Production economy

In production management, complex systems consisting of several machines are often researched.

The production management (including production economics , abbreviated PW or PWL ) is the part of economics that deals with all commercial functions of production apart sets.

In addition to production and cost theory, it deals with the planning and control of the production program and the production process , the choice of the production process (s) , the organization of production and the design of production potentials . It differs from production technology , which looks at the technical aspects of production, and from other areas of business administration such as finance , human resources or sales management , in that it takes a holistic view of planning, control and monitoring of production from an economic, ecological and employee-related perspective. Current doctrines and concepts, such as advanced planning and scheduling , also include related areas such as the procurement and provision of parts and assemblies as well as the distribution of products.

The production economy basically also deals with the creation of services in all types of companies, but is often unspokenly reduced to industry and material goods production, sometimes also explicitly referred to as industrial production economy or manufacturing economy, whereby the term production mostly refers to the manufacture of discrete material goods and their Assembly refers.

The manufacturing economy, during its beginnings in the 1950s, focused on the purely economic aspects of corporate production; today it has developed into an interdisciplinary science. She would like to describe, theoretically penetrate and answer the questions that arise when managing companies. To this end it works with other disciplines together - especially with the engineering and logistics - or integrates the knowledge and methods of auxiliary and related disciplines such as mathematics , operations research , business computer science , industrial science , business law , sociology or business psychology .

history

Filming during the industrial revolution

In the course of the industrial revolution , ever larger manufactories and factories emerged . Most of them were unskilled workers, whose activities were coordinated by foremen and foremen. Since then, the engineers working in the factories have been confronted with the question of how production can best be organized. American engineer Taylor began in 1883 with its so-called scientific management ( Scientific Management ), he improved in with stopwatches individual operations. The couple Frank and Lillian Gilbreth eventually developed the systems of predetermined times that are still used today in the planning of production systems. The first production-related questions were answered by engineers working in practice. A theoretically well-founded research into the topic on an academic level did not begin until later with the emergence of business administration.

Position of the production economy in the system of business administration

→ Main article : Business administration (20th century)

The business administration course that emerged towards the end of the 19th century was initially divided into specific business administration courses ( banking , industrial management , commercial management , transport economics , and others) for specific sectors and institutions . While today's general business administration deals with production in the general sense, the creation of material goods (material goods) and services, initially only industrial management dealt with production in the narrower sense, i.e. H. with the economic creation of exclusively material goods. Their findings formed the basis of today's production economy. The market- and customer-related counterpoint to the production economy is the individual company sales economy .

Erich Gutenberg and the economic miracle

During the economic miracle , many companies were faced with the problem that although there were enough customers willing to pay, the companies could not meet demand with their production (so-called seller's market). As a result, questions of production moved increasingly to the fore of business economists. On the one hand it was about increasing the production capacities in order to be able to sell as much as possible, on the other hand about using these capacities optimally in order to produce the maximum amount as cost-effectively as possible. For this purpose, the production and cost theory was continuously developed. Erich Gutenberg was one of the first to understand production as a main operational function, which is reflected in the title of his main work Die Produktion , published in 1951 . As a result, business administration was increasingly structured according to operational functions such as production management, sales management or finance. However, to this day, in addition to this breakdown, there is also one according to branches of industry such as industry, trade or banking (so-called special business administration).

Gutenberg further developed the production theory known from economics in order to better describe in-house production. An example of such a further development is the Gutenberg production function named after him . He used it to describe the fuel consumption of a machine as a function of the intensity of production - the speed of the machine - and determined an optimal intensity. The division of production factors into labor, materials and resources, which goes back to him, is also known , in contrast to the national economic division into labor, capital and land. In addition, he introduced the dispositive factor , which describes the planning, managerial and steering activities of the company management and justifies an own income.

While Gutenberg was interested in the mathematical description of the relationships between input and output with his factor theoretical approach, Edmund Heinen founded decision-oriented business administration in the 1960s . It deals with preparing, making, implementing and controlling decisions in companies. Heinen commented: "Business economies are not 'events' of any abstract production factors, but social systems in which people [...] work together." Thus, the production economy was also expanded to include a social component. B. in the organization, product or process design.

From the seller to the buyer's market

Most European markets evolved from sellers 'markets towards buyers' markets in the 1970s. The marketing was expanded, both in academia and in business practice. For operational production, the turnaround meant above all that not as much as possible had to be produced, but just as much as could be sold. So there was a target production volume that should not be exceeded or undercut as far as possible. In systems theory and control engineering, concepts were already known that specify a target value for a system and continuously compare the actual value achieved with this target value in order to regulate the behavior of the system. Hans Ulrich applied the knowledge of systems theory and cybernetics to economic questions and thus founded the systems theory approach. His approach is reflected in the concept of the production system , which can be controlled and regulated in a similar way to a technical system.

At the same time, consumer needs were differentiated and individualized. Additional sales could no longer be achieved by increasing the production of standard goods in mass markets, as there were often only customers willing to pay in niche markets. Since the mid-1960s, this first led u. a. In the clothing industry, which is strongly influenced by fashion trends, and since the 1980s also in the automotive industry, it became noticeable that their long, rigid, clocked production lines could no longer cope with the variation of models and equipment requirements. The standard production programs were replaced by a wide range of products, which are increasingly changing due to trends and fashions - and also seasonally. Growth has been achieved through differentiation and in niche markets rather than cost leadership. In business theory, this was reflected in the focus on questions of making the production program more flexible , optimizing batch sizes and fine-tuning production , which can only be done on the basis of flexible manufacturing technology and with considerable use of IT systems, as well as new types of remuneration and incentive systems and alternative forms of organization had to be solved that replaced the time study chord.

