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February 22, 2022

Operations Planning and Scheduling - Important Points - Summary - Krajewski - 12th Edition


Levels in Operations Planning and Scheduling

  • Explain the rationale behind the levels in the operations planning and scheduling process.
S&OP Supply Options
  • Describe the supply options used in sales and operations planning.
S&OP Strategies
  • Compare the chase planning strategy to the level planning strategy for developing sales and operations plans.
Spreadsheets for Sales and Operations Planning
  • Use spreadsheets for sales and operations planning.
Scheduling
  • Develop workforce and workstation schedules.



Chapter 10 OPERATIONS PLANNING AND SCHEDULING

Cooper Tire and Rubber Company mini case

Operations planning and scheduling is the process of making sure that demand and supply plans are in balance, from the aggregate level down to the short-term scheduling level. Operations planning and scheduling lies at the core of supply chain integration, around which plans are made up and down
the supply chain, from supplier deliveries to customer deliveries as per due dates and required quantities. 


Levels in Operations Planning and Scheduling
Level 1: Sales and Operations Planning
Level 2: Resource Planning
Level 3: Scheduling

Three levels of operations planning and scheduling are discussed in the book:
(1) sales and operations planning (S&OP), (2) resource planning, and (3) scheduling.

The sales and operations plan is useful because it focuses on a general course of action, consistent with the company’s budgeted goals and objectives for the year ahead, without getting bogged down in details.

In general, companies perform aggregation along three dimensions: (1) products (planning done for a group of products), (2) workforce, and (3) time.

Inputs from marketing and sales, finance and accounts, human resources, procurement, engineering and operations management are combined to arrive at the sales and operations plan that satisfies the budget goals of the company with respect to revenues and profits.

The next planning level is resource planning, which is a process that takes sales and operations plans;
process time standards, routings, and other information on how services or products are produced; and then plans the timing of equipment capacity and material requirements.

Scheduling takes the resource plan and translates it into specific operational tasks on a detailed job stating time basis. Facility schedules can be developed by assigning activities to facilities so as to utilize them efficiently.


S&OP Supply Options

There are six supply options that can
be used singly or in combination to arrive at a plan.


  1.  Anticipation Inventory
  2. Workforce count Adjustment
  3. Workforce Utilization
  4. Part-Time Workers
  5. Subcontractors
  6. Vacation Schedules



S&OP Strategies
Chase Strategy
Level Strategy
Constraints and Costs


Chase Strategy: The chase strategy involves hiring and laying off employees to match the demand forecast over the planning horizon.

The level strategy involves keeping the workforce constant over the planning horizon. It can vary its utilization to match the demand forecast via overtime, undertime (paid or unpaid), and vacation planning (i.e., paid vacations when demand is low).

Constraints and Costs: An acceptable sales and operations plan must be feasible under the relevant constraints or cost targets. Constraints can be either physical limitations or related to managerial policies. While physical constraints are machine capacities and warehouse storage space, policy constraints might include limitations on the number of backorders or the use of subcontractors or overtime, as well as the minimum inventory levels as desired safety stocks. Ethical issues may also be involved, such as excessive layoffs. 

Sales and Operations Planning as a Process

Step 1. Begin to “roll forward” the plan for the new planning horizon. Start preliminary work right after the month’s end. Update files with actual sales, production, inventory, costs, and constraints.
Step 2. Participate in the forecasting and demand planning process to create the authorized demand forecasts. 
Step 3. Update the sales and operations plans for each family, recognizing relevant constraints and costs including availability of materials from suppliers, training facilities capable of handling only so many new hires at a time, machine capacities, or limited storage space.Typically, many alternative plans can satisfy the given  set of constraints.The planner evaluates plans to find the best that best balances costs, customer service, and workforce stability. 
Step 4. Have one or more consensus meetings with the stakeholders on how best to balance supply with demand.Participants could include the supply chain manager, plant manager, controller, purchasing manager, production control manager, or logistics manager. The goal is to reach an agreement and   present  one set of recommendations to  the firm’s executive sales and operations planning (S&OP) meeting. Where agreement cannot be reached, proposed alternative plans will be presented. An updated financial view of the total business projected for the proposed S&O  plan is to be created in a spreadsheet and has to be presented along with production and sales quantities.  
Step 5. Present recommendations by product family at the executive S&OP meeting, which typically includes the firm’s president and the vice presidents of functional areas. The plan is reviewed relative to the business plan, new product issues, special projects, and other relevant factors. The committee  may suggest changes to the plan  to balance conflicting objectives better or for taking care of strategic issues of interest. 
Step 6. Finalize  the plans to reflect the outcome of the executive S&O meeting
and communicate them to the stakeholders concerned for implementation. Important recipients include those who do resource planning.



Spreadsheets for Sales and Operations Planning
Spreadsheets for a Manufacturer
Spreadsheeets for a Service Provider


Various spreadsheets can be used, including ones that are developed in house or by individual planners. In the book, Sales and Operations Planning exercises were done with Spreadsheets Solver in OM Explorer.

Scheduling
Job and Facility Scheduling
Workforce Scheduling
Managerial Practice 10.1 Scheduling Major League Baseball Umpires
Sequencing Jobs at a Workstation
Software Support




Scheduling is generating a schedule for the supply of resources or materials to meet the needs determined in resource planning. Job and facility scheduling, workforce scheduling, job sequencing at a workstation, and software support are discussed for this topic.

Schedules can be displayed by simply listing the job start and due dates  shown in a table their or as  a graph on a time scale showing their start and finish times. The Gantt chart  is used as the third approach.

Workforce Scheduling: Workforce scheduling, which is a type of scheduling that determines when employees work. Of particular interest are situations when not all employees work the same five days a week, and same eight hours per day. For example, schedule needs to be given for airplane pilots and flight attendants.  

Another aspect of scheduling is sequencing work at workstations. Sequencing determines the order in
which jobs waiting for processing are selected at a workstation. In this regard, the term “job” refers to either production orders or human customers. Number of priority rules can be used to reduce delay time of jobs, reduce overall through put and other objectives. For example First-Come, First-Served and Earliest Due Date are two popular sequencing priority rules.

Performance Measures The quality of a schedule can be judged in various ways. Two commonly
used performance measures are flow time (through put time in case of job shops) and past due.

Computerized scheduling systems are available to cope with the complexity of workforce scheduling.
Software is also available for sequencing jobs at workstations. They help firms design and manage the linkages between customers and suppliers in the supply chain. True integration requires the manipulation of large amounts of complex data in real time because the customer order work flow must be synchronized with the required material, manufacturing, and distribution activity. Coupled with the Internet and improved data storage and manipulation methods, now advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems, which seek to optimize resources across the supply chain and align daily operations with strategic goals. A firm’s ability to change its schedules quickly,  keep the goods and services flowing smoothly through the supply chain and deliver to customer requirements to the maximum extent provides  competitive edge to the company through a pathway termed 'Operational Excellence'.


