BSV11103

Unit 1Production Management

Production
Management
Dr Andrew W Brown
A.Brown3@napier.ac.uk
Room D57 Merchiston Campus
 Unit 1 Production Management
Topics for study this morning:

Production in Industry - General Issues

Production planning and control

Purchasing, MRP, JIT, Inspection and

Maintenance

Types of production

The nature of the industry

Production in the construction Industry

The construction process

The support and service industries

Changes in construction production

Discussion Questions
Production - General Issues...
Overall, in its widest sense the production management
function is concerned with managing a conversion process to
translate ideas into reality:-

c ti o n
u t
Prod agemen
Man
 Production - General Issues...
Production planning and control:
Production management is concerned with planning, resourcing and controlling the
processes and procedures that are involved in converting raw materials and/or
components into finished products.
Typical production planning, resourcing and control functions involve:
Translating product designs into production instructions.

Preparing production schedules and software programs (if applicable).

Planning the supply of materials, components and parts that will be required for
production.

Planning and organising the availability of plant and production equipment.

Planning and mobilising the people/ work teams that are needed for production
Setting achievable time, cost and quality targets for production.

Purchasing & maintaining the supply of necessary materials, components and sub-
assemblies.
Liaising with the marketing/ sales process.

Keeping records of production and preparing final production documentation.

 Production - General Issues...
Production planning and control:

Key features of the production planning and control process:-

Plans are (usually) relatively short term.

Production schedules are usually very detailed timetables of activity.

Plans for production plant and equipment include consideration of the

availability, capacity and loading of the required equipment

Labour requirements are a critical production management consideration.

Production plans involve setting a range of specific targets.

Liaising with the marketing department is important so the productive effort

meets the customer requirements.

The outputs of the production process need to be recorded and accounted for.
 Production - General Issues...
Purchasing (or procurement)...
...is a vital element of any production process:

Key responsibilities of the purchasing or procurement function include:-

The appraisal and selection of suppliers.

Collection of up to date data on suppliers, prices and distribution methods.

Negotiating the purchase of services at prices that reflect the best value to the
business in the long term.

Ensuring that suppliers are aware of and agree to adhere to the quality standards
required for production.

Maintaining adequate levels of stock inventory.

Developing effective links with existing suppliers and maintaining good links with
potential new suppliers.
 Production - General Issues...
The 'Purchasing Mix’

When considering the purchase or procurement of resources for production,

the 'Purchasing Mix' is important.

The 'purchasing mix' balances needs with respect to quantity, quality, price
and delivery....
The ‘Purchasing Mix’- Quantity
The ‘Purchasing Mix’- Quality
The ‘Purchasing Mix’- Price
The ‘Purchasing Mix’- Delivery
Production - General Issues...
Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
MRP is a key production process having the
intention of ensuring that materials for
production are available when required. MRP
involves:-
Working backwards from the master production schedule
to identify a timetable for orders and materials deliveries
and to identify the optimum quantity of required
materials.

The aim of MRP is to achieve a relatively low level of

inventory while ensuring production can continue
unhindered.

Once an MRP process is established it is capable of being

computerised and linked to purchasing and invoicing
departments to make the process highly efficient.
 Production - General Issues...

Just in Time (JIT) production

Unlike a MRP process, the objective of JIT is to
ensure that materials inventories are not required.
The advantages of JIT are that:-
It encourages managers to remove ‘buffer stock’
requirements from a production process.

It reduces overall manufacturing costs.

It results in increased plant and equipment

utilisation rates.

It leads to simplified planning and scheduling,

eg. a MRP process is not necessary under a JIT
production philosophy.

It leads to potential improvements in quality.

It leads to reduced scrap and wastage.

Production - General Issues...
Inspection
Inspection is a crucial element in any production process:-

Inspection ensures that products are produced to customers

satisfaction.
Inspection ensures that products are produced consistently to
the companies responsibilities and obligations.
Inspection must achieve both of the above for minimum cost.

Inspection incurs two costs:-

Direct costs: the actual cost of performing inspections.
Indirect costs: costs produced by wastage, rework or redesign
and remanufacture.

Three reasons for inspection:-

Reject or accept output.

To control the production process.
To improve the production process.

Inspection methods in production processes:-

Process Control
Acceptance Sampling
Production - General Issues...
Maintenance
Production plant or equipment faults leads to downtime
which in turn halts production increasing the costs of
production and producing delays to output.
Therefore maintenance of production plant and
equipment is an essential aspect of production planning.
There are several maintenance strategies that can be
adopted:-

Preventative Maintenance

Corrective Maintenance

Breakdown Maintenance

Running Maintenance

Shutdown Maintenance.