As customers also became more environmentally conscious, questions of environmental protection have become more and more important for companies since the 1990s. The production economy therefore tried to integrate the environment more closely. For this purpose, among other things, new production functions have been developed that not only take into account the production of goods, but also operational or disposal costs of unwanted objects such as waste water, exhaust gases or scraps. These production functions are based on the activity analysis, which has been decisively adapted to the requirements of the production economy.

Modern developments

Influences of the management theory of social institutions ensured a more practice-oriented, interdisciplinary approach. Up until then, the production economy focused heavily on economic production issues. Since the mid-1990s at the latest, the production industry has been trying to answer all questions that arise in the management of production systems, and is increasingly integrating social science, legal, psychological, environmental, technical and other findings. Erich Zahn and Uwe Schmidt therefore define production management as “the applied, interdisciplinary teaching of production management”.

Increasing resource efficiency, including energy productivity, plays a special role today . B. in the context of circular economy models of the saving of abiotic materials and the avoidance of waste and emissions, as required by the EU initiative "Resource-Conserving Europe" in 2011 and implemented by the federal government since 2012.

General

Structure, delimitation and scope

structure

The production economy is structured inconsistently. In the 1980s, Günther Gäpfel divided his three-volume standard work into operational (short-term), tactical (medium-term) and strategic (long-term) production management. The content of the individual books was divided into questions relating to input as the use of production, output as the result of production and throughput as the process of a production system. Another content- related structure consists of production program planning as well as provision planning and process or sequence planning, which are also summarized for execution or production execution planning. At the beginning of the 1990s Werner Kern compared the provision planning with the potential design and the process planning with the process design. This brought him to his "3-P concept" consisting of product and program planning (what and how much is produced?), Potential design (what is produced with?) And process planning (how is produced?).

In terms of content, this largely corresponds to the input-throughput-output concept of Gäfel. Harald Dyckhoff, in turn, differentiates between the more theoretical production theory on the one hand and the more practice-oriented production management on the other. This article is largely based on the "3-P concept".

Demarcation

Most functional business economies such as finance, human resources or sales management consider the relationship of a company to the corresponding markets ( finance , labor and sales market ). A special feature of a company's production system is that it does not appear on external markets, but only interacts with internal areas. This often leads to overlaps with other areas, which are not just tolerated, but are consciously promoted in the sense of general business administration . There are overlaps with human resources management in the area of ​​workers, which are dealt with in the context of potential design, and with procurement management in the field of materials management. Questions about the production program are closely related to those about the marketing program, which is dealt with by marketing. There is a smooth transition from production and cost theory via cost and performance accounting to accounting . Special types of production organization are also dealt with in the context of business organization theory .

With the production controlling and production logistics and parts of independent studies that specifically deal with relating to the production issues their field exist.

Scope and relationship to industrial management

While the industrial management all operational areas of an industrial plant treated, so industrial procurement, personnel management, production, accounting and more, it is the responsibility of production management in a general sense, all economic sectors to deal with issues of time of production. In a narrower sense, however, only the industrial and also the handicraft production of material goods are considered, since the "production" in banks , insurance companies and in trade differs so greatly from industrial production that it is hardly possible to cover all of these branches of industry in general Treat senses. This narrow concept is also known as industrial production economy. Services are sometimes explicitly assigned to the production economy, among other things on the grounds that companies always offer a mixture of material goods and services. The manufacturer of a machine, for example, also instructs his customer's staff in the operation of this machine. In some cases, services are explicitly excluded in order to only consider material goods production.

Relationship to operations management

In Anglo-Saxon literature, the counterpart to the production economy is called operations management . For historical reasons it shows some methodological and content-related differences to the production economy, but deals with similar topics. Until around the end of the Second World War, there were extensive similarities. In the Anglo-Saxon world, however, the production area was considered to be characterized by routines and “low-level decisions” and therefore not very beneficial to a career. Consequently, the entire theory of production and cost , which has been continuously developed in German-language literature, has met with little interest in the USA. From the 1970s, Japan caught up in the industrial economy. Japanese companies have been able to produce goods of better quality or of the same quality at lower costs. The then innovative methods are now known as the Toyota Production System. Japan's lead led to a productivity crisis being proclaimed in the USA (as in Europe). There was a return to operations management, which arose from a series of work on the common features of production systems. The term operations management alludes to the use of mathematical methods of operations research in the production area. A training offensive made Operations Management a high priority in the academic training it has received to this day.

The differences are particularly noticeable in the conception of the textbooks: While the German-language literature makes formal statements about production systems and contains a theoretical framework with the production and cost theory, the Anglo-Saxon literature is more interested in individual cross-sectional questions, sub-areas and task chains, which are mostly based on are explained by practical examples. Operations management is also more closely related to services. A common textbook example is reserving seats on airplanes. As some customers cancel the reservation at short notice, seats would remain free. That is why aircraft are often “overbooked” in the expectation that ultimately every customer will get a seat. The optimal number of overbooked places is then calculated. Furthermore, topics such as queuing theory and inventory management have a permanent place in Anglo-Saxon literature; in German they are only dealt with in logistics.

Factors of production

→ Main article : Production factor

The term production factors, or factors for short, includes all material and immaterial resources and services that contribute to the production of goods. Examples are workers, machines, tools or people who carry out planning and coordinating activities. Gutenberg divided them into the elementary factors work, materials and operating resources as well as the dispositive factors management, planning, organization and control. In a more detailed form, the materials are divided into raw, auxiliary and operating materials and the operating resources into tangible and intangible such as patents or licenses. When production factors are mentioned, often only the elementary factors are meant.