Learning Goals in Review

Video Case Sales and Operations Planning at Starwood
Case Memorial Hospital


A Unified View on Planning, Scheduling and Dispatching in Production Systems.
Kan Wu
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,
The terminologies of production planning, scheduling and dispatching are commonly used in practice and literature. While they are all related to arranging limited resources to meet the production goals, it is well accepted that production planning deals with the resource arrangement in the long run, and scheduling or dispatching focuses on relatively short term or even real time information.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1407.2709

Index to Summaries of all Chapters of Krajewski's Book

Operations Management - Krajewski - 12th Edition - Chapter Summaries - Important Points

SUPPLEMENT D Linear Programming
Characteristics of Linear Programming Models
Formulating a Linear Programming Model
Graphic Analysis
Plot the Constraints
Identify the Feasible Region
Plot the Objective Function Line
Find the Visual Solution
Find the Algebraic Solution
Slack and Surplus Variables
Sensitivity Analysis
Computer Analysis
Simplex Method
Computer Output
The Transportation Method
Transportation Method for Sales and Operations Planning
Learning Goals in Review

Ud. 22.2.2022
pub: 8.92019

February 21, 2022

Product Management in Digital World - Recent Trends


How Product Managers Use Senseshaping to Drive the Front-end of Digital Product Innovation
The five senseshaping practices presented here can help product managers recognize, interpret, and respond appropriately to new information in the front-end of digital innovation.
Varun Nagaraj  (Dean SPJIMR)
Research-Technology Management 
Volume 65, 2022 - Issue 2
Pages 29-40 | Published online: 18 Feb 2022



What Makes a Truly Great Product Great - Digital Products Related
Published on March 2, 2015
Jeff Weiner
CEO at LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-makes-truly-great-product-jeff-weiner/


The one-stop product management guide
http://www.experiox.com/productmanagementguide/

Down the Book - Strategic Role of Product Management
http://pragmaticmarketing.com/strategic-role-of-product-management.aspx


The evolving role of product management
What product management is and why it’s so relevant today.
By Martin ErikssonRichard BanfieldNate Walkingshaw June 22, 2017
Excerpt from Chapter 1 of “Product Leadership.
https://www.oreilly.com/ideas/the-evolving-role-of-product-management

“The job of a product manager is to discover a product that is valuable, usable, and feasible.”
Product management is the intersection between business, user experience, and technology

Product managers for the digital world
By Chandra Gnanasambandam, Martin Harrysson, Shivam Srivastava, and Yun Wu
May 2017
http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insights/product-managers-for-the-digital-world


Product managers connect many functions related to  a product— market research, design, engineering,  marketing, sales, marketing, operations, finance, legal, and more. They are involved in the decisions about what gets built but also influence every aspect of how it gets built and launched.

The product manager of today is increasingly given the role of  the mini-CEO of the product.

16 Killer Videos on Product Management Essentials
June 9, 2016
https://userbrain.net/blog/12-killer-product-management-videos

A Panel Discussion on Product Management
12 March 2010
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Features executives formerly at Apple Computer, Hewlett-Packard, PeopleSoft, and Sybase:
Rita Iorfida, VP Products, Liquid Engines;
Rich Mironov, former VP Product Marketing, AirMagnet;
Tiffany Riley, VP Marketing at Nextance;
David Straus, SVP Worldwide Sales and Marketing, Corticon.
_________________

_________________


Product Management At Google
http://a-knol.blogspot.com/2010/01/product-management-at-google.html


Updated 21 Feb 2022,  3 October 2017, 15 July 2017

February 15, 2022

February - Management Knowledge Revision with Links

http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/nature-of-organizing-review-notes.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/departmentation-in-organizations-review.html



Line-Staff Authority and Decentralization - Review Notes
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/line-staff-authority-and.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/effective-organizing-and-organizational.html



Summary - Principles - Organizing
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/summary-principles-organizing.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/human-resource-management-and-selection.html




Performance Appraisal and Career Strategy
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/performance-appraisal-and-career.html

Manager and Organization Development
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/manager-and-organization-development.html


Summary - Principles - Staffing
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/summary-principles-staffing.html
Resourcing; A Function of Management
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2012/03/resourcing-function-of-management.html


February 2nd week,  8 to 12


Human Factors and Motivation
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/human-factors-and-motivation.html

http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/leadership-koontz-and-odonnell-review.html






Supervision - Introduction - Public Administration Point of View
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/11/supervision-introduction-public.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/committes-and-group-decision-making.html




Communication - Koontz and O'Donnell - Review Notes
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/communication-koontz-and-odonnell.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/summary-of-principles-directing-leading.html



The System and Process of Controlling - Review Notes
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/system-and-process-of-controlling.html

Control Techniques and Information Technology
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/control-techniques-and-information.html



Productivity Control
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/productivity-control.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/oerall-control-and-preventive-control.html


February 3rd Week  (15 - 19)

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/01/feb-3rd-week-mba-management-knowledge.html



Summary - Principles of Controlling
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/summary-principles-of-controlling.html


Global and Comparative Management
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/global-and-comparative-management.html


Organizing - Global Management Issues - Review Notes
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/organizing-global-management-issues.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/staffing-global-management-issues.html



Leading - Global Management Challenges
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/leading-global-management-challenges.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/controlling-global-management.html



Management and Entrepreneurship: Science, Theory and Practice
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/management-and-entrepreneurship-science.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2012/03/managerial-skills.html



Principles of Management - List
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/principles-o-principles-of-management.html
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2015/04/principles-of-management-subject-update.html


February 4th Week  (22 to 26)

Marketing Management Revision Articles
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/marketing-management-article-list.html

The Marketing Concept Kotler
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/marketing-concept-kotler.html
Marketing Strategy - Marketing Process - Kotler's Description
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/marketing-strategy-marketing-process.html



Scanning of Environment for Marketing Ideas and Decisions
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/11/scanning-of-environment-for-marketing.html
Marketing Strategy - Differentiating and Positioning the Market Offering
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/11/marketing-strategy-differentiating-and.html


Management of Marketing Department and Function
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/management-of-marketing-department-and.html
Marketing Research and Market Demand Forecasting
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/marketing-research-and-market-demand.html


Consumer Behavior
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/consumer-behavior.html
Analysis of Consumer Markets
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/analysis-of-consumer-markets.html


Organizational Buying Processes and Buying Behavior
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/organizational-buying-processes-and.html
Market Segmentation and Selection of Target Segments
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/market-segmentation-and-selection-of.html




To March - Management Knowledge Revision



Industrial Engineers support Engineers and Managers in Efficiency Improvement of Products, Processes and Systems




One Year MBA Knowledge Revision Plan

January  - February  - March  - April  - May   -   June

July  - August     - September  - October  - November  - December



Updated 2018 - 24 February

  1 Februry 2017, 16 Feb 2016, 22 Feb 2016




















February 13, 2022

M&C Saatchi Social - Social Media Agency - Social Media Influencer Campaign Activation.

