Most Economy books define manufacturing as the past of Operations management. O.C Ferrell, Professor at the Colorado Sate University explains that this is due to the fact that operations management at first was only concerned with the production of physical goods. He also defines manufacturing as "the activities and processes used in making a tangible product, also called production." [1] with accordance to that definition, it is difficult to date the real origins of manufacturing. We could come back to the primary workshops that made items in a relatively significant number with the aim of exchanging or selling them. The role of the people in charge of the production has continuously improved with evolution. In the Roman, army for example, some people had to oversee the making of the weapons and certainly faced some problems with raw materials or with people employed for that task. But these roles in the production of goods took a greater sense with the Industrial Revolution.
[...] With the emergence of the services, the term Operations Management replaced the Manufacturing word as Operations management deals both with the production of tangible goods and intangible products that are in fact, the services. IT Progress in new technology (with the invention in 1970 of the Computer- Assisted-Design or the Computer-Assisted-Manufacturing) enabled to improve and help the production. The computer is in charge of guiding and controlling the transformation process. Since 1990, it is also possible to opt for a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) which is a “complete system that designs products, manages machines and materials, and controls the operations function”[6], always in the aim to enhance productivity and quality and reduce the costs. [...]
[...] The actual trend is also to care about public opinion and face ethical issues, particularly when companies outsource in developing countries where bad working conditions and child labor must be avoided. III. Conclusion: A challenge for the future: Environmental issues As a conclusion, society has moved from a national to a global focus. The goods and services world moved from standard and mass production to products that are the more possible in adequacy with its consumer. Techniques also evolved at the same time in a way of quality and safety improvement. [...]
[...] International Standard promotes the adoption of a process approach when developing, implementing and improving the effectiveness of a quality management system, to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements.( ) The organization shall establish, document, implement and maintain a quality management system and continually improve its effectiveness in accordance with the requirements of this International Standard”[20]. To respect this International Standard and get the ISO 9000 norm, the organization shall identify, analyze, monitor and improve the processes needed for quality management system. [...]
[...] New tools for operation managers appeared as the CPM/PERT in 1957 or the system of Gantt Charts are both help to determine task planning.[12] Today's operations managers have the heritage left by lot of people such as Louis Gerstner who tells in his book how he managed to save IBM from bureaucracy issues and failure in the 1980's.[13] Michael Dell or Richard Branson, are also references in operations strategies and show that operations managers have to deal with the changes in technology, economy but also in consumer's mind. [...]
[...] With machinery, manufacturers increased their production and were looking for even more productivity and efficiency. In 1776, Adam Smith explained his theory of labor division. The principle of labor division is to entrust only one specific task to one worker who is qualified for it. According to him, each art, labor division, [ ] involves a proportional growth in the labor productive power”.[2] A hundred years later, the American engineer Taylor researched labor efficiency He instituted a minimal time for the execution of each task and separated execution from decision. [...]
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