Elementary factors							dispositive factors
Materials			Resources			job	management	planning	organization	monitoring
raw materials	Auxiliary materials	Supplies	material resources	intangible assets

Definition of production

→ Main article : Production

Business administration conducts production as one of the classic functions in the company (procurement, production, sales). There are several definitions of production:

Production as a combination of factors : The production factors labor, operating resources and materials are combined to create products. This definition goes back to Erich Gutenberg, who only looked at the production of material goods.

Production as a phase in the company that lies between procurement and sales: This definition is narrower because factors are also combined in procurement, sales and all other areas of the company. It is emphasized here that a transformation is taking place in production and not just a transfer such as B. during transport or a change of ownership such as procurement and sales.

Production as added value : This definition is primarily understood as a demarcation from consumption , in which values ​​are destroyed. But it also includes processes in which z. B. Waste is destroyed (waste incineration plant), since here too the products energy and exhaust gases are worth more than the raw material waste. While material goods can be stored, i.e. consumed or used after production, this is not the case with services. They are produced and consumed at the same time.

aims

→ Main article : Business goal  and decision theory

Production management goals should, on the one hand, offer middle and lower management an assessment standard by means of target agreements , which the relevant people can use to orient themselves. On the other hand, goals have a coordination function with which decentralized decisions can be geared towards a common overall goal. They can be divided into factual and formal goals. The objective is to produce the planned products. Formal goals consist of an input-output relationship. They can be divided into technical goals, such as productivity , economic goals such as profit , profitability or sales , social goals, such as employee health or job retention, and finally ecological goals, such as compliance with emission values or recycling quotas .

Further additional goals can be derived from these goals, such as the lowest possible production costs and throughput times, adherence to deadlines and high quantities or quality .

Production systems

→ Main article : Production system (company)

Layout and material flow in workshop production as an example of a production system

From a system-theoretical point of view, a production system is the subsystem of a company that is responsible for production and that itself can consist of production systems. Examples of production systems are plants, factories, assembly lines, workshops or individual machines. The most important properties of production systems include capacity and flexibility . Capacity is defined as the performance in a certain period of time. Flexibility is the ability to adapt to changing conditions. The most important elements of production systems are input, throughput and output, also called (medium) use, throughput and output (amount) in German. The input is the production factors. The throughput represents the actual production process, such as B. Parts manufacturing or assembly. The output is the end products to be sold. Output of a production system can be all kinds of goods, for example consumer or capital goods, services or information.

Production types

The production systems encountered in industry are very diverse and are therefore categorized in the literature according to production types. Different types of planning problems arise depending on whether it is, for example, individual , series or mass production or workshop , group or flow production .

• Organization types:
  • Workshop production: In workshop production, machines of the same type are grouped together in workshops (turning shop, milling shop, painting department). The products are passed on between the workshops until they have been finished. The great flexibility is an advantage here: One product can e.g. B. first turned and then milled, another milled first and then turned.
  • Flow production: Here the machines are arranged in a fixed order and the products are passed on between the machines by conveyor systems. Flow production enables high quantities with little flexibility.
  • Group production: Also island or center production in different shades of meaning. A mixture of flow and workshop production.
• Edition size: number of products manufactured. A distinction is made between mass, variety, series and individual production.
  • Individual production: Each product is produced once for a specific customer. Examples are bespoke tailors, manufacturers of special machines, plant construction or shipyards.
  • Series production: Several identical products are manufactured before the systems are converted to a different product type.
  • Variety production: A large number of the same products are manufactured before machines and systems are converted to other, but similar products. It forms the transition to mass production.
  • Mass production: only one type of product is produced, but in very large quantities.
  • Mass Customization: The products are each (individually) manufactured according to customer order (see also Build-to-Order ), but still in the form of mass production (example: automobile construction).

Production and cost theory

Example of a production function: The production function according to the law of income with input quantity and output quantity Y ${\displaystyle r_{1}}$

The production and cost theory is actually part of general business administration. However, their conception is strongly oriented towards questions of production, which is why it is often assigned to the production economy. It represents functional (mathematical) relationships between input and output of production. Production theory is limited to the input quantities of the factors used and the output quantities of the goods produced, which are modeled with production functions. The cost theory builds on this and evaluates the input quantities with costs in order to find the optimal production method with the help of cost functions .

An example of a simple production function is with ${\displaystyle x=2r}$

${\displaystyle x}$ - Output quantity (output / quantity of products produced)

${\displaystyle r}$ - Amount used (input / amount of factors used)

For example, the function could represent the production of 1 ton of steel using 2 tons of ore. If one evaluates the factors with prices , one obtains cost functions. If a unit costs 5 monetary units, you get as a cost function . More complex functions model productions with multiple factors and multiple products . ${\displaystyle p}$ ${\displaystyle r}$ ${\displaystyle K(x)=px=10x}$ ${\displaystyle r_{1},r_{2},r_{3},...,r_{i}}$ ${\displaystyle x_{1},x_{2},x_{3},...,x_{j}}$

Of particular economic interest are substitutional production functions in which a certain output quantity is achieved with different combinations of input quantities. A certain production factor can then be wholly or partially exchanged (substituted) for another. With the function , for example, the application rate can be achieved by and or by and . If one now evaluates the factor consumption with costs, the question arises as to the minimum cost combination , i.e. the ratio at which the costs become minimal. ${\displaystyle x=r_{1}r_{2}}$ ${\displaystyle x=10}$ ${\displaystyle r_{1}=5}$ ${\displaystyle r_{2}=2}$ ${\displaystyle r_{1}=10}$ ${\displaystyle r_{2}=1}$ ${\displaystyle r_{1}/r_{2}}$