 

M&C Saatchi Social are a leading agency in social media influencer talent management and campaign activation.

https://mcsaatchisocial.com/about/




SAP Activate



 https://blogs.sap.com/2021/03/10/blogosphere-is-on-fire-with-sap-activate/


SAP Activate is SAP’s implementation methodology that has evolved from our previous methodology name, SAP Launch. Read how we here at SAP think what our customers really need is Business Transformation-as-a-Service. Together with our ecosystem of customers and partners, we are bundling everything companies need to holistically transform their business with a faster time to value — at their own speed and terms, regardless of their starting point. It simplifies our customers’ journey in three simple steps


Lisa Kouch

February 8, 2021 3 minute read

SAP Activate Methodology for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, extended edition is now available in Cloud ALM

https://blogs.sap.com/2021/02/08/sap-activate-methodology-for-sap-s-4hana-cloud-extended-edition-is-now-available-in-cloud-alm/



SAP TechEd









February 12, 2022

Blogosphere - The Digital World of Blogs and Bloggers and Readers

Definition of blogosphere: all of the blogs or bloggers on the Internet regarded collectively

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blogosphere

https://ahrefs.com/blog/blogging-statistics/

https://www.isitwp.com/amazing-blogging-stats-facts/

Interesting Statistics

https://optinmonster.com/blogging-statistics/

Are Blogs Still Relevant in 2022? -FAQs

https://nealschaffer.com/are-blogs-still-relevant-in-2019/

https://mcsaatchisocial.com/

Alice Audley

Founder and CEO at Blogosphere

Alice Audley, 31, is the Founder and CEO of Blogosphere. She set up the business in 2013, which started as a magazine to curate the online world, and has been at the helm as Blogosphere expanded into events, launched its podcast and built out its influencer network.


Subscribe to Blogosphere Newsletter  https://www.blogosphere.biz/newsletter/

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/blogosphere/

2021

New Blogging Statistics: Survey of 1067 Bloggers Shows Which Content Strategies are Working in 2021

https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/blogging-statistics/


https://themeisle.com/blog/history-of-blogging/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogosphere


Learn Carpentry in the Blogosphere: Top 10 Woodworking Blogs

Oct 20, 2021

https://bestaccreditedcolleges.org/articles/learn-carpentry-in-the-blogosphere-top-10-woodworking-blogs.html


IESE Blog Network

https://blog.iese.edu/


THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

My Thoughts And Feelings On The Ever-Changing Landscape Of The Blogosphere

Interesting story from the starting of blogging in 2006. I also have to write a similar post.

http://www.triloquist.net/2021/09/my-thoughts-and-feelings-on-ever.html


2020

WORLD INFLUENCERS AND BLOGGERS AWARDS 2020
The World Influencers and Bloggers Association has announced the winners of the World Bloggers Awards 2020.

The best bloggers were chosen in 10 various categories among the nominees who applied from the beginning of the year.

Survey of 1000 bloggers


The Reception of Education Reforms through the Blogosphere

Authors: Dr Sarah Hewitt, Dr Thanassis Tiropanis, Dr Christian Bokhove. 

WebSci '20: 12th ACM Conference on Web ScienceJuly 2020 Pages 194–201https://doi.org/10.1145/3394231.3397909


Preeti Chauhan feels there is space for everyone in the blogosphere
Influencers, Mar 8, 2020
https://www.socialsamosa.com/2020/03/preeti-chauhan-interview/

Interesting paper on the output of a Blogger.


ESSAY: ANWEN CRAWFORDSIMON REYNOLDSRHIAN E. JONESIVOR SOUTHWOODCARL NEVILLEOWEN HATHERLEYON MARK FISHER
24 Hour Theory People: Mark Fisher and the blogosphere
Published February 21, 2020

Revealing the Content of the Edu-Blogosphere - ePrints Sotonhttps://eprints.soton.ac.uk › Final_Thesis_unsignedPDF
by S Hewitt · 2020 — FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES. Electronics and Computer Science.
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/449027/1/Final_Thesis_unsigned.pdf

How Axios tries to create truly differentiated content
Feb 12, 2020
There are few people as knowledgeable about web publishing as Scott Rosenberg. In 1995, he and a group of other San Francisco Examiner journalists launched Salon.com, one of the first online magazines. An early blogger, he wrote the definitive history of the blogosphere and published it as a book in 2009. Today, Rosenberg is the tech editor for Axios, a website launched in 2017 by Politico founders Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei.
https://businessofcontent.libsyn.com/how-axios-tries-to-create-truly-differentiated-content

The Technorati Story

2019

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/blog-marketing-1794404

https://www.livinganthropologically.com/anthropology-blogs-2019/

https://www.berlin-university-alliance.de/en/impressions/20190423-academic-blogs-berlin/index.html

https://www.blogosphere.biz/inside-issue-19/

2018

13 Infographics To Understand The Blogosphere Better
By Michael Poh in Blogging. Updated on May 8, 2018.
https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/blogging-blogosphere-infographics/

2010 - Identified Blogs: 146,628,598.

Digital Conversations on the Blogosphere
Adeola Abdulateef Elega 1 *

Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 8, Issue 2, pp. 39-54. https://doi.org/10.12973/ojcmt/2353
OPEN ACCESS     Published online: 24 Apr 2018
ABSTRACT
Blogs or weblogs are shared online journals that allow individuals or groups to share entries about their experiences, ideas and opinions. One of its common feature; the comment section, is the major facilitator of digital conversations on the blogosphere and it has earned little scholarly effort unlike news entries. Through a qualitative research technique of in-depth interview among fifteen active blog visitors of Linda Ikeji, a Nigerian A-list blog, this study sought to understand why blog readers involve or engage themselves in digital conversations on blogs. Findings show that that blog visitors seem to be primarily motivated to involve themselves in digital conversation for three main reasons; opinion sharing (Checking other commenters/ blogger and, alternating the dominant flow of conversation) digital conversational perks and interest.
https://www.ojcmt.net/article/digital-conversations-on-the-blogosphere

https://sk.sagepub.com/books/digital-literacies/n6.xml

https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/around-diabetes-blogosphere-april-2018#1

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol8/iss1/9/

Towards a hyperlinked society: a critical review of link studies.   
PDF by J De Maeyer · 2013 
https://papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca/xmlui/bitstream/1866/16412/1/demaeyer_towards%20a%20hyperlinked%20society.pdf

RESEARCH-ARTICLE FREE ACCESS
Political Discourse on Social Media: Echo Chambers, Gatekeepers, and the Price of Bipartisanship
Authors: Kiran Garimella, Gianmarco De Francisci Morales, Aristides Gionis,Michael Mathioudakis
WWW '18: Proceedings of the 2018 World Wide Web ConferenceApril 2018 Pages 913–922https://doi.org/10.1145/3178876.3186139
https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3178876.3186139

40 Must-Read AI / Machine Learning Blogs
Melanie LawderMelanie Lawder | 9 minute read | December 21, 2018
https://www.springboard.com/blog/ai-machine-learning/machine-learning-blog/




2017

Types of Tags for Annotating Academic Blogs

March 2017

Conference: iConference 2017

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318276866_Types_of_Tags_for_Annotating_Academic_Blogs


Blogs and Their Social Influence

Rozalina Bozhilova1

2012?


PhD student, University of Ruse, Bulgaria, Address: 8 Studentska str., POB 7017, Ruse, Bulgaria.

