of a process, choice of technology, process flow
analysis and layout of the facilities. Hence, the important decisions in
process design are to analyses the workflow for converting raw material into
finished product and to select the workstation for each included in the
workflow.
PRODUCTION PLANNING AND CONTROL
Production planning and control can be defined as the process of planning
the production in advance, setting the exact route of each item, fixing the
starting and finishing dates for each item, to give production orders to shops
and to follow up the progress of products according to orders. The principle
of production planning and control lies in the statement First Plan Your Work
and then Work on Your Plan. Main functions of production planning and

control includes planning, routing, scheduling, dispatching and follow-up.

Planning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it and
who is to do it. Planning bridges the gap from where we are, to where we
want to go. It makes it possible for things to occur which would not otherwise
happen. Routing may be defined as the selection of path which each part of
the product will follow, which being transformed from raw material to
finished products. Routing determines the most advantageous path to be
followed from department to department and machine to machine till raw
material gets its final shape. Scheduling determines the programed for the
operations. Scheduling may be defined as the fixation of time and date for
each operation as well as it determines the sequence of operations to be
followed.
Dispatching is concerned with the starting the processes. It gives necessary
authority so as to start a particular work, which has already been planned
under Routing and Scheduling. Therefore, dispatching is release of orders
and instruction for the starting of production for any item in acceptance with
the route sheet and schedule charts. The function of follow-up is to report
daily the progress of work in each shop in a prescribed Performa and to
investigate the causes of deviations from the planned performance.
QUALITY CONTROL
Quality Control (QC) may be defined as a system that is used to maintain a
desired level of quality in a product or service. It is a systematic control of
various factors that affect the quality of the product. Quality control aims at
prevention of defects at the source, relies on effective feed-back system and
corrective action procedure.
Quality control can also be defined as that industrial management technique
by means of which product of uniform acceptable quality is manufactured. It
is the entire collection of activities which ensures that the operation will
produce the optimum quality products at minimum cost.
The main objectives of quality control are:
To improve the companies income by making the production more
acceptable to the customers i.e., by providing long life, greater usefulness,
maintainability, etc.
1.
2.
3.
4.

To reduce companies cost through reduction of losses due to defects.

To achieve interchangeability of manufacture in large scale production.
To produce optimal quality at reduced price.
To ensure satisfaction of customers with productions or services or high
quality level, to build customer goodwill, confidence and reputation of
manufacturer.

5. To make inspection prompt to ensure quality control.

6. To check the variation during manufacturing.
MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
Materials management is that aspect of management function which is
primarily concerned with the acquisition, control and use of materials needed
and flow of goods and services connected with the production process having
some predetermined objectives in view.
The main objectives of materials management are:
1. To minimize material cost.
2. To purchase, receive, transport and store materials efficiently and to
reduce the related cost.
3. To cut down costs through simplification, standardization, value
analysis, import substitution, etc.
4. To trace new sources of supply and to develop cordial relations with
them in order to ensure continuous supply at reasonable rates.
5. To reduce investment tied in the inventories for use in other productive
purposes and to develop high inventory turnover ratios.
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
In modern industry, equipment and machinery are a very important part of
the total productive effort. Therefore, their idleness or downtime becomes
are very expensive. Hence, it is very important that the plant machinery
should be properly maintained.
The main objectives of maintenance management are:
1. To achieve minimum breakdown and to keep the plant in good working
condition at the lowest possible cost.
2. To keep the machines and other facilities in such a condition that
permits them to be used at their optimal capacity without interruption.
3. To ensure the availability of the machines, buildings and services
required by other sections of the factory for the performance of their
functions at optimal return on investment.

Standard Time:
In industrial engineering, the standard time is the time required by an
average skilled operator, working at a normal pace, to perform a specified
task using a prescribed method. It includes appropriate allowances to allow
the person to recover from fatigue and, where necessary, an additional
allowance to cover contingent elements which may occur but have not been
observed.