Some production functions have independent meanings e.g. B. the production function under the law of income (also called production function of type A) or the Cobb-Douglas function . Both originally come from economics and were adopted in business administration. Erich Gutenberg developed an independent business production function for the first time, which he called the type B function and which is now known as the Gutenberg production function . With this function, a certain unit (e.g. a machine) is considered. Depending on how long and with what intensity this unit is operated, there are different output quantities and quantities used. Input and output are no longer mutually dependent, but both depend on the production process itself. The Gutenberg production function has been supplemented and expanded in many ways by further aspects (functions C to G). This type of production and cost theory has remained internationally unmatched.

Production programming

→ Main article : Production program

The production program defines which and how many products a company manufactures. It therefore contains the totality of all products of a company in terms of type and quantity. A company must strategically decide how many different products it would like to offer, in how many product fields it would like to be active ( breadth of the production program) and how high the proportion of added value of the respective product should be in the company ( depth of the production program). In addition, it must be decided which strategy the company would like to use to generate profit. It can try to offer the cheapest product on the market, but it must also have the lowest unit costs by producing large quantities efficiently. Or it can try to achieve a high price by adapting the products as precisely as possible to the expectations of the individual customers, for which purpose high-quality products are produced in small numbers. A company can, for example, be active in the product fields “cars” and “trucks”, each offering only a few models that are made of particularly strong and durable steel, but have a high level of vertical integration by rolling sheet metal itself and producing the special steel itself . The production program can be identical to the sales program if all products are also sold immediately after production. However, they are stored and later sold or not sold at all if the company creates products for its own consumption, such as in the case of a machine factory that produces the required machines itself. There are basically two different methods of dealing with fluctuating demand, which is typical for seasonal items (e.g. winter and summer clothing):

With the emancipation of production from sales , the same amount is always produced over time. In periods of low demand, stocks are kept for production; in periods of high demand, stocks are emptied.

On the other hand, there is the synchronization of production with sales, in which exactly as much is produced as is to be sold in each period. The prerequisite for this is that the existing production capacity is at least as high as the greatest possible demand.

Research and Development

Before the products can be produced, they have to be designed and developed . A large part of the subsequent production costs is already determined during the design phase. Therefore, it should be ensured here that parts can be easily assembled and cause low transport and storage costs. In addition, due to legal requirements, sustainable product design over the entire product life cycle comes to the fore, which includes precautions for environmentally friendly forms of product disposal . Research may be necessary for very innovative products . There are many ways to organize them, from your own development department to placing orders with engineering offices and purchasing patents or licenses . In innovative industries it is important to bring products to market quickly. Simultaneous engineering is therefore an ideal way of shortening development times.

Strategic and operational program planning

Representation of the sales, profit and profit rate curve over the course of the product life cycle

In the strategic (long-term) planning of the production program, various instruments are used in order to be able to assess the advantages of various options available, for example experience curves , product life cycle analyzes , SWOT analyzes or product portfolios . The use of target cost accounting from construction to service is an important success factor for serving special market segments while taking the competition into account . In the operational (short-term) planning of the production program, the case plays a role that fewer products can be produced than can be sold. Among other things, it must be taken into account here how high the contribution margin of the products is and how many bottlenecks there are in order to set up a production program with maximum profit.

Shaping potential

The design of potential (also: provision planning) is primarily about human labor, operating resources (especially machines) as well as raw, auxiliary and operating materials, collectively also called human, machine and material, but also land and rights such as patents or licenses.

job

→ Main articles : Ergonomics , human resources  and work (business administration)

Even in “fully automated” factories, machines have to be planned, serviced and maintained by humans, which is why work is of interest from a production point of view. With human labor itself, the busy work science which, with procurement and use of labor Human Resources . Wherever possible, workplaces should be ergonomically designed to enable efficient work. In addition, attempts can be made to motivate staff in a monetary or non-monetary way , e.g. B. with piecework wages instead of time wages, with an appealing design of the work task, social aspects or profit sharing .

Individual performance depends, among other things, on the training of an employee. It can be increased in a targeted manner through training and further education measures, but it also increases automatically through experience and learning effects in the workplace (see: learning curve ). The willingness to perform is determined by the daily rhythm . It usually has a pronounced midday low. The complexity of the work task should correspond as much as possible to the skills of the employees. Otherwise this leads either to excessive demands or to insufficient demands and thus monotony . To prevent it, various concepts are in use, such as B. Job Enlargement , Job Enrichment or Job rotation , which ensure a more varied work task. The different leadership styles of the superiors - authoritarian to cooperative - have an impact on the working atmosphere, while the physical working environment such as lighting or volume has an impact on physical well-being.

Since the 1990s, the focus is no longer on the individual worker and their individual performance, but on the functioning and performance of teams. Accordingly, new types of incentive systems are also being used, which in Germany have almost completely replaced the individual chord .

Resources

Example of a piece of equipment: historical machine for gear manufacturing

When resources are objects that are necessary for production, but not enter materially into the product. These are primarily machine tools such as hydraulic presses , lathes or welding robots , process engineering systems for material conversion, but also line and energy systems, conveyor systems such as cranes , assembly lines and storage facilities.