Email available in the link

https://dj.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/JDSR/article/view/577/844

2011

Blogging as a journalistic practice: A model linking perception, motivation, and behavior


Jae Kook Lee

2011, Journalism

https://www.academia.edu/9489368/Blogging_as_a_journalistic_practice_A_model_linking_perception_motivation_and_behavior

2007

2007

Mapping the blogosphere

stephen reese

https://www.academia.edu/2773153/Mapping_the_blogosphere


From expression to influence: Understanding the change in blogger motivations over the blogspan


Timothy Fung

2007, AEJMC, Washington, DC

https://www.academia.edu/11879039/From_expression_to_influence_Understanding_the_change_in_blogger_motivations_over_the_blogspan

2006


Behind the Scenes in the Blogosphere: Advice From Established BloggersIn this report, respected and experienced business savvy bloggers talk about everyday challenges of running a blog and how they deal with them. Posted Thursday, March 23, 2006

https://www.umassd.edu/cmr/research/2006-advice-from-experienced-bloggers.html



Blogosphere: The New Political Arena


Mîk̲ā'ēl Qeren, Michael Keren

Lexington Books, 2006 - 165 pages


Examining the web logs, or blogs, of individuals from a variety of continents and cultures, this book highlights the nature of 'blogosphere, ' the virtual public arena of the early 21st century, which alters the traditional world of media and politics. It characterizes this new arena by the unique combination of a fresh voice of emancipation and a deep sense of melancholy and isolationism. This journey through blogosphere highlights major forces operating in today's politics: apathy toward political affairs, resistance to globalization, a quest for redemption through religious fundamentalism and terrorism. Michael Keren compares bloggers to terrorists, arguing that while the methods advocated by the two groups are obviously very different, they both represent a similar trend, one of diversion by respected but disenchanted citizens from the norms of civil society to a fantasy world in which the excessive use of words_or bombs_would make everybody listen

https://books.google.mw/books?id=W_yGmNbCYc8C









Services Management - Bibliography

 

I maintained a blog on management of securities investment firms. In developing the blog, I had the benefit of teaching the topic in the course of financial markets. I am happy to come across this series YouTube videos by a person who contributed a lot to the services management subject. I shall have a fresh look at the topic through these videos.

Hanken Professor Christian Grönroos - Principles of Service Management 1 - What is service?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBD8r5O6zh8

2014


Hanken Professor Christian Grönroos - Principles of Service Management 2 - The service profit logic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8LQuHnnuxA

Service Productivity - Important Issues to  Consider - Christian Gronroos

__________________

Hanken Professor Christian Grönroos - Principles of Service Management 3 - Service Productivity


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBOzPg1U5VA

___________________


Hanken Professor Christian Grönroos - Principles of Service Management 4 - Profitable long-term

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrgqk5rPFlM


Hanken Professor Christian Grönroos - Principles of Service Management 5 - Value creation an..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiIYTX2tp6c



Books


2020


https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Service_Management/wqQLEAAAQBAJ

https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Routledge_Handbook_of_Service_Resear/1OcJEAAAQBAJ

February 10, 2022

Technology and Processes Decisions in Manufacturing Strategy

Includes notes on Chapter 7: Creating an Edge Through New Process Development of Operations, Strategy, and Technology: Pursuing the Competitive Edge - Hayes et al.


Notes on Process Technology Strategy - Chapter 6 in Nigel Slack and Michael Lewis


Introduction


Technology has a profound impact on all operations. Manufacturing managers have to understand technology  and identify ‘operations strategy’ characteristics of technology for deciding ‘what’ technological options to explore. Operations need to clarify exactly ‘why’ the proposed investments in process technology  can give strategic advantage. They have to explore ‘how’ the manufacturing management team  can make such investments work in practice. They have to ensure that their technology investments are implemented so as not to waste the potential of the selected process technology. The risks associated with technology implementation are substantial. There are   number of high-profile failures and claims of waste that seem to go hand-in-hand with successes in such investments.

What is process technology?

Process technology is the ‘appliance of science to any operations process’. 

There is product technology also. For example, product technology  of a computer is embodied in its hardware and software. There are drawings of each part, each subassembly and final assembly of the computer and engineering is used to design each part and assembly and each drawing is part of computer technology represented as part and assembly drawings.

It is  the process technology that produces all the components and assembles all the different components into a working product.

The term ‘process technology’ includes technology that acts directly on resource inputs in operations in processes as well as indirect technology that supports planning of resources and maintenance of resources. Infrastructural and information technologies that help control and coordinate direct processes are having a major role  on operations. ERP, MES, SCADA etc. are the IT software systems that are essential components of manufacturing systems. Process management systems and systems facilitating continuous improvement that is Industrial engineering are also part of indirect technology.

Operations in processes can be categorized as operations that  process materials, information or customers. Process technologies can be similarly classified. These days, we can observed machines doing multiple activities. A machine, while processing materials, may also be deciding whether tooling needs changing, whether to slow the rate of processing because of rising temperature, noting small variations in physical dimensions to plot on process control charts, and so on. Technologies are increasingly ‘overlapping’ to become integrating technologies.

Process technology strategy

Process technology strategy was defined as ‘the set of decisions that defines the strategic role that direct and indirect process technology can play in the overall operations strategy of the organisation and sets out the general characteristics that help to evaluate alternative technologies’.

Manufacturing managers have to thoroughly understand process technologies. They work with them on a day-by-day basis and should  be able to visualize and articulate how new or additional technology can improve operational effectiveness. Operations must act as ‘impresario’ for technologies.  (‘impresario: Organizer of public entertainment). The utilize technologies in manufacturing processes and like orchestra conductors, they have to direct the shop floor personnel to deliver a performance that is applauded by the customers. To carry out their ‘impresario role’, operations should have a grasp of the technical nature of process technologies. They need not know the core science behind the technology (technology developers have to know those core sciences). But they need to know enough about the technology to use it in operations or processes. They have to be comfortable in evaluating technical information, and be able to ask relevant questions of the technical experts in case of new technologies acquisition plans.

These questions include the following:

●● What does the new technology do and deliver additional benefits?  

●● How does it do it?

●● What is  capacity range of the technology?

●● What is the expected useful lifetime of the technology?

●● What constraint does using the technology place on the operation?

●● What skills will be required from the operations staff in order to install, operate and maintain the technology?

Each process technology supports a specific range of  volume and variety (Hence it  has to be suitable for volume and variety of the organizations).

Process technology characteristics

Process technology characteristics are strongly related to volume and variety, with different process technologies appropriate for different parts of the volume–variety continuum. 

High variety–low volume processes generally require process technology that is general purpose, because it can perform the wide range of processing activities that high variety demands. High volume–low variety processes can use technology that is more dedicated to its narrower range of processing requirements. 

Within the spectrum from general purpose to dedicated process technologies three characteristics important to consider in selection of technologies.

The first is the extent to which the process technology carries out activities or makes decisions for itself, that is, its degree of ‘automation’. The second is the capacity of the technology to process work, that is, its ‘scale.’ The third is the extent to which it is integrated with other technologies, that is, its degree of ‘coupling. ’ 

Scale and scalability – the capacity of each unit of technology

Scale is an important issue in almost all process technologies and is closely related to the  capacity strategy decision. 

