What is the role of a production manager in Operations Management?

The production manager forms a very important and defining part of the organization structure of an engineering company. The responsibilities of a production manager can be summarized as follows.

1) Forecasting the requirements of the production in order to achieve the production target.

2) Making most efficient utilization of the available sources for production.

3) Minimizing ‘throughput time’ and ‘work in process inventory’. This can be achieved by systematic production planning and also by very efficient execution of the plans.

4) One of the most important responsibility of a production manager deals with reducing material handling cost, which generally is achieved by the use of efficient material handling system and also by using plant layouts which must be developed in a proper or correct way.

5) Reducing the quality cost with the help of analysis of non conformances on periodic basis and also by following suitable actions (both corrective and preventive).

6) Building team spirit among the workmen and also motivating by means of personal involvement. This task of motivation can also be achieved by designing and implementing suitable financial incentive schemes.

7) To device accurate methodology involving method study of manufacturing, along with the other engineering economic principles.

8 ) Improving the productivity level of the workers on continuous basis by workmen’s training and by bringing into use the standards of the performance derived from work measurement studies etc.