The nature of work and its organization has interested managers, economists and social scientists for as long as people have been employed by others to engage in productive activity. Managers have largely been interested in maximizing output from available resources. Job design can be define as the process of putting together various elements to form a job, bearing in mind organizational and individual worker requirements, as well as considerations of health, safety, and ergonomics. The scientific management approach of Frederick Winslow Taylor viewed job design as purely mechanistic, but the later human relations movement rediscovered the importance of workers’ relationship to their work and stressed the importance of job satisfaction. Trends in Job Design Quality control as part of the worker’s job Cross-training workers to perform multi -skilled jobs Employee involvement and team approaches to designing and organizing work Extensive use of temporary workers Organizational commitment to providing meaningful andContinue reading
Operations Management
Mass Production Systems
Mass production (also called flow production or repetitive flow production) is the production of large amounts of standardized products on production lines. It was popularized by Henry Ford in the early 20th Century, notably in his Ford Model T. Mass production is notable because it permits very high rates of production per worker and therefore provides very inexpensive products. Mass production is capital intensive, as it uses a high proportion of machinery in relation to workers. With fewer labor costs and a faster rate of production, capital is increased while expenditure is decreased. However the machinery that is needed to set up a mass production line is so expensive that there must be some assurance that the product is to be successful so the company can get a return on its investment. Machinery for mass production such as robots and machine presses have high installation costs. One of the descriptionsContinue reading
Job Production
Job production is characterized by the manufacture of one or few numbers of a single product designed and manufactured strictly to customer’s specifications, within, the given period and wit/tin the price fixed prior to tile contract. Some typical examples of industries engaged in jobbing production are: general repair shops; special purpose machine tool manufacturers; workshops to manufacture jigs and fixtures for other units; building contractors; tailoring shops manufacturing made-to-measure suite of clothes; manufacturers of ships, cranes, furnaces, turbo-generators, pressure vessels; and others manufacturing articles made to customers orders. Characteristics of Job Production Disproportionate manufacturing cycle time: A considerable amount of pre-planning and organization is necessary in such a venture. Relatively long delays occur at the assembly as well as at the materials processing stages due to lack of materials or components, imbalanced work flow, design changes, design errors detected during manufacture, inaccurate work measurements, etc. which tend to lengthen theContinue reading
Project Production
Project production is characterized by complex sets of activities that must be performed in a particular order within the given period and within the estimated expenditure. Where output of a project is a product, such products are generally characterized by immobility during transformation. Operations of such products are carried out in “fixed position assembly type of layout” which can be observed in production of ships, locomotive and aircraft, construction of roads, buildings, etc. Characteristics of Project Production Definite beginning and definite end: Each project has a definite beginning and a definite end. “Fixed position” layout: Where the output of a project is a product, such products are generally characterized by immobility during transformation. Operations on such products are carried out in “fixed position assembly type of layout” which can be observed in production of ships, locomotive, aircraft, construction of roads/ buildings, etc. High cost overruns: Often delays take place inContinue reading
Continuous Manufacturing Systems
In continuous manufacturing systems the items are produced for the stocks and not for specific orders. Before planning manufacturing to stock, a sales forecast is made to estimate likely demand of the product and a master schedule is prepared to adjust the sales forecast according to past orders and level of inventory. Here the inputs are standardized and a standard set of processes and sequence of processes can be adopted. Due to this routing and scheduling for the whole process can be standardized. After setting of master production schedule, a detailed planning is carried on. Basic manufacturing information and bills of material are recorded. Information for machine load charts, equipment, personnel and material needs is tabulated. In continuous manufacturing systems each production run manufactures in large lot sizes and the production process is carried on in a definite sequence of operations in a pre-determined order. In process storage is notContinue reading
Intermittent Manufacturing Systems
In Intermittent manufacturing systems, the goods are manufactured specially to fulfill orders made by customers rather than for stock. Here the flow of material is intermittent. Intermittent production systems are those where the production facilities are flexible enough to handle a wide variety of products and sizes. These can be used to manufacture those products where the basic nature of inputs changes with the change in the design of the product and the production process requires continuous adjustments. Considerable storage between operation is required, so that individual operations can be carried out independently for further utilization of men and machines. Examples of intermittent systems are: machine shops, hospitals, general office etc. Characteristics of intermittent manufacturing systems are: Most products are produced in small quantities. Machines and equipment are laid out by process. Workloads are generally unbalanced. Highly skilled operators are required for efficient use of machines and equipment. In-process inventoryContinue reading