Factors influencing the desirability of large-scale technology include the following considerations.

Broadly speaking, the larger the unit of technology, the more is its capital cost but the less its capital cost per unit of capacity. Similarly, the costs of installing and supporting the technology are likely to be lower per unit of output. Likewise, operating (as opposed to capital) costs per unit are often lower on larger machines, the fixed costs of operating the plant being spread over a higher volume.

There is a traditional trade-off between large increments of capacity exploiting economies of scale but potentially resulting in a mismatch between capacity and demand, and smaller increments of capacity with a closer match between capacity and demand but fewer economies of scale. The same argument clearly applies to the units of process technology that make up that capacity. Also, larger increments of capacity (and therefore large units of process technology) are difficult to stream on and off if demand is uncertain or dynamic. Small units of process technology with the same or similar processing costs as larger pieces of equipment would reduce the potential risks of investing in the process technology. This is why efficient but smaller-scale technologies are being developed in many industries. Even in industries where received wisdom has always been that large scale is economic (e.g. steel and electricity generation), smaller, more flexible operations are increasingly amongst the most profitable.

Building an operation around a single large machine introduces greater exposure to the risk of failure. Suppose that the choice is between setting up an  operation with ten smaller or one very large machine. If there is a single machine failure, then the operation with ten machines is more robust, as 90 per cent of the work can still be done. In the large-scale machine operation, no work  can be done.

Scope  for exploiting new technological developments: Many forms of process technology are advancing at a rapid rate. This poses a threat to the useful life of large units of technology. If an operation commits substantial investment to a few large pieces of equipment, it changes them only infrequently and the opportunities for trying out new ideas are somewhat limited. Having a broader range of different technological options (albeit each of a smaller scale) makes it easier to take advantage of new developments – provided the operation can cope with potential inconsistencies.

From ‘scale’ to ‘scalability: Scalability is  the ability to shift to a different level of useful capacity quickly, cost-effectively and flexibly.

Degree of automation

No technology  operates continually, totally and completely in isolation, without ever needing some degree of human intervention. The degree of human intervention may be very occasional (an engineer’s control in an automated pharmaceutical plant). The relative balance between human and technological effort is usually referred to as its capital intensity or degree of automation of the technology.

An increasing number of purely information transformation processes are entirely automated. Analytics is now the important characteristic of information systems.

Degree of coupling/connectivity – how much is joined together?

Coupling could consist of physical links between pieces of equipment, for example a robot removing a piece of plastic from an injection moulding machine and locating it in a machine tool for finishing. Many of the direct benefits associated with increased coupling echo those described with respect to automation and scale. The integration of separate processes often involves additional capital costs. But increasing coupling removes much of the fragmentation caused by physical or organisational separation; closer coupling can lead to a greater degree of synchronisation, thereby reducing work-in-process and costs. However closer integration can increase exposure (with positive and negative effects) if there is a failure at any stage.

From ‘coupling’ to ‘connectivity’

Connectivity is the appropriate term in information technology to discuss coupling. In the recent days,   information processing has moved towards platform independence, allowing communication between computing devices regardless of their specification and, increasingly, organisational boundaries. Connected IT systems allow many suppliers access to a common data portal that gives real-time information about production plans of the supply chain. Such systems enable the supply companies to modify their production schedules in order to meet demand more precisely and ensure fewer stock-outs. Here the defining technological characteristic associated with platform independence is not coupling in the classic sense of integration, but rather a greater degree of connectivity.

Two key drivers have allowed ‘connectivity’ of IT systems to develop at such a phenomenal rate.

● Hardware development. Client/server systems have permitted the separation of user interfaces, processing applications and data sources. This has encouraged the development of interconnection technology, including software protocols and connection technology (such as bandwidth enhancement).

● Software development. Arguably, the distinguishing feature of the development of the World Wide Web has been the adoption of a universal browser interface, which has considerably expanded the potential for connectivity.

The Product–Process matrix

All of the three technology dimensions described above are strongly related with variety and volume of products produced. For example, the larger the unit of capacity of products and smaller the variety, the more likely it is to be capital rather than labour intensive; this gives more opportunity for high coupling between its various parts. 

Conversely, small-scale technologies, combined with highly skilled staff, tend to be more flexible. As a result, these systems can cope with a high degree of product variety or service customisation. When market supports and demand standardised products such as industrial fastenings,  achieving dependable high volumes and low unit costs is critical, and inflexible systems come into their own.

In IT-rich technologies, scalability generally depends upon connectivity (hence the emphasis upon standardisation in systems architecture and underlying operating processes). The analytical functionality that is so central to complex task automation normally requires different applications and data sources, so the greater the connectivity, the greater the analytical power, and so on.

Several authors state that companies serving high-volume, and therefore usually low-variety, markets usually have a competitive position that values low prices; therefore low-cost operations are important; therefore process technologies need to be large, automated and integrated. Conversely, low-volume, high-variety operations need the flexibility that comes with small-scale, loosely coupled technologies with significant human intervention. 

This idea is incorporated in the product–process matrix, which was  described by Professors Robert Hayes and Stephen Wheelwright. They used it to link the volume and variety requirements of the market with process design in general. 

In this book, authors used it to draw a link between volume and variety on the one hand and the three dimensions of process technology on the other. 

 The relationship between the volume/variety and process technology dimensions suggests that there is a ‘natural’ diagonal fit between high volume and large scale, high capital intensity and greater coupling, and lower volume and lower value of the characteristics.  

Moving down the diagonal

Operations will change their position in the matrix as volumes increase. All firms start small. As growth in sales occurs, they increase investment in machines which are operated by men and therefore provide flexibility.  When the product reaches large volumes, integrated production facilities are installed.  The natural trajectory of movement ‘down’ the product/process matrix can be observed in many different operational contexts. 

Moving on the diagonal has its challenges. Organizations have to manage the change.

Market pressures on the flexibility/cost trade-off?

The traditional flexibility/cost trade-off inherent in the scale, automation and integration dimensions of process technology (and the product/process matrix for that matter) is coming under increasing pressure from more challenging and demanding markets, as customization is increasing. The demands for more customisation are reducing absolute volumes of any one type of product or service. Simultaneously, shortening product/service life cycles can mean periodic step changes in the requirements placed on an operation and its process technology. At the same time there is increasing pressure to compete on cost as competitors are coming out with suitable technology, which is driving ongoing reductions in direct labour and placing increased emphasis on automation. Many operations are  embracing process technology  in new IT-rich forms. There is almost no sphere of operations where computing technology in one form or another has not had a substantial impact.

Process technology trends

So, markets seem to be demanding (or having) both greater flexibility and lower costs simultaneously from process technology. There we saw the development and improvement of operations (including process technology) as being a process of overcoming trade-offs. Now we must include developments in information technology, especially their effect of shifting traditional balances and trade-offs. In effect  emerging scalability, analytical content and connectivity characteristics of IT have enabled process technologies to enhance their flexibility while still retaining reasonable efficiency, and vice versa. In other words, these trends in process technology are having the net effect of overcoming some of the traditional trade-offs inherent within the dimensions of process technology. 