The asset management deals with the planning, implementation and control of procurement, commissioning, decommissioning and disposal of investments. She does not deal with the technical operation itself. In a plant-intensive production system, it is primarily the operating resources that determine the overall capacity and flexibility. Equipment must first be procured, which often requires an investment calculation. Basic options for procurement are purchase, leasing and in-house production. They must then be maintained during use , i. H. inspections, maintenance and repairs are carried out. During an inspection, information about the condition of the system is obtained, during maintenance, systems are looked after (e.g. by cleaning or lubricating parts), and during repairs, defects that have occurred are eliminated. Inspection and maintenance cause costs that are offset by failure costs if maintenance is insufficient; at the same time, they reduce the currently available capacity, but increase it in the long term. The maintenance planning determines when which measures are to be taken. The retirement of plants happens unplanned z. B. because of total write-offs, theft, fire or official requirements, and planned because of excessive wear and tear , inefficiency or because new technologies are introduced. Discontinued systems can be sold or used as a spare parts store for similar machines. The service life of systems is often estimated by technicians, although more precise models exist to calculate the optimal service life or the replacement time.

For a long time, companies had the choice between very flexible stand-alone machines with rather low capacities and very rigid production lines with high capacities. With the help of CNC technology, technical concepts have been developed that improve the capacity of individual machines or the flexibility of production lines and adapt them very precisely to the respective requirements. These are CNC machines , machining centers , flexible manufacturing systems , flexible transfer lines and conventional transfer lines , the economic conditions of which are also examined in the context of production management, while the technical design is reserved for engineering.

material

→ Main article : Materials management

The Materials Management deals with the determination of material requirements and inventory . The material requirements planning can either come from the production program and on the basis of BOMs calculate how much material for the planned production volume is necessary or based on historical data such as the annual consumption of a particular commodity future demand forecasting. Various forecasting methods are used for this. An ABC analysis is often used to decide which material is to be forecasted by which method . In both cases, a decision must be made about the order quantity , i.e. how often and how much should be ordered. A large order quantity reduces the number of orders and thus also the total fixed costs (costs that arise per order, such as travel costs for trucks), but increases the inventory and thus also the storage costs. Simple models can be used to show that there is an optimal order quantity that minimizes overall costs. An extreme form is the just-in-time concept , in which only as much is ordered as is currently needed in order to largely or entirely avoid storage. In addition, a suitable ordering policy must be chosen.

Location of the company

→ Main articles : Location theory  and company location

The choice of the company's location is of particular strategic importance, as it involves high investments and can only be reversed in the long term. Location issues arise with production facilities and procurement and finished goods warehouses. Important location factors that must be taken into account are proximity to customers and suppliers, access to qualified personnel, personnel costs, the type and extent of harmful emissions , as well as taxes and subsidies . In the literature, particular attention is paid to mathematical models that choose the location in such a way that the transport costs are minimized for given locations of customers and suppliers. The best known is the Steiner-Weber model .

Material flow management and emission avoidance

The design of production processes today must take into account pollutant emissions. For this purpose a is material flow management required, the planning the local and regional material flows, controlled and predicts the emissions, avoids or reduces continuously. This includes, for example, the use of renewable energies, the reduction of unnecessary packaging material or dangerous operating and auxiliary materials.

Process design

The (production) process design (also: (production) process planning , (production) implementation planning or sequence planning) is divided into layout planning , scheduling and sequence planning . In some cases, lot size planning and assembly line coordination are also included. From a strategic (long-term) perspective, the general production processes are determined, e.g. B. the type of organization of production. The tactical (medium-term) process design has the task of finding the optimal internal location of the means of production. The operational (short-term) process design ensures the economical execution of the production. Production control is particularly important here .

Layout planning

The layout planning (also in-house site planning) tries to find the optimal layout, i. H. to find the optimal arrangement of the means of production. Above all, the question of where which machine should be located is examined in order to reduce the transport effort between these machines, to minimize the throughput time or to achieve maximum flexibility. A distinction is made between problems when planning a new location and those that arise when redesigning or expanding.

Scheduling

The scheduling defines when which products or production batches should be produced and by when they should be finished.

The lead time scheduling defines the start and end times for the production orders, but without taking into account capacity restrictions. In principle, orders can be processed one after the other or at the same time on parallel machines. Mixtures of both strategies are also possible if, for. B. a half-finished lot is already being passed on to subsequent stations for processing. The network plan technique is suitable for the precise determination of the optimal procedure .

The capacity scheduling observes the available capacity. If the available capacity is lower than the required one, an attempt can be made to increase the available capacity, for example by means of extra shifts or the commissioning of shutdown machines. On the other hand, it is also possible to reduce the required capacity, for example by subcontracting part of the planned production volume or by postponing production until later.

Lot size planning

→ Main article : Lot size

A lot is understood to be a number of similar products that can be manufactured on one machine without setup processes. Since large lots lead to short set-up times and costs , but to high throughput times and storage costs , the question of the optimal lot size arises. A large number of models have become established in the literature; the best known and simplest is the classic lot size model , which assumes only one product and constant demand. The standard model of dynamic lot size planning , in which the demand fluctuates over time but is known with certainty in advance, is the Wagner-Whitin model , which also only includes one product type. More complex but more realistic models also include scarce production capacity and multiple product types. These include the brand change problem with constant demand and Capacitated Lot-sizing problem (CLSP) and Discrete Lot-sizing and scheduling problem (DLSP) with dynamic demand. With the DLSP, in addition to the lot size, a sequence of the individual lots is also determined at the same time. It is therefore a mixed model of lot size planning and sequence planning.

