Production Management Foundations

Course details

Much of business operations is about making things and delivering them to your customer. Despite the recent rise and focus on the service economy, anyone involved in goods-related businesses today should have a solid understanding of how operations management principles are applied to managing a modern factory. In this course, Steven Brown shares his knowledge about the skills required to design, plan, and manage a factory—and the business functions that support factory operations. Steven covers topics that include operations strategy, process and service design, key elements of production processes, factory planning and management systems, and more.

Whether you work directly with operations personnel or not, understanding your production process will make you better at your job—whatever that job may be.

Learning objectives
Explain how business strategy is supported by effective factory operations.
Identify product and service design methods for manufactured goods.
Describe the key elements of process, facility, and job design at the factory level.
Explain the major planning activities for a production system.
Differentiate among the primary factory management activities.
Describe the different company functions that support factory operations.

Concepts

Introduction

A focus on the factory
What you should know

Designing the Production System

Operations strategy
Technology and production management
Product design for manufactured goods
Service process design
Supply chain design

Understanding Production Processes

Process selection for making products
Process design for factory operations
Process maps for production
Theory of constraints for factory operations
Facility design for factory efficiency
Job design for factory productivity

Planning the Production System

Demand planning in production systems
Capacity planning in production systems
Inventory management in production systems
Aggregate planning and a factory's production program

Managing the Production Process

Master production scheduling
Materials requirements planning
Production scheduling and sequencing at the factory level
Factory inventory control

Supporting the Production System

Factory quality management
Lean production systems
Sourcing materials and supplies as a factory
Factory receiving and shipping
Project management of factory processes

Conclusion

Producing more value with production management