Market trends are themselves calling simultaneously for high performance in both cost and flexibility. This is why information processing technology has had such an impact in so many industries. In effect it has partially overcome some of the traditional trade-offs in choosing process technology. But note the words ‘partially’ and ‘some’. There are still trade-offs within technology choice, even if they are not as obvious as they were once. Moreover, information processing and computing power have undoubtedly had a major impact on almost all technologies but there are still limits to what computers can do.

The challenges of information technology

Surprisingly, given the ubiquity of IT, the cost effectiveness of investment in IT is not altogether straightforward. A strategy of blindly investing in IT and expecting productivity to automatically rise is sure to fail.’ Moreover, there is a high failure rate for IT projects (often cited as between 35 per cent and 75 per cent, although the definition of failure is debated).

Of course, different kinds of IT pose different kinds of challenge. 

Evaluating process technology

It involves exploring, understanding and describing the strategic consequences of adopting alternatives. 

it is useful to consider three generic classes of evaluation criteria:

● the feasibility of the process technology; that is the degree of difficulty in adopting it, and the investment of time, effort and money that will be needed;

● the acceptability of the process technology; that is how much it takes a firm towards its strategic objectives, or the return the firm gets for choosing it;

● the vulnerability associated with the process technology; that is the extent to which the firm is exposed if things go wrong, the risk that is run by choosing the technology

Evaluating feasibility

If the resources required to implement technology are greater than those that are either available or can be obtained, the technology is not feasible. So evaluating the feasibility of an option means finding out how the various types of resource that the option might need match up to what is available. Four broad questions are applicable.

What technical or human skills are required to implement the technology?

What ‘quantity’ or ‘amount’ of resources is required to implement the technology?

What are the funding or cash requirements?

Can the operation cope with the degree of change in resource requirements?

Evaluating acceptability

Acceptability in financial terms

Financial evaluation involves predicting and analysing the financial costs to which an option would commit the organisation, and the financial benefits that might accrue from acquiring the process technology over the life-cycle. Project appraisal is done over the life of the project.

Limitations of conventional financial evaluation

Conventional financial evaluation has come under criticism for its inability to include enough relevant factors to give a true picture of complex investments.

Acceptability in terms of impact on market requirements.

Market requirements are the performance dimensions

Any evaluation must reflect the impact of process technology on each performance objective relative to their importance to achieving a particular market position. Often there will be trade-offs involved in adopting a new process technology.

-------------

Quality 

Does the process technology improve the specification of the product or service? 

Speed 

Does the process technology enable a faster response to customers? 

Does the process technology speed the throughput of internal processes? 

Dependability 

Does the process technology enable products and/or services to be delivered dependably? 

Flexibility 

Does the process technology allow the operation to change in response to changes in customer demand? 

Cost 

Does the process technology process materials, information or customers more efficiently and give higher productivity? 

Acceptability in terms of impact on operational resources

At the same time, however, it is important to build up a picture of the contribution that process technology can make to the longer-term capability ‘endowment’ of the operation. These four dimensions of assessment are:

● the scarcity of resources;

● how difficult the resources are to move;

● how difficult the resources are to copy;

● how difficult the resources are to substitute for.

These four dimensions provide us with a ‘first cut’ mechanism for assessing the impact that a specific technological resource will have upon sustainable competitive advantage. 

Tangible and intangible resources

Tangible resources are the actual physical assets that the company possesses. In process technology terms these will be the machines, computers, materials handling equipment, and so on, used within the operation. Intangible resources are not necessarily directly observable but nevertheless have value for the company. Things such as relationship and brand strength, supplier relationships, process knowledge, and so on are all real but not always directly tangible. This concept of intangible resources is important when considering process technology. 

A unit of technology may not be any different physically from the technology used by competitors. However, its use may add to the company’s reputation, skills, knowledge and experience. 

Thus, depending on how the process technology is used, the value of the intangible aspect of a process technology may be greater than its physical worth. If the usefulness of process technology also depends on the software it employs, then this also must be evaluated. Again, although software may be bought off the shelf and is therefore available to competitors, if it is deployed in imaginative and creative ways its real value can be enhanced.

Vulnerability because of changed resource dependencies

Specific skills are needed if the technology is to be installed, maintained, upgraded and controlled effectively. In other words, the technology has a set of ‘resource dependencies’. Changing to a different process technology often means changing this set of resource dependencies. This may have a positive aspect when the firm succeeds in implementation. The skills, knowledge and experience necessary to implement and operate the technology can be scarce and difficult to copy and hence provide a platform for sustainable advantage.


Chapter 7: Creating an Edge Through New Process Development of Operations, Strategy, and Technology: Pursuing the Competitive Edge - Hayes et al. (2005)

Sections

Introduction

How Process Development and Operations Interact to Facilitate New Product Development

  • The Product Life Cycle Concept &  Product & Process Development Intensity
  • Mapping the Context - Four Quadrants - Different Intensities of Product & Process Development 

Leveraging Process Development Capabilities for Competitive Advantage -Benefits of Process Development Capabilities

  • Accelerated Time to Market
  • Rapid Ramp-Up
  • Enhanced Customer Acceptance
  • Stronger Proprietary Position

Achieving Speed, Efficiency and Quality in the Development of New Processes - Strategic Initiatives or Choice


  • Integrated Product and Process Development
  • Timing the Transfer of New Process Technologies into Operations
  • Centralized versus Decentralized Process Development and Technology Choices

Process Development in Perspective





Bibliography

The Development Factory: Unlocking the Potential of Process Innovation

Gary P. Pisano

Harvard Business Press, 1997 - Technology & Engineering - 343 pages

https://books.google.co.in/books/about/The_Development_Factory.html?id=xrnTsLrn9y4C 




Automotive Industry Technology and Processes


2019

https://www.autonews.com/commentary/suppliers-need-product-technology-strategy



Ud. 11.2.2022

Pub 30.1.2021


February 9, 2022

Expected Values and Risk of Project Revenues and Costs

For all business expenditure proposals, revenues and costs are estimated for the future years and hence they are subject to the laws of probability and sometimes one may not know even probabilities. When probabilities can be assigned objectively or subjectively, expected values and risk measures can be calculated for revenues and expenditures and hence for summary measures like NPV and IRR. Engineering economic analysis used probability calculations.


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF36OKabEvs
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Project Risk Analysis

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lyE3zz71us
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Ud. 10.2.2022
Pub. 11.12.2011

February 7, 2022

Digital Platform Business Enterprise - Basics

 


https://www2.deloitte.com/za/en/pages/financial-services/articles/the-business-of-platforms.html


https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/competing-on-platforms/


https://www.bis.org/publ/work986.htm


https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/types-platform-business-models-bhupesh-kumar-pandey


https://www.iimb.ac.in/prof-srinivasan-iimb-podcast-series-broadcast


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040162521008039


https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/how-to-build-a-digital-business-technology-platform


https://www.pwc.de/en/strategy-organisation-processes-systems/digital-innovation-platform-business.html


https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jhe/2021/5519891/


https://community.sap.com/topics/business-technology-platform


https://hbr.org/2021/09/how-xiaomi-redefined-what-it-means-to-be-a-platform


http://www.businessworld.in/article/Business-In-The-Platform-World/12-02-2021-376865/


https://aisel.aisnet.org/wi2021/GFuture18/Track18/4/   SLR


https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/cooperatives/publications/WCMS_809250/lang--en/index.htm


https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/en/publications/digital-platform-based-business-models-an-exploration-of-critical


https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252503286/How-GSK-Consumer-Healthcare-builds-out-its-platform-business


https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003204268-4/effects-platform-business-models-internationalisation-outcomes-speed-tamara-galkina-irina-atkova-petri-ahokangas


https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11296/pdf


https://ideas.repec.org/h/spr/lnichp/978-3-030-86800-0_27.html









February 6, 2022

Present-Worth Comparisons

Engineering Economics Revision Article Series

Net present worth (NPW) or Net present value (NPV) is the difference between the present worths of benefits and costs of an engineering decision. It is the most widely used present-worth model.

