Assignment Sample on Critical Analysis of Effectiveness of Production Management
INTRODUCTION
Production management is the systematic process of managing the production in the company by following the set of principles so that production can meet the actual requirement of the business. It is the tool that follows the plan, organize activities to manage the entire production. It takes care of leading the team well so that entire process can be completed within set time. A production manager always makes the sound decisions so that schedule and cost remain maintain in the business unit. Input pays the significant role in the production management hence procurement activities are being monitored and managers ensure that material, labour, equipments are maintained carefully. Production management always take care of designing the products properly and transform the input in output carefully so that business can meet the stakeholder’s requirements surly. In the construction industry application of production management is very unique (Bamana, Lehoux and Cloutier, 2017). The construction managers always ensure to use the raw materials such as concert and other building materials in effective manner and transform these materials into actual construction of the project in systematic manner so that wastage do not take place and business can gain high success in the market. The current assignment is going to review the articles of other authors on production management methods to analysis the effectiveness of these techniques and methods in the construction industry.
MAIN BODY
According to Sarhan, and et.al. (2017), production management is the systematic process of managing the production related activities such as planning, designing, organizing, controlling, etc. The construction industry always ensure that it handle the project carefully because the high cost is associated with the construction project hence any mistake can give huge loss to the contractor. Hence production manager always ensure to get the best raw material that contains high quality and transform these goods into the actual products that can meet the needs of all stakeholders greatly. In the construction management the production management function includes involving the capacity, supervising the work and controlling over the entire process greatly.
Dallasega, (2018) argued that production management has responsibility towards the product designing. The road construction always needs proper design so that its input requirement can be identified and production process can be started accordingly. The manager makes the effective design and make proper plan so that it can transform these inputs into the actual output systematically. Proper scheduling plays the significant role in the success of construction project. Many times natural, human related factors create issue for the production manager to finish the construction project on time. Unskilled workers can create issue in the production process, if they have no knowledge about constructing the building or road then they would not be able to manage their work timely. Hence business might get failed to finish the entire production on time (Bajjou and Chafi, 2018). Apart from this, changes in the weather conditions may create huge trouble for the production manager because it may affect raw material and may delay the schedule. This is very important for the production manager that to focus on each these elements and conduct the operations accordingly so that no issue take pace and business can gain success sin the market successfully.
According to Jong, Sim and Lew, (2019) there is significant role of production management practices, methods and techniques in the construction industry. It takes care of minimising the cost of production and take care of maintain the quality in the best manner. Its main purpose is to reduce the input and maximize the value of product. Construction manager always ensure that unnecessary activities are being eliminated so that cost can be controlled and it can meet the deadline as well. This is the best way through which profit maximization can be ensured and business can gain the high success in the market. Likita and et.al. (2018) stated that production management practices are essential in creating new opportunities for the firms and help in managing their capital in a significant manner so stakeholders can get high return over their investments. Its main function is to maintain the environment of company so that human resource can work better and to minimise the carbon footprint so that business can perform manage its operations towards sustainable development.
Reinaldo and et.al. (2020) declared that business process re-engineering (BPR) is considered as most effective production management method that is being applied by many construction firm while working on particular projects. The main agenda of this method is to redesign the process of the business and enhance its operational performance, The main work starts with identifying the business problems and use the information technology to gather adequate information so that entire work remain managed and it can be planed properly so that issue can be resolved timely. It is very difficult for the production manager that to apply the business process re-engineering process without the support of contemporary information technology. Information technology plays the significant role in this method and ensuring its effective application. This information technology in the business process re-engineering method helps the production manager to define the issue and managing the entire process so that the issue can be resolved successfully. Panuwatwanich and Nguyen, (2017) argued that BPR is the system which ensures the radical update to accomplish the task and manage the administration activities greatly. Its main focus on the needs of consumers hence manages entire process in a manner so that customers needs can be meeting successfully. BPR view the entire process of operation by making the radical inquiries and ensure that it gets improve continuously. It is the best way through which unnecessary activities can be eliminated and business can reduce its complexity greatly (Maryam and Khan, 2017). For example when the construction manager applies the BPR method in the construction projects hence it receives the benefit of enhancing the value of company because it becomes able to complete the entire process on time and with require quality. The roads are being constructed by using this business process re-engineering method. This is the technique in which production manager design the road length, width and make plan accordingly. Core functional team work in the business and take care to manage the production related issues together. This tam involvement helps in finishing any project on time and maintaining quality as well. The London city- Garden Bridge project needed to use this business process re-engineering process to construct this bridge in successful manner. The constructed manager was required to restructure its accounts payment first and need to reconcile its purchase order and list of raw materials. The company was supposed to be introduced the central data base and need to manage the raw material accordingly. This could have helped the business to improve this process and made this project successful.