Sequence planning

Sequence planning (also machine occupancy planning or order sequence planning) deals with the question of when which orders are to be produced on which machine. You can choose the sequence in such a way that the entire missed deadline is minimized, so that the lead time - the time from the start of production of the first product to the completion of the last product - is minimized, or so that the utilization is maximized. However, it is not possible to optimize all three criteria at the same time. This problem has come to be known as the scheduling dilemma. However, there are different priority rules with which a single one of these goals can be safely achieved. A distinction is made between two orders:

• The machine sequence specifies the order in which an order is to be processed on the various machines. It can be technically or organizationally specified or freely selectable.
• The order sequence specifies the order in which the various orders are to be processed on a machine. Particular attention should be paid to the set-up times; they can be constant or depend on the order or the order of the orders.

A machine occupancy problem is solved when both the machine sequence and the order sequence are determined. Certain special cases have emerged. In the job shop , the machine sequence is specified for each individual job, but different for each job. In the Flow Shop , the machine sequence is identical for each order. It is therefore a flow production . However, the processing times on the individual machines are generally different. In the open shop, there are no stipulations regarding the order or machine sequence. This is e.g. B. the case with flexible manufacturing systems . Most of these problems belong to the class of NP-hard problems, so they can only be optimally solved with an extremely high computational effort. For machines and sequence-dependent setup times, for example, there are generally different setup times (! Is the faculty , for example 5! = 120, 7! = 5040). Since the required computing power is already very high for small to medium-sized problems, heuristics are usually examined that do not always lead to the optimal solution, but lead to relatively good solutions with comparatively little effort. ${\displaystyle m}$ ${\displaystyle m!}$

Integrative concepts

The previous sub-areas of the production economy concentrate on certain sub-problems of production. However, the optimal solution in any one of these areas can lead to deterioration in other areas. Integrative concepts therefore want to deal with these sub-problems at the same time and integrate them into a coherent overall concept.

Production Planning and Control

→ Main article : Production planning and control

Production planning and control is the administration of all processes that are necessary in the production of goods. There is hardly any sharp separation between planning and control, but the following classification is made in the literature:

• Production planning
  • Production scheduling
  • Material requirements planning
  • Production process planning
• Production control
  • Order approval
  • Order monitoring

Depending on which principles a company's production follows (push / pull production), the production planning and control systems ( PPS system ) are designed differently.

Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)

→ Main article : Computer-integrated manufacturing

A virtual component in a spatial ( 3D ) view (CAD program CATIA )

Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) is a collective term for various PC-based, technically oriented concepts. The most important and well-known include:

• CAD : Computer-aided design (computer-aided design)
• CNC : Computerized Numerical Control (for programming machines)
• CAQ : Computer-aided quality assurance (computer-aided quality assurance)

They also have interfaces to production planning and control systems (PPS systems). For example, the required processing times can be calculated from the work schedules and transmitted to the PPS. There they are needed to calculate dates for the order release.

Lean production

→ Main article : Lean Manufacturing

Lean Production involves various methods and concepts for avoiding waste. The aim is to store only a small amount of material, since stored material ties up capital and thus "wastes" it. Consequently, the aim is to deliver raw material that only arrives at the required time ( just in time ) and, if necessary, in the correct sequence (see just-in-sequence production ). In-house, larger stocks of semi-finished products are avoided by producing according to the pull principle. Further elements are continuous improvement processes , autonomation and poka yoke .

logistics

→ Main article : Production logistics  and intralogistics

Logistics subsystems: procurement , production , sales and disposal logistics

The logistics considers the entire supply chain from procurement and production to customers and meets a cross-sectional function. The Supply Chain Management (SCM, German: supply chain management) emphasizes the integrative idea even more by including suppliers and customers in the consideration. Such an overall view of logistics or SCM is useful, for example, if cheaper procurement and sales methods in production would lead to higher costs. Production logistics from an economic point of view and intralogistics from a technical point of view deal specifically with in-house transport, storage and handling . Transport is the spatial bridging, i.e. H. Goods are needed at a different location. Storage is the temporary bridging, i.e. H. Goods are needed at a different time. Logistics deals with topics such as throughput times , batch sizes , transport routes, internal material flows and their technical implementation, for example with the help of assembly lines , cranes , forklifts or driverless transport systems . Some scientists see such a great interaction between production and logistics that they cover these areas together in their books.

Quality management

→ Main article : Quality management

Quality management is an operational management task that deals with products and production processes (and other processes). The Total Quality Management (German: comprehensive quality management) is a concept throughout the company all employees - from the board to the production staff - incorporates reinforced to focus on to steer the quality. Six Sigma is a concept for implementing quality management that is based on statistical methods. These statistical methods include, for example, process capability studies and statistical process control . In order to be able to consider errors that may occur later in the planning phase and to be able to take measures beforehand so that they do not occur in the first place, an error possibility and influence analysis is often used.

Education and training in Germany

Production management training content can be found in Germany in industrial-technical and commercial vocational training , in corresponding further training and in business management and engineering courses.

In the commercial-technical training occupations, the focus is on technical knowledge and ability, but knowledge of work preparation and monitoring of product quality is also imparted.

In the commercial vocational training, industrial clerks in particular are taught production management knowledge. This applies in particular to knowledge of various production organizations, materials management, logistics, production types, production planning and control and quality management.

In the advanced training courses to become a technician and industrial foreman, business management skills are also on the schedule, but this applies above all to prospective technical specialists and industrial specialists . In addition, REFA courses often have production management content.