Illustrative Problem

A single underground transmission circuit is needed immediately, and load studies indicate the need for a second circuit in 6 years. If provision is made for a second conduit when the conduit for the first circuit is installed, there will be no future need for reopening, trenching, backfillng, and repaving.

the cost of installing a single circuit wiht minimum preparation for the eventual second circuit is $850,000. the installation of the second circuit will be considered to cost $800,000 at the end of year 6 in order to be in operation by the beginning of year 7. If the second circuit is installed immediately, the total cost will be $1.4 million.

Constant annual operating and maintenance costs of the circuits are 8 percent of the first cost. The average life of a circuit is 20 years. The required rate of return on such investments is 10 percent before taxes.

To take a decision, Comparison of the deferred investment with the immediate investment needs to be made.
(Exercise Problem 3.25, Riggs)
References

Engineering Economics, 4th Edition, James L. Riggs, David D. Bedworth, and Sabah U. Randhawa, McGraw Hill, New York, 1996


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_lqNmVzgMY
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http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/present-worth-comparisons/  2utb2lsm2k7a/  250


Updated   6.2.2022, 21.4.2012

February 4, 2022

Evolution of Human Resource Management



Managing the Human Factor: The Early Years of Human Resource Management in American Industry

Bruce E. Kaufman
Cornell University Press, 30-Jun-2019 - Business & Economics - 392 pages

Human resource departments are key components in the people management system of nearly every medium-to-large organization in the industrial world. They provide a wide range of essential services relating to employees, including recruitment, compensation, benefits, training, and labor relations. A century ago, however, before the concept of human resource management had been invented, the supervision and care of employees at even the largest companies were conducted without written policies or formal planning, and often in harsh, arbitrary, and counterproductive ways.

How did companies such as United States Steel manage a workforce of 160,000 employees at dozens of plants without a specialized personnel or industrial relations department? What led some of these organizations to introduce human resources practices at the end of the nineteenth century? How were the earliest personnel departments structured and what were their responsibilities? And how did the theory and implementation of human resources management evolve, both within industry and as an academic field of research and teaching?

In Managing the Human Factor, Bruce E. Kaufman chronicles the origins and early development of human resource management (HRM) in the United States from the 1870s, when the Labor Problem emerged as the nation's primary domestic policy concern, to 1933 and the start of the New Deal. Through new archival research, an extensive review and synthesis of the historical and contemporary literatures, and case studies illustrating best (and worst) practices during this period, Kaufman identifies the fourteen ideas, events, and movements that led to the creation of specialized HRM departments in the late 1910s, as well as their further growth and development into strategic business units in the welfare capitalism period of the 1920s.

The research presented in this book not only uncovers many new aspects of the early development of personnel and industrial relations but also challenges central parts of the contemporary interpretation of the concept and evolution of HRM. Rich with insights on both the present and past of human resource management, Managing the Human Factor will be widely regarded as the definitive account of the early history of employee management in American companies and a must-read for all those interested in the indispensable function of managing people in organizations.


Human Relations Era:

During Scientific Management development period, Lilian Gilbreth examined the impact of scientific management practices on people in her book "Psychology and Management." While Frank Gilbreth outlined the variable that affect human motion speed, they were more of physical variable associated with human operators. Around 1920s, management researchers gave a close look at the human factor at work and the variables that affected people’s behaviour. Hugo Munsterberg, a Harvard faculty member, wrote a book on ‘Psychology and Industrial Efficiency’ which suggested the use of psychology in the field of personnel testing, interviewing, attitude measurement, learning, etc. Thus there was an era in human resource management  termed as ‘Industrial Psychology Era’.

In 1924, a group of professors from Harvard Business School, USA, began an enquiry into the human aspects of work and working conditions at Hawthorne plant of Western Electric Company, Chicago.

They conducted researches from 1924 to 1932 and arrived at the conclusions that productivity of workers also depended on- (i) social factors at the workplace, (ii) group formation and group influence, (iii) nature of leadership and supervision, and (iv) communication. These human variables act independent of working conditions and methods of work.

They concluded that in order to have better productivity, management should take care of human relations besides the physical conditions at the workplace. Consequently, the concepts of social system, informal organization, group influence, and irrational behaviour entered the field of management of personnel.

Evolution of HRM
http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/human-resource-management/evolution-of-human-resource-management-hrm/31460



Ud. 5.2.2022
Pub 4.8.2019

February 3, 2022

Cash Flow Estimation for Expenditure Proposals

For each expenditure proposal, engineers have to estimate revenues and expenditures years wise in the future. They need to estimate salvage values of capital assets at the end of project period.

The cash flow estimation has to follow certain standard practices as they have to be comparable across projects in an organization and in conglomerate companies across various subsidiaries.


Cash flow Estimation - Some Principles


Cash flows of a project have to be estimated for a time horizon. The time horizon is the minimum of physical life of the plant, technological life of the plant, or the product market life.

In estimating the cash flows of a project, incremental principles (that considers all incidental effects), separation of investment and financing principle, post-tax principle and consistency principles are employed.

Incremental principle

In an existing company, the cash flows are to be estimated by evaluating the cash flows of the company with the project and without the project. The difference will be incremental cash flows related to the project.

Separation of investment and financing principle

In a standard capital expenditure analysis, interest payment to be made on borrowings is not brought into the picture. Borrowing is considered a financing decision and its impact is included in the cost of capital estimation. Hence cash flow estimates do not have any interest payment of component.

Post-tax principle

Tax impact on the cash flow is considered and after tax cash flows are estimated.

Consistency principle

The inflation expectation built into estimation of revenues and costs and cost of capital have to be consistent or same.
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Some Examples Issues That I came Across Recently

1. Acquisition of a software by a design department.
2. Replacement of boiler tubes.
3. Replacement of an electronic equipment as some cards used in the equipment are not available anymore for replacement (the equipment manufacturer is not supplying those cards anymore as the equipment is phased out for production).

The approval authority for the expenditures wants the concerned departments to calculate the payback period for the expenditure proposals.



Payback Period

Payback period is an investment appraisal metric. This period will indicate the number of years it will take to get back the cash initially invested in a project. The period is calculated using the estimated cash flows, both outflows and inflows.

