Who Is A Production Manager
The very essence of any business is to cater for the needs of customers by providing services and goods, and in process create value for customers and solve their problems. Production and operations management talks about applying business organization and management concepts in creation of goods and services.
Production is a scientific process which involves transformation of raw material (input) into desired product or service (output) by adding economic value.
production management, also called operations management, planning and control of industrial processes to ensure that they move smoothly at the required level. Techniques of production management are employed in service as well as in manufacturing industries. It is a responsibility similar in level and scope to other specialties such as marketing or human resource and financial management. In manufacturing operations, production management includes responsibility for product and process design, planning and control issues involving capacity and quality, and organization and supervision of the workforce.
The “five M’s”
Production management’s responsibilities are summarized by the “five M’s”: men, machines, methods, materials, and money. “Men” refers to the human element in operating systems. Since the vast majority of manufacturing personnel work in the physical production of goods, “people management” is one of the production manager’s most important responsibilities.
production management, also called operations management, planning and control of industrial processes to ensure that they move smoothly at the required level. Techniques of production management are employed in service as well as in manufacturing industries. It is a responsibility similar in level and scope to other specialties such as marketing or human resource and financial management. In manufacturing operations, production management includes responsibility for product and process design, planning and control issues involving capacity and quality, and organization and supervision of the workforce.
The production manager must also choose the machines and methods of the company, first selecting the equipment and technology to be used in the manufacture of the product or service and then planning and controlling the methods and procedures for their use. The flexibility of the production process and the ability of workers to adapt to equipment and schedules are important issues in this phase of production management.
The production manager’s responsibility for materials includes the management of flow processes—both physical (raw materials) and information (paperwork). The smoothness of resource movement and data flow is determined largely by the fundamental choices made in the design of the product and in the process to be used.
The manager’s concern for money is explained by the importance of financing and asset utilization to most manufacturing organizations. A manager who allows excessive inventories to build up or who achieves level production and steady operation by sacrificing good customer service and timely delivery runs the risk that overinvestment or high current costs will wipe out any temporary competitive advantage that might have been obtained.
Although the five M’s capture the essence of the major tasks of production management, control summarizes its single most important issue. The production manager must plan and control the process of production so that it moves smoothly at the required level of output while meeting cost and quality objectives. Process control has two purposes: first, to ensure that operations are performed according to plan, and second, to continuously monitor and evaluate the production plan to see if modifications can be devised to better meet cost, quality, delivery, flexibility, or other objectives. For example, when demand for a product is high enough to justify continuous production, the production level might need to be adjusted from time to time to address fluctuating demand or changes in a company’s market share. This is called the “production-smoothing” problem. When more than one product is involved, complex industrial engineering or operations research procedures are required to analyze the many factors that impinge on the problem.
Inventory control is another important phase of production management. Inventories include raw materials, component parts, work in process, finished goods, packing and packaging materials, and general supplies. Although the effective use of financial resources is generally regarded as beyond the responsibility of production management, many manufacturing firms with large inventories (some accounting for more than 50 percent of total assets) usually hold production managers responsible for inventories. Successful inventory management, which involves the solution of the problem of which items to carry in inventory in various locations, is critical to a company’s competitive success. Not carrying an item can result in delays in getting needed parts or supplies, but carrying every item at every location can tie up huge amounts of capital and result in an accumulation of obsolete, unusable stock. Managers generally rely on mathematical models and computer systems developed by industrial engineers and operations researchers to handle the problems of inventory control.
To control labour costs, managers must first measure the amount and type of work required to produce a product and then specify well-designed, efficient methods for accomplishing the necessary manufacturing tasks. The concepts of work measurement and time study introduced by Taylor and the Gilbreths, as well as incentive systems to motivate and reward high levels of worker output, are important tools in this area of management. In new operations particularly, it is important to anticipate human resource requirements and to translate them into recruiting and training programs so that a nucleus of appropriately skilled operators is available as production machinery and equipment are installed. Specialized groups responsible for support activities (such as equipment maintenance, plant services and production scheduling, and control activities) also need to be hired, trained, and properly equipped. This type of careful personnel planning reduces the chance that expensive capital equipment will stand idle and that effort, time, and materials will be wasted during start-up and regular operations.
The effective use and control of materials often involves investigations of the causes of scrap and waste; this, in turn, can lead to alternative materials and handling methods to improve the production process. The effective control of machinery and equipment depends on each machine’s suitability to its specific task, the degree of its utilization, the extent to which it is kept in optimum running condition, and the degree to which it can be mechanically or electronically controlled.
8 Major Responsibilities of a Production Manager
(1) Production planning:
Production planning is the first function performed by the production manager. Production planning is concerned with thinking in advance what is to be produced, how it is to be produced and by what time should it be produced. It is concerned with deciding about the production targets to be achieved by keeping in view the sales forecasts.
(2) Production control:
Production planning cannot be properly achieved without an effective system of production control. It is in fact concerned with successful implementation of production planning. It aims at completing production well in time and also with lesser costs. A proper system of production control ensures continuous production, lesser work-in-progress and minimization of wastages.
(3) Quality control:
The production manager is also concerned with maintaining required quality of the product. Quality control is concerned with controlling the negative variables which affect the ultimate quality of a product. It is concerned with use of all the ways and means where by quality standards could be maintained.
(4) Method analysis:
There are many alternative methods for manufacturing a product. Some methods are more economical than others. The production manager should study all the methods in detail by analyzing them in detail and select the best alternative out of them. The process of selecting the best alternative is known as methods of analysis. Methods of analysis are considerably helpful in minimizing the cost of production and improving productivity of the concern.
(5) Inventory control:
The next important function to be carried by a production manager is to exercise proper control over the inventory. He should determine economic order size, maximum, minimum, average and danger levels of materials so that problems of overstocking and understocking do not arise. This also helps in minimizing wastages of materials.
(6) Plant layout:
Plant layout is primarily concerned with the internal set up of an enterprise in a proper manner. It is related to orderly and proper arrangement and use of available resources viz., men, money, machines, materials and methods of production inside the factory. In other words it is concerned with maximum and effective utilization of available resources at minimum operating costs.
(7) Work measurement:
Work measurement methods are concerned with measuring the level of performance of work by a worker. Time and motion studies techniques can be used for work measurement. If a worker works below the level fixed by work-measurement techniques, his performance must be improved through positive or negative incentives.