Bhaskar, (2018) stated that BPR is the effective tool that allows the management to identifying the new opportunities and understanding the entire system and making plan accordingly. But this is very difficult to apply in the actual project. It seems very simple and systematic in literal manner but when construction manger is required to implement this business process re-engineering model in the actual construction project then individual faces huge difficulties and fail to work on the project successfully. Redesigning of entire process need extra monetary assets hence it increases burden on the company and many times construction manager fail to handle the cost and timing component greatly. BPR approach fails to provide the immediate resolution to the construction manager if any issues are taking place in the project.
As per the view of Nkurunziza and et.al. (2019) benchmarking is the great method of production management. This method always take care of following the require guidelines to resolve the problem related to any product and manage business process greatly. Benchmarking can be defined as the business strategic method that improves the work and ensure that timing can be saved successfully. Benchmarking ensures that each activities can be implemented sporadically as per the need of the project and need to follow the guidelines or set standards as the integral part so that no issue take place. Koesomowidjojo, (2017) stated that benchmarking is the systematic process that first compare the cost of same project in the past with the current project and accordingly design the process so that it can meet that cost level greatly and finish the entire project within set budget only. In large construction project authorities always take care to apply benchmarking method of production management. In this government pass the order to the supplier or the contractor which is able to finish the same construction project within the amount as done in earlier projects.
Agarwal, (2020) stated that there are many external components or competitors which have set the standard for the entire industry. This is essential for the construction manager that to meet the level of these standards greatly otherwise it will not be able to satisfy its stakeholders hence the project may get fail to meet its goal successfully. The benchmarking process is considered as effective method as it supports the construction firms in understanding the factors that can affect the business process hence manager ensure that these factors do not harm the construction project and help in meeting the require quality greatly. Benchmarking always first identify the issue in the project and set KPIs so that improvement can be planned accordingly. Change order, cost predictability, profit margin, productivity rate, project completion time are considered as major KPIs that are beings applied by the construction manager. Once it is done then collection of data is done so that customer satisfaction can be ensured. After collecting the data production manager compare and analysis the data and implement changes so that it can ensure continuous improvement (Ardiansyah, 2019). For example the construction manager was engaged in the building work where the person was responsible to finish the construction in 30 days and the actual budget of this building construction project was 58.98million. The construction manger focuses on essential KPIs and has planned the entire project accordingly. These KPIs were safety performance, communication effectiveness, client satisfaction, time frame, cost performance etc. These KPISs are effective to make the clear plan so that this project can be completed with require quality and in set time. The process of benchmarking starts with proper planning, gathering data and analysing these details. It integrates the data and takes action. This is the best way through which business can improve its standards and can meet the expectation of its stakeholder’s successfully.
According to Bhaskar, (2018) if the construction manager has inadequate information about the project then it will not possible for the manager to plan the entire project in systematic manner and meet the actual level of performance. In this manner business will not be able to gain success in the market. Benchmarking always enhances the dependency of the project on other projects. The stakeholders always expect to meet the level of prior projects hence the high dependency may create issue in implementing innovative ideas. Incorrect comparison may cause trouble to the project and it may get failed to meet the expectation of the stakeholders successfully.
Maryam and Khan, (2017) argued that flow control technique of production management is the systematic tool that always uses the production technologies to control over the flow. The production manager ensures that production process is being used properly and wastage of raw material can be minimised successfully. The construction manager ensures ordering the raw material as per requirement only because in the absence of it business may face the issue of high wastage. High wastage is associated with the high cost hence the production will not be able to meet the budget target successfully.