Original Knol - http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/payback-period-estimation-of-cash-flows/  2utb2lsm2k7a/  1952#

Ud. 3.2.2022
Pub 11.12.2011

February 1, 2022

Engineering Economy or Engineering Economics: Economic Decision Making by Engineers

Engineering Economy: An Explanation

An engineering economy study involves technical considerations and it is a comparison between technical alternatives in which the differences between the alternatives are expressed so far as practicable in money terms (Grant and Ireson, 1960).
Every engineering decision must be subjected to the question "Will it pay?"
The late General John J.Carty, Chief Engineer of the New York Telephone Company, had asked three questions for every engineering proposal that came to him for review.

1. Why do this at all?
2. Why do it now?
3. Why do it this way?

The first question makes an enquiry regarding profit. In business you do a thing because it is profitable to do so.
The second asks whether the person proposing the investment or expenditure has considered the time alternatives. Can we postpone the investment/expenditure and make more profit?
The third question forces the concerned person to consider all other alternatives to the issue at hand and certify that the solution proposed is the most profitable proposal.

Thus General John Carty made sure that engineering economy studies were done by his technical departments.

 

Economic Decision Making

 
Every dollar an executive proposes to spend or proposes not to spend has to be subjected to economic decision making. If an executive decides to keep a machine in service even though it has frequent breakdowns, giving more number of defective items and consuming more energy, he is making an economic decision. A decision to do nothing is a decision to continue the present production equipment or the system and to reject all alternatives, those which were known and those which were not searched for if he has not searched for them.

Most executives agree that the decision to invest Rs. 5,00,000 for the purchase of a new machine is a typical example of an economic decision. But they do not consider their choice not replacing a machine as an economic decision.

Executives are Unprepared for Economic Decision Making


George A. Taylor in his text book, Managerial and Engineering Economy emphasizes that executives are unprepared for their responsibility in generating and examining alternatives by economic criteria. Most of the executives seldom justify their actions and the resulting expenditure by adequate economic criteria. Too many executives do not a feel a true responsibility for the costs they create or the costs they protect by maintaining the status quo. A designer may take it granted that he has the privilege of creating any cost that may result from is design. He feels costs are the responsibility of the company or somebody else in the company. Proper reflection will make him conclude that costs that result from design are in his sphere of management and hence are his responsibility, because he and not somebody else selected the proposed design from all the possible alternative designs.

If an executive disregards the economic effects of a decision, he is disregarding the cost commitments that will result from his decision.
 

Engineering Efficiency Versus Financial Efficiency

In 1923, O.B. Goldman, who wrote the book, Financial Engineering,  said that the primary duty of the engineer is to consider costs in order to obtain real economy – to get the most power, for example, not from the least number of pounds of steam, but from the least possible number of dollars and cents: to get the best financial efficiency.”
 
The goal of equipment selection in a business system is acceptable financial efficiency, not engineering efficiency.

Searching for  Low Engineering Efficiency Alternatives


If the final choice is based on financial efficiency alone, the search for alternatives must be conducted on either side of current engineering efficiency. Search for higher financial efficiency is not necessarily a search for higher engineering efficiency.

Cost Reduction Expenditures and Income Expansion Expenditures

 Expenditure and Investment proposals can be for cost reduction or income expansion. In some cases, both may be realized.  A characteristic of cost reduction expenditure is that the decision does not affect the gross income. A decision in which the gross income increases is an income expansion proposal. For both the proposals, economic decision making is essential.  

Rate of Return on Capital (Finance)


Finance is the money resources of a business organization. Money resources of an organization consist of equity capital contributed by owners of the firm and loans (short-term as well as long-term) given by various  banks, other firms and individuals. All the entities who provide finance to a firm expect to get back the principal and additional return on principal. The business operations of a firm need have the ability to generate that return or more than that return to acquire capital or finance in the first place and then generate the return to satisfy the expectations afterward. This idea gives rise to cost of capital.
 

Cost of Capital


The user of capital must satisfy the profit motive of the supplier of capital. This obligation of the user of capital is termed as the cost for using capital or cost of capital. Hence all expenditure proposals need to include an evaluation mechanism that considers the cost of capital for the capital required to implement the proposal.

Profit: Accounting and Economics Viewpoints


Profits are measured by accountants. But they are evaluated by economists, engineering economists and financial executives.

The accountant computes profit earned during past periods after incomes and expenses are known. The accountant subtracts expenses from revenue to find the profit on the owner’s investment.
 
The economy analyst or engineering economy analyst tests the profitability of a proposed operation.

Engineering Economy Study

The process of engineering economy study will include data gathering and data analysis.
Analysis requires analytical methods and Engineering Economy texts mainly concentrated on analytical techniques. The analytical techniques express the alternatives in comparable measures of money with respect to their cost, revenue or return on capital.

Data gathering will include some current estimates made by engineers by combining the technical information and costs/prices relevant to the materials and processes used to provide goods or services. The data gathering effort cannot be a one time effort and systems are to be put in place to record appropriate data as and when it first appears. For this purpose accounting sections or departments (financial, cost and management accounting) and technical departments have to jointly work out the need for future engineering economy studies and install appropriate recording systems.

Is There a Need for Engineer to Involve Themselves in Financial Calculations?

While the financial calculations that necessarily follow the engineers designs and technical estimates are in no sense an exclusive engineering function. Such calculations can be done by persons with accounting background and business administrators.

However, these calculations are such a necessary part of the numerous choices between technical alternatives that every engineer has to do as a part of his design function or process that an engineer who is not equipped to make them is a  poor choice for the job. A deficiency in this matter is particularly serious in an engineer who has administrative responsibility for technical matters (Grant and Ireson, 1960).
 

References

 
George A. Taylor, Managerial and Engineering Economy, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 1964.
Grant, Eugene, L., and W. Grant Ireson, Principles of Engineering Economy, 4th Ed., The Ronald Press Company, 1960, P.3.
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Engineering Economics is an Efficiency Improvement Tool for Industrial Engineers

Engineering Economic Appraisal - A Special Role for Industrial Engineers


Engineering economic analysis is to be carried out by all engineers. These analysis reports must be appraised by IE department engineers. IEs can evaluate whether sufficient technical alternatives were considered in proposing the technical solution now recommended and then check the data and calculations of the economic analysis. From IE department, the proposal can go the project appraisal committee.

Engineering Economics is part of Industrial Engineering Tool Kit

Industrial Engineering Tool Kit

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Engineering Economics - Knol Book by Narayana Rao

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Bibliography

A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR ENGINEERING ECONOMICS
Environmental Engineering Economics Program
Optimal Response to Periodic Shortage: Engineering/Economic Analysis for a Large Urban Water District
Anthony C. Fisher, University of California, Berkeley and Giannini Foundation, David Fullerton, Nile Hatch, Peter Reinelt
Software Engineering Economics

Recently Published Books

Principles of Engineering Economic Analysis, 5th Edition
White, Case, Pratt
ISBN 978-0-470-11396-7, © 2010
Management  Knols by Narayana Rao are being consolidated in
Originally posted in Knol
http://knol.google.com/k/  engineering-economy-or-engineering-economics-economic-decision-making-by

Updated on  2.2.2022,  2 December 2012