In the academic field, appropriate lectures are offered primarily in business administration courses. In most cases, at least one subject that deals with production has to be taken as a compulsory subject. They can be deepened later, with content often also being offered that deal with peripheral and secondary aspects of production, or subjects that are used as auxiliary sciences, for example operations research , production controlling , labor law or business psychology . Since production is closely linked to logistics, knowledge of production management is also imparted in special logistics courses with a technical or economic focus, such as supply chain management or logistics engineering . In engineering courses in Germany, a compulsory elective subject with economic content can often be chosen, which also covers production management. The industrial engineering and business computer science combine technical and economic content into an independent interdisciplinary studies.

Science and Research

The production economy, like other sciences, pursues descriptive , explanatory and creative goals. The descriptive (descriptive) scientific goal includes the formation of technical terms and the division (typing, classification) of actually existing objects (e.g. production systems). These include, for example, the terms of production, the production system and their types, as well as the production factors and their classification. The explanatory (theoretical) scientific goal builds on the descriptive knowledge and seeks connections in order to be able to explain and ultimately predict certain phenomena. The main examples to be mentioned here are production theory and the various production and cost functions. Building on this, the part of the research that follows the creative (pragmatic) scientific goal tries to provide recommendations for action for design problems. Examples from production management are formulas for determining the optimal batch size or order sequence or recommendations for designing the production program.

Production research moves in many different research topics. In the field of ecology, the question arises of how environmental protection requirements can be complied with as cost-effectively as possible. In addition, it is asked how an efficient circular economy can be implemented or how questions of environmental protection can generally be integrated into production theory.

In the area of ​​humanization, questions relating to the well-being of workers are important, such as how job satisfaction and working conditions can be improved or what effects group and island manufacturing have. Here, too, it is interesting how this can be implemented as cheaply as possible.

Finally, it examines how a company can work as efficiently as possible. While production theory assumes that a company works efficiently, in reality this state of affairs is only more or less close. In practice, various concepts have been developed how to approach this situation again, for example by means of continuous improvement processes.

Research results are only partially published in business journals. Depending on the research topic, engineering journals (operation of factories, flexible manufacturing systems, work preparation), ergonomics (manpower, ergonomics) or operations research (mathematical models) can also be considered.

See also

Portal: Industrial Engineering  - Overview of Wikipedia content on the subject of industrial engineering

