This focused book concentrates on planning and control; it answers the question: "what parts of operations management do we really need to know?" It does not bog the reader down with details, but allows them to concentrate on fundamental principles, such as the development and application of software solutions, inventory management, and lean production concepts. Topics include: forecasting, sales and operations, scheduling, materials requirements, capacity management, production control, "partnering" activities, and system integration. An excellent handbook for operations managers, production control workers, inventory control employees, and those involved in supply chain, logistics, and materials management.

1. Overview of Planning and Control

Manufacturing versus Service Operations. Customer Influence in Design. Process Categories. Order Winners and Order Qualifiers. BUsiness Environment Issues. Process Analysis and Informaiton Flows. General Information Flows. Book Structure.

2. Forecasting Fundamentals

Fundamental Principles of Forecasting. Major Categories of Forecasts. Forecast Errors.

3. Sales and Operations Planning

Purpose of Sales and Operations Planning. General Design of Sales and Operations Planning. Approaches to Sales and Operations Planning. Strategies for S & OP. Discussion: A Simple Example. Qualitative Issues. Some Business Environment Issues.

4. The Master Schedule

Background and Links to the SOP. Master Schedule Horizon. Time Fences. Sources of Demand. Basic Methodology. Impact of Product Environment. Available-to-Promise Logic. Planning Options in and ATO Environment. The Two-Level Master Schedule. Some Notes on the Master Scheduling Responsibility. Demand Management Overview. Elements of Demand Management.

5. Inventory Management

Basic Concepts of Inventory. Categories of Inventory. The Basic Inventory Lot Sizing Model-Economic Order Quantity (EOQ). Basic Independent Demand Inventory Reorder Models. Inventory Control.

6. Material Requirements Planning

Background and Fundamental Concepts. Bills of Material. The MRP "Explosion". Other MRP Issues. Potential MRP Challenges. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Business Environmental Issues.

7. Capacity Management

Capacity Definitions. Rough-cut Capacity Planning. Capacity Requirements Planning (CRP).Input/Output Control. Capacity Measures. General Approach the Capacity Management.

8. Production Activity Control

General PAC Information and Data. Prioritizing Work. Scheduling. Loading. Corrective Actions.

9. Lean Production and JIT

Fundamental Concepts. Some Impacts on Capacity. The Pull System. Kanban. Using the Kanban System for Process Improvement. Master Scheduling and Lean Production. Are MRP and JIT Compatible?

10. Theory of Contraints and Drum-Buffer-Rope

Fundamental Principles of the Theory of Constraints. Understanding and Managing the Constraint. Improving the Process using TOC Principles. Impacts on Operations Strategy. General Types of Constraint Causes. Logistics and Theory of Constraints. Scheduling and the Theory of Constraints. Mutiple Time Buffers. Control Points and Batches. Major Steps in Using Drum-Buffer-Rope.

11. "Partnering" Activities- Purchasing and Distribution

Purchasing Information Issues. Purchasing Responsibility for Material Procurement. Distribution Requirement Planning. Using BOD. DRP in a Lean Production "Pull" Environment.

12. System Integration and Implementation

General System Design and Selection. "Push", "Pull", or Somewhere in Between. General Implementation Approaches.