Maintenance requirements may lead to the incorporation

of extra time within production schedules to permit
maintenance or may lead to the incorporation of
contingency plans in the event of a breakdown.
Types of Production

There are three main categories of

production system:

Job or 'jobbing' or Unique production

Batch production
Mass production
 Types of Production

Job, 'jobbing' or Unique

production has the following
general characteristics:
A large range of non standard operations required to
be performed in non standard circumstances.

Non standard sequences of operations.

Dependence on bespoke components.

General purpose plant and equipment.

Varied or continuously changing work places or

environment.

Unpredictable demands for materials and resources.

A workforce that requires a very diverse range of

skills.

Adaptable skilled supervision.

Types of Production
Batch production has the
following general
characteristics:
A standardised set of operations performed
intermittently as a ‘batch’ proceeds from
one operation to another.

General purpose plant and equipment

grouped in batteries of the same type.

Heavy materials/ components storage

requirements.

A narrower range of skills are required.

There is an emphasis on production

planning and progressing.

Production runs are relatively short

Types of Production
Mass production has the
following general
characteristics:
Rigid, previously tested product
specifications that will not be altered during
production.

Highly specialised plant and equipment

organised into a production line.

Highly standardised methods, tools and

materials

Long production runs for individual products.

Narrow range of skills required to operate in

one specific position in a production line.
Types of Production

Which of these types of production, in your view, best describes

what we find in the construction industry?

Job Pro
duction
Batch Production
Mass Produc
tion
The nature of an industry...

We need to be aware that the culture and traditions

embedded within a particular industry or sector will greatly
influence the outlook, expectations and perspective of
managers and operatives within that industry when it
comes down to how they view production.
Production in the Construction Industry...
...we need to distinguish between different sectors that
belong to the Construction Industry...
The on-site assembly of buildings.

The Construction Process

The manufacture and supply of the materials, components

and sub-assemblies that are used to assemble buildings on
site.
Construction support industries and products
 Production in the Construction Process
Production in the construction industry is traditionally
almost always viewed as a form of 'job' or unique
production and it is characterised by the following issues:-

The nature of construction ‘product’ design and its

delivery mechanism.
The nature of the construction workforce.
Mechanisation.

How convinced are you that production in the modern construction process
is a form of ‘job’ production and that the production of each building is in
fact ‘unique’?
 Production in the Construction Process

The nature of production in construction is considered different from

other industries and is considered to be unique largely due to three
'peculiarities':-

The location of the production activity.

The output of production is 'one off'.
The workforce is a temporary workforce.
 Production in the support sector...

Production in the construction supply sector is different from the

construction process in 3 key ways

In terms of location.
In terms of the nature of the product produced.
In terms of the workforce
 Changes in the Construction Process...
We stated earlier that the construction production process is traditionally
classed as a form of 'jobbing' or unique production. We need to recognise
that over the last 20 years construction production has changed significantly
from the production situation that we might have considered to be 'typical'.

The nature of construction production is still evolving today as we will discuss,

but before we discuss where things are today we will review a number of key
changes that have taken place over the last two decades.

Construction production technologies have altered dramatically.

The procurement of construction labour has been radically altered.

The situation of the construction workplace has been altered as a result of

more advanced production technologies.

The nature of construction project organisation is now typically much

more varied than the ‘traditional’ project arrangements found previously.
Changes in the construction process...
 Continuing Change in Construction...
We have considered how construction production has changed previously,
but many pressures continue to be exerted on how construction production is
viewed and how it develops.

These pressures emerge as a result of construction's perceived continued

inefficiencies and as a result of environmental challenges.

The Egan Report (1998) has been instrumental in challenging what we might
term the 'classical view' of construction production.

Areas of concern in this regard are:-

Viewing the construction process as a manufacturing process- the idea being to

incorporate as many manufacturing technologies into construction as possible. (The
thinking here is that manufacturing has evolved into a highly productive set of industries
whereas construction has not).

Lean or ‘agile’ construction production.

Environmental Sustainability.
What type of production is construction??
A sample of contemporary construction products:-
 What type of production is construction??
How different are such buildings from this?:-
 Discussion Questions...
For further examination of this subject area, you may wish to
consider the following questions, either by yourself, or in small
study groups with your class mates.
Is every construction project unique, if so, why?
How big an input does a typical construction project’s site location have on
construction production as opposed to its design or project circumstances?
Is construction production substantially different from the production of a new (ie. first
of type) airliner, which we could argue to be a building that flies?
Which, if any, production technologies used to manufacture cars could be applied in
construction production to reduce time and cost and to improve quality.
What approaches can be taken to reduce the peculiarities associated with construction
production and will such approaches be entirely beneficial.
You are involved in the construction of a new apartment block with 150 apartments.
What production choices can you take and how are those choices constrained by the
realities the physical location and construction traditions?
'Debate'...

Proposition

The construction industry must move as far away as it practically

can from the traditional unique production techniques it is
usually associated with so that it can be economically and
environmentally responsible in future...