• Innovation management
• technology

literature

• Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production Management . Introduction to industrial production management. 12th, completely revised and expanded edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-58751-7 .
• Harald Dyckhoff: Production Theory . Basics of industrial production management. 5th, revised edition. Springer, Berlin a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-540-32600-6 .
• Bernd Ebel: Production Management. 9th, completely revised edition. Kiehl, Ludwigshafen 2009, ISBN 978-3-470-70449-4 .
• Günter Fandel: Production. Volume 1: Production and Cost Theory. 7th edition. Springer, Berlin a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-73140-5 .
• Hans-Otto Günther , Horst Tempelmeier : Production and Logistics. 4th, revised and expanded edition. Springer, Berlin a. a. 2000, ISBN 3-540-66518-8 .
• Hans-Jörg Hoitsch: Production Management . Basics of industrial business administration. Vahlen, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-8006-1121-X .
• Werner Kern : Industrial Production Management (= Poeschel Collection. Vol. 5). 5th, revised and updated edition. Poeschel, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-7910-9183-2 .
• Sebastian Kummer (Ed.), Oskar Grün, Werner Jammernegg: Basics of procurement, production and logistics. 2nd updated edition. Pearson studies, Munich a. a. 2009, ISBN 978-3-8273-7351-9 .
• Christoph Schneeweiß: Introduction to the production economy. 8th, improved and enlarged edition. Springer, Berlin a. a. 2002, ISBN 3-540-43192-6 .
• Ulrich Thonemann : Operations Management. Concepts, methods and applications. 2nd updated edition. Pearson studies, Munich a. a. 2010, ISBN 978-3-8273-7316-8 .
• Erich Zahn , Uwe Schmid: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management (= UTB 8126). Lucius and Lucius, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8282-0014-1 .
• Günther Gäpfel:
  • Production economy. Operational production management. de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 1982, ISBN 3-11-007450-8 .
  • Tactical production management. de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 1989, ISBN 3-11-012013-5 .
  • Strategic production management. de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 1989, ISBN 3-11-012015-1 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Production economy  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Harald Dyckhoff: Production theory: basics of industrial production management. 5th edition. Springer, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-540-32600-6 , p. 3 and p. 5f.
2. ↑ Gäpfel: Production Management: Operative Production Management. P. 1.
3. ^ Günther, Tempelmeier: Production and Logistics. 4th edition, Springer, Berlin, 1994
4. ^ Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production economy . 12th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009 p. 22.
5. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management . UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , p. 49.
6. ↑ Hartmut F. Binner: Handbook of the process-oriented work organization , Hanser Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-446-22703-2 .
7. ↑ The American engineers of the time had no academic training. Kaiser, König: History of the Engineer . P. 151.
8. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management . UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , p. 43.
9. ^ Meffert: Marketing. Basics of sales policy. 7th edition, Wiesbaden, 1986, p. 29f.
10. ↑ Gutenberg, Erich: Fundamentals of business administration. Volume 1: Die Produktion , Berlin / Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag 1951, 1983 (24th edition), ISBN 3-540-05694-7 .
11. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management. UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , pp. 22-25.
12. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management. UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , pp. 25-28.
13. ↑ Heinen: Basic questions of decision-oriented business administration In: Schweitzer (Hrsg.): Opinions and scientific goals of business administration. Darmstadt 1978, pp. 219-246. Quoted from: Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management. UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , p. 25. Full quote: “Business economies are not 'events' of any abstract production factors, but social systems in which people use technical aids to share work and cooperate to achieve the organizational goal and work together with your own goals. "
14. ^ Meffert: Marketing. Basics of sales policy. 7th edition, Wiesbaden, 1986, p. 29f.
15. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management . UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , pp. 28-31.
16. ^ First August-Wilhelm Scheer : EDV-oriented business administration. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-540-13277-5 .
17. ↑ Joachim Fischer among others: Work structuring and organizational change in the clothing industry. Frankfurt / New York 1983.
18. ↑ Harald Dyckhoff: Company production: Theoretical foundations of an environmentally-oriented production economy , 2nd edition, 1994.
19. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management . UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , p. 176.
20. ↑ Communication from the EU Commission on January 26, 2011
21. ^ Günther Gäpfel: Production Management (Operative Production Management) . de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 1982. Tactical production management. de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 1989. Strategic production management. de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 1989.
22. ^ W. Kern: Production Management 5th Edition, Stuttgart, 1992. Quoted from Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production Management. 6th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 1996, p. 29f.
23. ↑ Dyckhoff himself uses the expression "theory of operational production" See Harald Dyckhoff: Production theory: Basic features of industrial production management. 5th edition. Springer, Berlin 2006
24. ↑ Kern, Werner: Production Management: Object Area and Interpretations in Kern, Schröder, Weber: Handbook of Production Management 2nd Edition, Sp. 1629–1642. Online at http://www.daswirtschaftslexikon.com/d/produktionswirtschaft_objektbereich_und_konzepte/produktionswirtschaft_objektbereich_und_konzepte.htm Retrieved on December 2, 2014
25. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management . UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , pp. 68-78.
26. ^ Hans Corsten: Production Management. 6th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 1996 pp. 26-28.
27. ↑ z. B. Hans Corsten The production of services. Basics of a production economics of the tertiary sector . Berlin 1985.
28. ^ Heizer, Render: Operations Management Pearson, Prentice Hall, 6th Edition, 2006
29. ^ Martin Grothe: Operations Management in: Manual dictionary of the production economy 2nd edition, pp. 1347-1356.
30. ^ Martin Grothe: Operations Management in: Manual dictionary of the production economy 2nd edition, pp. 1347-1356.
31. ^ Thonemann: Operations Management: Concepts, Methods and Applications . 2., updated Edition. Pearson, Munich 2010.
32. ^ H. Corsten: Production economy . 12th edition, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich, 2009, p. 1.
33. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management. UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , pp. 68-78.
34. ^ Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production economy . 12th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-58751-7 , pp. 41-48.
35. ^ Corsten Hans, Gössinger, Ralf: Production economy . 12th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, p. 10ff.
36. ↑ Günther, Tempelmeier: Production and Logistics., Springer, 2003, p. 6.
37. ↑ Wilmjakob Herlyn, PPS im Automobilbau , 2012, ISBN 978-3-446-41370-2 , p. 57 ff.
38. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management. UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , p. 178.
39. ↑ Harald Dyckhoff: Company production: Theoretical foundations of an environmentally-oriented production economy, 2nd edition, 1994. S. 34f.
40. ^ Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production economy . 12th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-58751-7 , p. 252.
41. ^ Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production economy . 12th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-58751-7 , pp. 253f.
42. ^ Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production economy . 12th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-58751-7 , pp. 188-195.
43. ↑ Corsten, H .: Production Management , 10th edition, Munich / Vienna 2003, pp. 23-27.
44. ^ Adam, Production Management , 9th edition, Gabler, Wiesbaden, 1998, p. 120.
45. ^ Corsten: Production Management, 12th Edition, 2009, pp. 283–352.
46. ^ Gerhardt Seicht: Industrielle Anlagenwirtschaft in: Schweitzer: Industriebetriebslehre , Vahlens, Munich, 1990, pp. 333–412.
47. ^ Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production economy. 6th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 1996 pp. 282-285.
48. ^ Günther, Tempelmeier: Production and Logistics . 4th ed., Springer, Berlin, 1994, p. 67.
49. ^ Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production economy . 12th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, p. 385 ISBN 978-3-486-58751-7 .
50. ↑ Corsten, H .: Production Management , 10th edition, Munich / Vienna 2003, pp. 23-27.
51. ↑ Domschke, Scholl, Voss: Production planning: process organizational aspects . 2nd edition, Springer, Berlin, 1997, p. 15f.
52. ↑ Domschke, Scholl, Voss: Production planning: process organizational aspects. 2nd edition, Springer, Berlin, 1997, pp. 279-300, 361f., 427, 430.
53. ^ Günther, Tempelmeier: Production and Logistics . 4th edition, Berlin, 1994, p. 313.
54. ^ Hans Corsten, Ralf Gössinger: Production economy. 12th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009 p. 599.
55. ↑ Günther, Tempelmeier: Production and Logistics , Gäpfel: Basics of Production and Logistics Management , Kummer, Grün, Jammernegg: Basics of Procurement, Production and Logistics .
56. ↑ Weis, Zedler: Production economic training in: Kern, Schröder, Weber: Hand Wortbuch der Produktionswirtschaft , 2nd edition, pp. 194-202.
57. ↑ Schweitzer: Production Economics Research in: Kern, Schröder, Weber: Concise Dictionary of Production Economics , 2nd Edition, Sp. 1642.
58. ↑ Erich Zahn, Uwe Schmidt: Production Management. Volume 1: Basics and operational production management. UTB, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-8252-8126-7 , pp. 16-21.
59. ↑ Maltry: Production management journals in: Kern, Schröder, Weber: Hand dictionary of production management , 2nd edition, Sp. 2306.

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 29, 2015 .