INTRODUCTİON TO BUSİNESS

Production is the transformation or conversion of a set of inputs, such as raw materials, labor, knowledge, into one or more outputs such as tables, cars, and banking services.

The production system has the following characteristics:
• Production is an organized activity; thus every production system has an objective.
• The system transforms the various inputs to useful outputs.
• It does not operate in isolation from the other organizational systems.
• There exists a feedback about the production activities, which is essential to control and improve system performance.

During the transformation process, the production function in the company involves four specific sub-functions which are design, scheduling, operation, and transformation control.

Some of the main differences of the production of goods and services are as follows:
• Systems that produce tangible goods usually rely more heavily on raw materials inputs than do service systems.
• Goods usually can be stored for later use and transported over space before the ultimate use, whereas services usually cannot.
• Consumers of goods have little, if any, direct involvement with the production of the goods. In contrast, most services require close involvement of the customer with the production process and in many cases actual physical contact is essential.

Services (Intangible Products)
-Reselling services is unusual
-Many services cannot be inventoried
-Many aspects of quality are difficult to measure
- Selling is often a part of the production of service
- Service provider, not the service itself, is often transportable
- Location of a facility is not important
-Service is often difficult to automate
-Revenue is generated primarily from the intangible services even though there are some goods which are associated with services

There are several different processes manufacturers use to produce goods. Although there are different types of processes, in the literature, the processes are classified according to their physical configuration, material and product flow, flexibility and volume expectations in this chapter. The four types of processes are: Flow process; Job-shop process; Cellular process; and Project process.

The concept of flexible manufacturing system (FMS) was conceived in Britain in the early 1960s, and the first physical FMS was established around 1967 in the United States.

Lean production is the production of goods using less human effort, less manufacturing space, less investment in tools, and less engineering time to develop a new product.

Just-In-Time (JIT) production is a Japanese management philosophy applied in manufacturing which involves having the right items of the right quality and quantity in the right place and the right time.

Key components of the TQM philosophy: continuous improvement; participation;
customer satisfaction.

Production is defined as the transformation of tangible and intangible inputs into goods or services. In other words, production is the transformation or conversion of a set of inputs, such as raw materials, labor, knowledge, into one or more outputs such as tables, cars, and banking services.

The production system has the following characteristics: 1) Production is an organized activity; thus every production system has an objective. 2) The system transforms the various inputs to useful outputs. 3) It does not operate in isolation from the other organizational systems. 4) There exists a feedback about the production activities, which is essential to control and improve system performance.

During the transformation process, the production function in the company involves four specific sub-functions which are design, scheduling, operation, and transformation control.Feedback mechanisms are required to monitor the performance of the transformation process. There may be some random disturbances hampering the transformation process of converting the inputs into desired outputs.

Cellular manufacturing is a process that produces families of parts within a single line or cell of machines operated by operators who work only within the line or the cell. Production management involves the application of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the production process.

Advantages of the flow processes: Operations are efficient; workers can benefit from repetition of a narrow range of tasks; material handling can be simplified; work-in process inventories are small; space utilization is efficient; quality conformance is easier to achieve; and production scheduling and coordination are relatively easy. Disadvantages of the flow processes: Initial costs are high; work can become tedious and boring; and the production system is extremely vulnerable.

Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776) proposed the division of labor, in which the production process was broken down into a series of small tasks, each performed by a different worker. The specialization of the workers on limited, repetitive tasks allowed them to become very proficient at those tasks and further encouraged the development of specialized machinery.

The FMS is based on the concept of group technology, as it is designed to produce parts within a specific range of styles, sizes, and processes. Thus, FMS flexibility is limited to the production of a single part family or a limited range of part families. A part family is defined as a number of parts with similar dimensions, geometric features, and tolerances or processing requirements or both.

MRP is concerned with both production scheduling and inventory control. It is a material control system that attempts to keep adequate inventory levels to assure that required materials are available when needed. MRP is applicable in situations of multiple items with complex bills of materials. MRP is not useful for job shops or for continuous processes that are tightly linked. MRP was pioneered in the 1970’s with the work of Orlicky. Later evolved or became part of integrated to Manufacturing Resource Planning systems (or MRPII).

The effectiveness of management information depends on four characteristics: Quality, Completeness, Timeliness, and Relevance.

Internal network, referred to as intranet, is a companywide network, closed to public access, that uses the infrastructure and standards of the Internet and the Web. It may consist of many interlinked local area networks and also use leased lines in the wide area network. Typically, an intranet includes connections through one or more gateway computers to the outside Internet. The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and computing resources among employees. Employees in the company can communicate to each other and access company information by intranet.