What are the objectives of production management? In order to work in a multitude of significant industries such as manufacturing, design, retail or marketing, it’s pretty important to have a good grasp of production management, its significance, and how everyone involved in these fields to any capacity must also contribute to this field as well. It’s a pretty ubiquitous science, and one that many people quite skilled in their own fields don’t necessarily realize is there, despite the fact they, causally, work in this science just as closely as the one they readily identify with.
Today, I’d like to outline the six primary objectives of production management, and why they relate to any given business field above. The point of this is to give everyone a clear and unquestioning understanding of production management, and to bring home the fact that even if they’re not accustomed to the term, it’s closer to their professional life than they might realize starting out.
So, let’s cut right to the chase.
#1 – Production of goods and services within the parameters of manufacturing cost and minimum possible resource consumption:
The first objective is to produce a great product or service without costing more than is estimated and allowed, and consuming resources the most efficiently. Anyone working in accounting or budgeting, as well as anyone working with refining, managing or improving production processes or service rendering works very closely with the prime objective of production management.
#2 – Ensuring the proper quality of goods and services per regulations:
This is the second objective, and while it’s similar to the first, it’s about quality assurance. Any group working in customer service/support, as well as research and development, customer experience or similar fields contributes to this. They do so by hearing input from users who will be a window on how good a product or service actually is, in the wild, as well as researching how to improve the product or service to meet these standards if anything falls short.
#3 – Production within timelines:
Meeting schedules for production of goods and services per the standards of quality, and at the budget allotted is the third objective, and it’s one of the harder ones to manage. Anyone working within management within the company pretty much dedicates themselves, through their leadership within their department, to ensure that these goals are met.
#4 – Ensuring minimal use of resources:
This one sounds repetitive to me, considering the first objective actually kind of states this, but we’re going by the clinical definition which does indeed itemize this separately. That’s ok, because it gives me a chance to point out that anyone who balances overhead, dedication of man power, costs and resources contributes to this aspect of production management quite heavily.
#5 – Maximization of manpower utilization:
This is another aspect where everyone in management, team leadership or similar positions are integral components. This is actually different from resources despite man power being a resource. This is all about utilization of manpower to its fullest means ensuring that all skills available in all people involved are tapped to their fullest potential.
#6 – Ensuring efficiency by reducing redundancy of tasks:
This basically means eliminating unnecessary steps, or reworking any given process or procedure to ensure that the minimal amount of work and time is being consumed. This must be maintained while also ensuring that the above criteria of maximum utilization of manpower, minimum resource consumption, proper standards of quality and maximum expediency are met. Leadership, again, is directly involved in this, no matter the role nor department.
The objectives of production management, when you really look at them for what they are, show clearly that pretty much any employee within the company is a key, integral component to this field, even if they never thought about it before.