Reinaldo and et.al. (2020) declared that total quality management is the best way through which business can meet the expectation of the owner greatly. The constructions projects are high budget project hence this is responsibility of production manager that to pay high attention on quality and cost. The person continuously work to improve the quality hence continuous monitoring of each task is done. For example the Holyrood project of UK got failed because of poor quality management. The production manager was unable to handle the team well and failed to identify the actual quality requirement. Though, individual was making the great plan but increasing costs have created the big trouble in the project and this project got failed to meet the expectation of the stakeholders hence it was declared failed. It was very important for the production manager that to ensure that quality remain maintained and it does not increase the financial burden (Dallasega, 2018). But if both these things are missing then it is considered as failed projects. The production manger needs to take care of scope, time, cost, quality majorly. If one element is missing hem also it is considered as failure of the production manager. The project manager needs to develop the healthy vendor relationship. The person needs to ensure that vendors deliver the raw material on time. In this manner the construction manner will not require to store the additional material for the longer duration. This would help in getting quality raw material in right quantity so that business can generate the expected outcome and can gain success in the market. TQM always work to make changes in the employee and work relationships and try to make it stronger.
Sarhan, and et.al. (2017)stated to deliver a project with quality can be defined as total quality management. The theory being used in management is now associated with the construction industry as well. As the growing developments in the field of construction, the quality standards are increasing and the client requires their work completed with quality assured work. As compared to the traditional methods of management this method focuses on the quality and standard services for the project. This theory mainly focuses on the exercising of the task in the project rather than care for the outcomes. This theory does not focus on the cost factor for the use of the technology rather it anchor over the quality delivery of the task. The basis of this theory is that quality delivery leads to earning.
Total quality management is followed in the other segments of the industry related to production and delivery but as the quality concerns have risen the theory is now being applied in the construction as well to deal with the complex and broad construction projects.The construction industry is full of complexities and many backrolls due to which there can be delivery delays and deficiency in the tasks that can’t be ignored. This theory states that the manager’s mindset needs to be shifted for finding new opportunities from the situations rather than just doing a role of monitoring the things and convey to the higher authorities. The key task for the execution of successful quality management is to conceptualize the things which are need for the project and then implementing them with the resource utilization this will lead to a higher production ratio with the quality delivery. As there is no strong theoretical base for total quality management technique but it constitutes various factors for successful execution. As the theory believe delivery with quality, the project is the use of client so cost worthy delivery of the project should be the key moto keeping the client’s interest at priority. Regular interaction with the client regarding the progress and feedback received should be firmly implemented in the task involved to satisfy the need of the construction for the client. To attain the quality of the project the involvement of higher officials is a must with their assurance and farsightedness being conveyed to the managers in a prominent way. For proper execution of the work to assure the quality the engaged managers must be regularly motivated and remitted for achieving the quality standards set for the construction project. The managers need to train regularly about the quality delivery at various segments and stages of the projects through workshops, meetings, discussions. This will also enhance the technical and managing skills of the managers which will simultaneously upgrade the work efficiency of the organization. The workplace should be kept free from the friction arising due to work deficiency and should always promote the united path for the execution with teamwork.
As per Dallasega, (2018) For the implementation of the TQM, the executives must ensure that they come up with an executable plan with the assurance of quality for every class of workers that can be workable. The assurance of quality delivery should be conveyed to the client so that positive context can be presented regarding the construction. A proper execution plan needs to be developed for the implementation of TQM in the institution. The information-sharing should be frequent regarding the TQM technique that needs to be implemented as desired by the managers so that they can focus on the cited information and as the execution is matched they must be equally appreciated and rewarded. As the development is an endless process there should always be a scope of improvements and new developments in the organization to assure the quality of the construction. Not only promoting the new ideas for the quality delivery but the reconsideration and remarking for the flaws and delays should be identified so that errors can be rectified with the use of other tools and implemented for future encounters. This technique has many pros and cons, the use leads to a reduction of the rework issues which saves unnecessary cost, with a long-term durable quality of construction, this will lead to high customer satisfaction and engagement of quality professionals for the associated task. As the plan of action is no compromise with the quality as such delays are avoided to meet up the standard. This also enhances the relationship with the vendors and contractors with whom we are engaged and working professionally. The only drawback with the use of this technology is the cost of indulging the new resources for achieving the quality standards and higher organizational setup.
