Chapter 9

manufacturing and services in perspective

The construction industry is growing throughout time. Building homes that are easier to heat and cool and US automakers are know producing comebacks with more competitive cars.

US producers now see foreign as learning producers, they do not see them as competitors.

How can US manufacturers and service organizations maintain a competitive edge?

  • Focusing more on customers -Maintaining closer relationships with suppliers and other companies to satisfy customer needs
  • Practicing continuous improvement
  • Focusing on quality
  • Saving on costs through site selection
  • Relying on the internet to unite companies that work together
  • Adopting production techniques such as enterprise resource planning, computer-integrated manufacturing, flexible manufacturing, lean manufacturing and robotics.

from production to operations management

production: the creation of finished goods and services using the 5 factors of production

production management: term that describes the activities managers do to help their firms create goods.

operations management: specialized area in management that transforms resources

production processes

form utility: value producers add to materials in the creation of finished goods and services

Inputs:
-land
-labor
-capital
-entrepreneurship
-knowledge

production control:
-planning
-routing
-scheduling
-dispatching
-follow-up

outputs: -goods -services -ideas

lean manufacturing:
-they take half of the human effort
-they have half the defects in the finished product or service
-they require one-third the engineering effort
-they use half the floor space for the same output
-they carry 90 percent less inventory

operations management planning

facility location: the process of selecting a geographic location for a company's operations

telecommuting: working from home via computer

facility layout: physical arrangement of resources in the production process

quality control:

  1. need to inspect work required extra people and resources
    1. if an error was found, someone had to correct the mistake or scrap the product, really costly.
    2. in the customer found the mistake, he or she might even buy from another firm .

ISO 9000: The common name given to
quality management and
assurance standards.

ISO 4000: A collection of the best
practices for managing an
organization’s impact on the
environment.

control procedures pert and gantt charts

program evaluation and review technique (PERT): method for analyzing the
tasks involved in completing a
given project, estimating the
time needed to complete each
task, and identifying the
minimum time needed to
complete the total project.

critical path: in the PERT network, the sequence of tasks that take a long time to complete

Gantt chart: bar graphs that show production managers what projects are being worked and what stage they are at any given time