Method of calculation:
The Standard Time is the product of three factors:
Observed time: The time measured to complete the task.
Performance rating factor: The pace the person is working at. 90% is working
slower than normal, 110% is working faster than normal, 100% is normal.
This factor is calculated by an experienced worker who is trained to observe
and determine the rating.
Personal, fatigue, and delay (PFD) allowance.
The standard time can then be calculated by using:

Normal Time:
Time taken by average skilled labor to produce a unit good.
Standard Time = Normal time + Allowances
Total time = Production time + idle time
Rating:
It is actually the evaluation among the workers having same parameter
(same task, same capacity and same technical skills etc.)
Rating = Normal time * 100 / Time taken
Allowances:
Allowances in time study can be defined as the extra time figures which are
to be added to the basic time of an operation to account for personnel
desires, delays, fatigue of operators, any special situation and the policies of
the firm or organization. Standard time of a job is obtained by adding various
allowances to the basic or normal time of the job.
These allowances are considered or provided to compensate the
worker/operator for the production interruptions that may occur due to his
personnel legitimate needs or the factors beyond his controls. For example
the delay may occur due to operators personnel needs such as drinking
water, taking tea, going to toilet etc., unavoidable delays like waiting for
tools, materials or equipment, maintenance of machine and periodic
inspection of parts/materials.
The fundamental purpose of allowances is to add enough time to the basic
time of the production in order to enable the average worker to meet the

standard while performing at a normal pace. The determination of

allowances is probably the most controversial part of work study.
Allowance technique:
There are two types of interruption: (1) the interruption related to work (2)
the interruption not related to work. For example, machine breakdown, rest
break to overcome fatigue and receiving instruction from the manager are
the interruption related to work, but personal needs, lunch break and
personal calls are the interruption not related to work. However, the two
types of interruption are essential for the worker because it seems to be
impossible to work continually during a regular shift.
Personal needs, fatigue, and unavoidable delays allowance.
Personal needs:
The personal needs allowance is the time that is associated with workers
daily personal needs which include restroom, phone call, water fountain and
similar interruption of a personal nature. However, it is categorized as 5%,
but it is also conditional to work environment in term of uncomfortably and
temperature for example.
Fatigue:
The fatigue allowance is intended to cover the time that the worker should
be given to overcome fatigue due to work related stress and conditions.
There are three factors that cause fatigue:
(1) Physical factor like standing and use of force
(2) Mental and cognitive factor like mental strain and eye strain
(3) Environmental and work factor like poor lighting, noise and heat.
Unavoidable Delays:
Unavoidable delays are categorized under unavoidable interruption that
occurs at random times during the day in work place. They usually refer to
work- related events like cleaning up at the end of the shift and machine
breakdowns or malfunction. Unavoidable delays occur because of many
random events in work stations.

Time Study:
Time study is a direct and continuous observation of a task, using a
timekeeping device (e.g., decimal minute stopwatch, computer-assisted
electronic stopwatch, and videotape camera) to record the time taken to
accomplish a task and it is often used when:
There are repetitive work cycles of short to long duration,
Wide variety of dissimilar work is performed, or
Process control elements constitute a part of the cycle.
The Industrial Engineering Terminology Standard, defines time study as "a
work measurement technique consisting of careful time measurement of the
task with a time measuring instrument, adjusted for any observed variance
from normal effort or pace and to allow adequate time for such items as
foreign elements, unavoidable or machine delays, rest to overcome fatigue,
and personal needs.
Motion Studies:
In contrast to, and motivated by, Taylors time study methods, the Gilbreths
proposed a technical language, allowing for the analysis of the labor process
in a scientific context. The Gilbreths made use of scientific insights to
develop a study method based upon the analysis of work motions',
consisting in part of filming the details of a workers 'activities and their body
posture while recording the time.[23] The films served two main purposes.
One was the visual record of how work had been done, emphasizing areas for
improvement. Secondly, the films also served the purpose of training
workers about the best way to perform their work. This method allowed the
Gilbreths to build on the best elements of these work flows and to create a
standardized best practice.
Taylor vs. the Gilbreths:
Although for Taylor, motion studies remained subordinate to time studies, the
attention he paid to the motion study technique demonstrated the
seriousness with which he considered the Gilbreths method. The split with
Taylor in 1914, on the basis of attitudes to workers, meant the Gilbreths had
to argue contrary to the trade unionists, government commissions and
Robert Hoxie. Who believed scientific management was unstoppable. The
Gilbreths were charged with the task of proving that motion study
particularly, and scientific management generally, increased industrial
output in ways which improved and did not detract from workers' mental and

physical strength. This was no simple task given the propaganda fuelling the
Hoxie report and the consequent union opposition to scientific management.
In addition, the Gilbreths credibility and academic success continued to be
hampered by Taylor who held the view that motion studies were nothing
more than a continuation of his work.
While both Taylor and the Gilbreths continue to be criticized for their
respective work, it should be remembered that they were writing at a time of
industrial reorganization and the emergence of large, complex organizations
with new forms of technology. Furthermore, to equate scientific management
merely with time and motion study and consequently labor control not only
misconceives the scope of scientific management, but also misinterprets
Taylors incentives for proposing a different style of managerial thought.