Production systems management

The production system is one of the key elements in creating a competitive advantage for industrial companies. The importance that over the years have assumed, for the survival and growth of companies, the issues of reducing production costs, reducing response times, increasing the level of customer service, stimulates to deepen the topics of the production system management. In this text the management of the production system is conceived in an extended perspective, that is not limited to the techniques for the formulation of production plans, but also includes the issues of quality improvement, information systems supporting production activities and systems for measuring performance of effectiveness and efficiency. The approach to work is that of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, characterized by a balance between "knowledge" and "know-how", by a particular attention to innovation in management, organizational and technological systems, and finally by a healthy orientation towards the use of quantitative tools. The text is divided into three parts. In the first one the characteristics of the production systems are introduced, the classifications that highlight the major problems that the industrial manager has to face and the performance measures that allow to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the system under analysis are presented. In the second part, which represents the conceptual core of the volume, the approaches and techniques for the management of the production system are detailed, focusing on stock management techniques and management techniques on demand. Finally, the third part presents the main evolutions that characterize the production system in terms of design (Just In Time, Lean and Six Sigma approaches for performance improvement). The theoretical treatment of the topics is enriched by real cases, numerical examples and glosses, which exemplify the concepts presented in the volume and facilitate the reader in focusing the key concepts and their applicability to real contexts.