Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
14
Production planning and
management
Objectives
•
Develop an understanding of operations management, including the defi nition, back-
ground, and current issues in the area
•
Discuss some of the unique characteristics of agricultural commodities and products as
they impact operations management and production planning
•
Summarize the key elements involved in plant and facility location decisions
•
Identify some of the factors to consider in determining the capacity of a plant or
facility
•
Differentiate between process, product, hybrid, and fi xed-position facility layouts
•
Understand the key elements of job design
Introduction
Operations management
refers to the direction and control of the processes used by food
and agribusiness fi rms to produce goods and services. In the past, operations management
was concerned primarily with manufacturing in factories. Today we recognize that service
managers in supermarkets, fi nancial institutions, web-based industries, and agribusiness
consulting fi rms have the same questions and considerations of job design, location choice,
facility design, purchasing, transportation, and scheduling as does the manufacturing sector.
Operations management for food and agribusiness fi rms can be broken into two distinct
areas: (1)
production planning
and (2)
supply chain management
.
Chapter 14
is devoted
to production planning as it pertains to both agribusiness service and manufacturing fi rms,
while in
Chapter 15
we look at the related area of supply chain management in the food and
agribusiness industries.
Modern operations management begins with the work of Frederick W. Taylor, who intro-
duced the concept of
scientifi c management
in the early 1900s. Taylor observed and stud-
ied production focusing on workers, the methods of work, and the wages paid for increased
output. From these observations, Taylor developed a basic set of tenets for scientifi c man-
agement, using his scientifi c or analytical approach. Taylor believed in the following:
1.
A standardized set of procedures that were to be used for a job each time it was
performed
2.
Determination of the most effi cient procedures for each job through scientifi c compari-
son tests
