Optimizing Production: Management, Planning, Quality, and Sustainability

Production Area Management Fundamentals

The production area management is responsible for planning, organizing, and managing the company's production function.

Production Management Principles

Production management is structured around key objectives and determinants:

Management Objectives:

• Defining desired objectives.
• Planning/scheduling.
• Control.

Determinants of Production:

• Productive Capacity: The maximum amount of a product the company can manufacture.
• Product Demand: The quantity of product the market will demand and the company expects to sell.
• Production System Design: The structure and characteristics of the production process.
• Economic Environment: External situations affecting the company (e.g., economic crises).

Strategic Production Planning

Production planning aims to manage a production system with criteria of efficiency (achieving objectives with minimum resources) and efficacy (ability to achieve a desired effect), aiming to manufacture specific products in defined quantities within a given timeframe.

Phases of Production Planning and Scheduling

1. Strategic Plan: Involves determining manufacturing plant location and maximum capacity.
2. Master Plan: Structures requirements within the production area.
3. Programming/Scheduling: Defines tasks to be conducted and resource distribution among various products the company produces.

Types of Production Control

• Operational Control: Focuses on the organization and efficient methods of production.
• Economic Control: Addresses production costs, handling returns, and profitability thresholds.

Comprehensive Quality Management

Quality, in its essence, signifies superiority within its category (e.g., a premium clothing brand).

The quality of a company refers to the set of features that define and establish its suitability for intended use. This concept also applies to product quality. A Total Quality Management (TQM) system is a company-wide management style focused on quality, based on employee participation and aimed at profitability.

Production and Environmental Responsibility

Production activities can generate negative externalities. Activities focused on environmental care within the company's operational environment are often referred to as "Cleaner Production."

Cleaner Production aims to reduce risks to human health and the environment throughout the product lifecycle, from design and raw material acquisition to preparation, energy use, and material recycling. Implementing Cleaner Production involves:

• Compliance with a legislative framework for environmental protection.
• A shift in consumer attitudes towards greater receptiveness to recycling.
• A change in corporate attitudes.
• Support from Public Administration.
• Construction of waste recycling plants.

Environmental Legislation: Hard Law vs. Soft Law

Legislative solutions involve the development of standards addressing environmental impacts. A distinction is made between hard law and soft law.

Hard Law comprises mandatory laws, decrees, and regulations. The aim of hard laws is to ensure that environmental costs are borne by those who produce them.