 friends, we are discussing about the production management and production management related various concepts. Today we are going to have discussion on the what is a production management framework. Framework is the set of concepts which we are going to study and therefore at the end of this session you will be able to understand what are the various framework related parameters. Generally those are termed under 5 Ps of the production management and those 5 Ps we will be studying in detail today. We will have a sequence like introduction what are the 5 Ps of the production management. In short the 5 Ps of the production management are product, plant, process, program and people. What is a framework? The division of the production management function into 5 Ps which will provide conceptual framework for the various activities performed by the production or operation manager. What is a framework? A system of rules or ideas which can help you to decide what to do. See in the production or operation management what we are going to discuss is the various issues related to the production and operation management. What are the various issues? We receive order from the marketing department and through production planning and control we are trying to convert those marketing orders into manufacturing or service provisions. After those successful completions we dispatch to the customer and then after sale service if at all it is there we will try to complete those after sale service formalities and see that we end with the customer satisfaction. So it starts with customer requirements and ends with the customer satisfaction. In an attempt to do all this we have a concept called as production or operation management which is trying to achieve majorly the objectives of right quality, right quantity, right time and right cost. What is the meaning of all this? Is that we are trying to give the customer satisfaction for the required product or services through the quantity and quality required by the customer, the predetermined cost as agreed between the mutual parties and at the time as required by the customer. So generally we call it as 100% on time delivery. So these are the basic major functions. So as to achieve these functions what should be the various concepts and what should we keep in before we go into the details of all these production activities that we are going to study and that are called generally five piece of the production management. The first is product, then plant, then program, then process and the people. We will discuss one by one what is a product. Product is the link between production and marketing. It is not enough that a customer requires product but the organization must be capable of producing the product. What is the meaning of this statement is that customer generally does not give all the specifications in terms of tangible or in terms of committed specifications. There are lot many of things which are not specifically mentioned anywhere but those are required. Generally we call it as implied needs. One is called as stated needs and the other is called as implied needs. The organization should have the capability to complete the stated and implied needs of the product. That is what the major requirement is when you try to understand what is a product is. And then we talk about product. What we think of the product? There are various aspects of the product. The one is performance of the product, quality and reliability of the product, aesthetics and ergonomics of the product, quantity and selling price of the product and the delivery schedule. So if you just look at it, this is achieving something of optimization. We talk about performance, quality, cost, delivery, selling price and all those things. If you try to attain maximize one thing, probably it will have an adverse impact on the other thing. Especially we increase the reliability, we have to have a higher level of quality, then probably it may result into the higher cost. That was the concept in olden days. Now the concepts have because of the lot of new technologies, the concepts have changed. Customer is expecting all these four, five parameters simultaneously. The customer is not ready to pay for this at a higher price. Customer wants all these within the required cost only. When we talk about the product, the necessary second aspect is what is the plant? What is the plant capacity we are talking about? The plant accounts generally for the major investment, all fixed investments. And therefore, plant should have concern about the design and layout of the building and offices, reliability, perfect maintenance of the equipment, safety of the operation and the financial constraints of this. When you talk about plant, we have to have in everything rights from safety, reliability, layout, maintenance and financial constraints, all these we are trying to achieve. Because unless we optimize these things, it is not possible to have the right cost requirements as such. If you just try to compromise on one of these, it will have an adverse impact on the customer satisfaction. And in some cases, it may be at the cost of a unnecessarily higher cost also, it may result into the wastage of the money. The processes, once we understand the plant and the product requirement, the next is process. What is the process? There are a number of alterations, alternation methods for the creating a product. Process is as I said is a conversion of one form of material into another form so as to enhance the utility or create the utility of the product or the service. We have number of alternatives by which we can make this conversion process possible. We can make this transformation process possible. Now, we have a choice to select amongst all these, which is the best process and what are the various aspects when you talk about the various processes. Well, the processes when you talk about it, processes has a lot of other parameters which are naturally have to be thought of. The one is when you talk about processes, it is the available capacity, the skill required for that processes, type of production as you know, type of production may be mass, job, batch, continuous and fixed type of production and so on. What is the layout of the plant? Safety requirements of the plant, maintenance requirements of the plant and manufacturing cost of the particular process. I can achieve extraordinary super quality. For example, I will give a let us take a very simple common day today example. I have got a turning operation to be done. It is a process. Now, turning can be done on a center lathe, it can be done on a direct lathe, it can be done on a capstone lathe and it can be done on a CNC lathe also. So, now, what is the option available? I have got a capacity from lathe machine to CNC. Now, which is the best process shall I select? Obvious answer may be from your angle is CNC, we take it because it gives a super finish, it gives consistency, quality and a very faster rate of production. But the answer may not be the correct one because it is not the quality or it is not the speed of the operation which is taken into consideration when we decide about the process. It has to have number of parameters. The first thing is how much quantity I need to produce? What is the ratio of setup time to per piece time? What is the repeatability of the job? Whether it is a one type job or it is a repetitive job? All these parameters will decide whether I will go for the process on a lathe machine or process on a CNC machine. It is not necessary that always CNC will be the better option. If it is only a single piece which I want to do it for some maintenance purpose in that case, lathe machine may be the better option as compared to CNC machine. This also can happen. So, we need to go into the further details unless all the details are studied, we cannot have the proper decision of selecting the best processes amongst the available processes. Now, let us take a simple example. Automation. Automation is a very good term all of you know nowadays. It tries to achieve the maximum efficiency with minimum time and best safety, quality reliability and so on. Now, automation is suitable for whether all types of production, mass, batch and job. What is your answer? You have to think on this. The obvious answer is automation is suitable for mass production only. Automation cannot be suitable for a job type of production because automation involves lot of investment and automation has some features like rigidity of the manufacturing processes. The next P in the series is the program. The program is production schedule. What I mean by program is when to produce, how much to produce, in what quantity will be produced, when to purchase and all those things will come into picture when you talk about the programming. It is the manufacturing programming or the operational program as such. Programming may involve various parameters before you decide a schedule like what is the purchasing policy, what is the transformation or the conversion processes, how much critical maintenance function you have got, what is the cash flow management of the company and what are the storage and transport facilities available in the company. All these five or six parameters have to be taken into account when I talk about programming related to the production management operations as such. The next is the most important. The last P, the fifth P is people. Production depends upon people. Of course, nothing is possible without people. People at all levels, top to bottom. We need people. We need teams and people have various skills, experiences, attitudes and expectations from the work. Now, there may be some operators who are very good under a particular skill and there may be another set who are better in some other function. Thus, to make best of all available human resources, it is required to have a good match between people and jobs which may lead to job satisfaction. We have to achieve that a particular concerned group of people or a team is best suited for a particular function. Then we have to have a proper skill attitude matching with the job expectations so that the synergy will result into the best practice. So, five P's, the last P is much more important because the skill people have got their own attitudes, skills and expectations about the job and from the work also. Therefore, we need to consider proper balancing between these five parameters. And then the production manager should be involved in the issues like what are the wages, salaries, what is the motivation, what is the training to the employees and so on. These things have to be considered when you talk about the people, especially when there is a transfer promotion policy, we need to have training function as a key role has to be taken into consideration. Well, these were the, in short, five P's of the production framework. Thank you. Thank you once again.