According to Jong, Sim and Lew, (2019) This system refers to the delivery of the items when they are processed ready as such stamping out the waste of these resources. Just in time theory is broadly related to one major aspect of the construction industry, the inventory. This concept focuses on the minimum wastage of the resources and keeps a good track of the inventory maintenance so that minimum wastage and maximum utilization can be ensured.This is generally linked with the efficient use of resources along with minimum storage of unnecessary resources. This theory broadly helps to eliminate the different lean wastage of construction (DOWNTIME). The overstocking of the resources may be due to the wrong estimation of the quantity consumption and just a stock purpose overordering. These situations may also call for some uncertain events onsite including theft or misuse of the materials. These circumstances will lead to a complete waste of the resources, critical time, and energy consumed for the work. The origin of the JIT was conceptualized from the manufacturing giant Toyota where it implemented the concept of manufacturing when the demand is generated from the market and analyzing it to restrain the production. This concept is being highly implemented for manufacturing industries where it is useful to eliminate the lean. Referring to this concept in the construction industry the concept of JIT can be implemented on the resources after identifying the duration of its use at it need to classify whether the resource being used is for a longer tenure or that can be readily available in the market to procure. As these are identified the supplies for the particular ready available items can be marked out for the regular and timely supply as and when needed at the site. For this purpose, a specialized person needs to be stationed who can channelize all the things with the supply as and when needed.
The major role here for the SCM would be to cut short the time between the order availability transport and use of the resource at the work on site. This can be characterized as dragging the material to the place rather than driving it out from the place. Driving a material may lead to errors and wastage of all the essential criteria of time, effort, and money. The main requirement of JIT can be stated as the higher level of association with the vendors and suppliers so that material availability can be ensured without delays and disorientations (Reinaldo and et.al. 2020). This will then simultaneously give a positive effect for the quality delivered without delays and as such future rework can be avoided. This can be illustrated with the use of RMC (Ready Mix Concrete) in construction. The item being of no use after the lapsed time this needs to be manufactured according to the requirement of the client in a fixed ratio and quantity that should be delivered in a particular scheduled time for utilization as it can get harden if not poured on time and will then be not usable for the work at the site. As with the application of JIT, it can be observed that minimum wastage can be ensured this will assist the managers to streamline the project progress with minimum delay in quality delivery. This will also help to eliminate the basic wastage elements where there can be halting time in case of unavailability or no proper use of the modern technology installed for faster progress achievement at the site. This will also help to reduce the unnecessary space occupancy from the nonusable stocks. Quantitative delivery of the resources will ensure the production is done as per requirement and no wastage of the finished goods and unnecessary cost raising. The expenses of transportations and other chains with it for the material movement can be avoided and diminish as such budgeting the project. As there is uncertainty in the construction industry which can lead to an over budgeting of the project with a delay in delivery this will decentralize all engaged resources and can lead to failure of the project. With the use of the JIT method, all the above issues related to the construction can be easily addressed and can be used to ensure the project’s success with the increased parameters of the production process. If the proper assertion is carried out and the organization is firm to keep up with the project requirements to eliminate the time delay and costing this can greatly assist the organization to lead from the front and achieve exponential growth in the segment.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it can be articulated that construction managers need to make the sound decisions by using the several production management methods so that it can finish the project on time. This is the duty of production manager that to handle the project carefully and for that it needs adequate planning, proper organizing,, adequate controlling. Construction projects are time consuming projects and related with high budget as well. The companies need to ensure to manage this project greatly otherwise failure of such large project may cause huge financial loss to the construction companies. Business process re-engineering method is highly useable technique as it always ensures that business make changes in its designing and apply the them to make it more effective. In this manner the firm would be able to finish the project within set duration successfully. The issue in the business process need to be resolved with adequate planning that may help in finding the best solution and raising the profit of the company successfully.
REFERENCES
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