The changing roles of production and operations managers in Britain from the 1970s to the 1990s

This article examines the careers and changing roles of British production and operations managers through three surveys covering the last quarter of the twentieth century. Careers are examined in terms of both their organisational context and the subjective experiences of those who have chosen this field, during a period of great turbulence for manufacturing due to growing global competition. The persistent features of such roles and responsibilities are contrasted with the changes in focus and demands. The managers' sources of satisfaction and frustration are outlined as are their perceptions of their situation in relation to managers in other areas. The article concludes by considering what has changed and what needs to change, in order for manufacturing to gain maximum benefit from the contribution of these managers.

A Generic model for the design and analysis of production systems

This dissertation studies the process of operations systems design within the context of the manufacturing organization. Using the DRAMA (Design Routine for Adopting Modular Assembly) model as developed by a team from the IDOM Research Unit at Aston University as a starting point, the research employed empirically based fieldwork and a survey to investigate the process of production systems design and implementation within four UK manufacturing industries: electronics assembly, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and carpet manufacturing. The intention was to validate the basic DRAMA model as a framework for research enquiry within the electronics industry, where the initial IDOM work was conducted, and then to test its generic applicability, further developing the model where appropriate, within the other industries selected. The thesis contains a review of production systems design theory and practice prior to presenting thirteen industrial case studies of production systems design from the four industry sectors. The results and analysis of the postal survey into production systems design are then presented. The strategic decisions of manufacturing and their relationship to production systems design, and the detailed process of production systems design and operation are then discussed. These analyses are used to develop the generic model of production systems design entitled DRAMA II (Decision Rules for Analysing Manufacturing Activities). The model contains three main constituent parts: the basic DRAMA model, the extended DRAMA II model showing the imperatives and relationships within the design process, and a benchmark generic approach for the design and analysis of each component in the design process. DRAMA II is primarily intended for use by researchers as an analytical framework of enquiry, but is also seen as having application for manufacturing practitioners.

Aspects of the design and operation of production control systems in manufacturing industry

Computerised production control developments have concentrated on Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP II) systems. The literature suggests however, that despite the massive investment in hardware, software and management education, successful implementation of such systems in manufacturing industries has proved difficult. This thesis reviews the development of production planning and control systems, in particular, investigates the causes of failures in implementing MRP/MRP II systems in industrial environments and argues that the centralised and top-down planning structure, as well as the routine operational methodology of such systems, is inherently prone to failure. The thesis reviews the control benefits of cellular manufacturing systems but concludes that in more dynamic manufacturing environments, techniques such as Kanban are inappropriate. The basic shortcomings of MRP II systems are highlighted and a new enhanced operational methodology based on distributed planning and control principles is introduced. Distributed Manufacturing Resources Planning (DMRP), was developed as a capacity sensitive production planning and control solution for cellular manufacturing environments. The system utilises cell based, independently operated MRP II systems, integrated into a plant-wide control system through a Local Area Network. The potential benefits of adopting the system in industrial environments is discussed and the results of computer simulation experiments to compare the performance of the DMRP system against the conventional MRP II systems presented. DMRP methodology is shown to offer significant potential advantages which include ease of implementation, cost effectiveness, capacity sensitivity, shorter manufacturing lead times, lower working in progress levels and improved customer service.

Cost effectiveness of production control systems

This thesis deals with the problems associated with the planning and control of production, with particular reference to a small aluminium die casting company. The main problem areas were identified as: (a) A need to be able to forecast the customers demands upon the company's facilities. (b) A need to produce a manufacturing programme in which the output of the foundry (or die casting section) was balanced with the available capacity in the machine shop. (c) The need to ensure that the resultant system enabled the company's operating budget to have a reasonable chance of being achieved. At the commencement of the research work the major customers were members of the automobile industry and had their own system of forecasting, from which they issued manufacturing schedules to their component suppliers, The errors in the forecast were analysed and the distributions noted. Using these distributions the customer's forecast was capable of being modified to enable his final demand to be met with a known degree of confidence. Before a manufacturing programme could be developed the actual manufacturing system had to be reviewed and it was found that as with many small companies there was a remarkable lack of formal control and written data. Relevant data with regards to the component and the manufacturing process had therefore to be collected and analysed. The foundry process was fixed but the secondary machining operations were analysed by a technique similar to Component Flow Analysis and as a result the machines were arranged in a series of flow lines. A system of manual production control was proposed and for comparison, a local computer bureau was approached and a system proposed incorporating the production of additional management information. These systems are compared and the relative merits discussed and a proposal made for implementation.

An investigation of production workers' performance variations and the potential impact of attitudes

In most manufacturing systems the contribution of human labour remains a vital element that affects overall performance and output. Workers’ individual performance is known to be a product of personal attitudes towards work. However, in current system design processes, worker performance variability is assumed to be largely insignificant and the potential impact of worker attitudes is ignored. This paper describes a field study that investigated the extent to which workers’ production task cycle times vary and the degree to which such variations are associated with attitude differences. Results show that worker performance varies significantly, much more than is assumed by contemporary manufacturing system designers and that this appears to be due to production task characteristics. The findings of this research and their implications are discussed.

Design and implementation of production systems for high variety electronics assembly

Information technology companies are having to broaden their overall strategic view in deference to the premise that it is better to be market-driven than technology-led. Cost and technical performance are no longer the only considerations, as quality and service now demand equal recognition. The production of a high volume single item has given way to that of low volume multiple items, which in turn requires some modification of production systems and brings flexible manufacturing, Just-in-Time production and total quality control into sharper focus for the achievement of corporate objectives.