OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
“COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE CRITICAL FEATURES OF MASS PRODUCTION
AND LEAN PRODUCTION.”..................................................................................................1
Lean and mass production – Introduction..............................................................................1
Key features of lean and mass production - Difference.........................................................2
Comparing and contrasting lean and mass production...........................................................2
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................5
INTRODUCTION
Efficient management of all the available resource is being regarded as the key aspect
for an organization in order to manufacture products and services. Operations management
plays a supreme role in managing the resources and functioning of manufacturing with
efficient techniques (Chong & Zak, 2013). For companies, it is vital to produce highest
possible number of quality products in short period of time to achieve higher profit.
Pertaining to this, the current study aims to introduce key principles and tools related to
operation management which can be applied to a range of organizational contexts.

“COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE CRITICAL FEATURES OF MASS

PRODUCTION AND LEAN PRODUCTION.”
Lean and mass production – Introduction

Mainly there are two principles of production for most of the manufacturing firms.
The main concern for most of the managers of the manufacturing business is to find out ways
of addressing the problem of waste at the time of production of products. If the problem is not
resolved on time, the challenge will leads to delay in the production and increases the
unnecessary spending of the employer. At the end, the final product and services of the
company becomes so expensive for the customers to afford. Thus, it is vital to decide the type
of approach to be used in while producing products. There are mainly two approaches to
manufacturing management i.e. lean production and mass production (Hayes & Wheelwright,
2009). It is quite easy to get confused between the two terms because, lean as well as mass
production strive for minimizing waste. In this case, waste is being referred as an unnecessary
wastage of time, inventory, processing and leftovers. Usually, waste in the production is
nothing but any process or items that does not add value to the finished product and in turn
decreases the quality of the final product. Thus, minimizing as well as eliminating waste will
enable the manager to reach at the level of high quality products in short period of time.
Throwing light in relation with the lean manufacturing, this phenomenon is quite
common these days in the manufacturing industries. It comprise, utilization of suitable ERP
i.e. Enterprise Resource Planning software and techniques in order to perform smart in
comparison with work hard. Further, it is being geared towards producing only essential
products so as to avoid unnecessary shortage expenditures or losses. On contrary to this, mass
production is defined as manufacturing of more products and services in comparison with the
actual demand (Davies, 2018). This is because of the fact that this approach includes

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production of more products or goods within less time period and by making use of less
amount of resources as well. At the end of the day, the manager of the firm needs to store the
surplus quantity in warehouse and await for the customer to order.

Key features of lean and mass production - Difference

The main aim of lean production is to cut costs by making the business more effective
and efficient and responsive towards the needs of the market. In addition to this, this type of
method also sets out or minimize activities that do not add value to the manufacturing process
like repairing faulty products, holding of stock, needless movement of people around the
business. The lean production system is originated in the production plans of Japan and now
it is being used in sophisticated as well as large production activities (Slack, Chambers
Johnston, 2007). Discussing the main characteristics of lean production system, the very first
is small lot production, which allow the firms to have higher flexibility and pull production
wherein the quantity of work to be performed at each stage of the process of being dictated
merely by the demand for materials from the next stage. Furthermore, it also helps in
reducing the set up cost and time. This type of approach produces small lots and thus, make it
economically viable. Even the workers are trained and skilful that carries out their task as per
their own setups.
In contrast, mass production is a continuous production of standardized products on a
large scale. In simple words, in such type of approach, there is no time gap between the work
done at one process and starting of the next stage. The flow of manufacturing of goods and
services is continuous as well as progressive. The main features of mass production is that
there is single machine for each of the process and further, the materials, tools and products
are also standardized. The volume of production is also very high and is being done based on
the expected demand

Comparing and contrasting lean and mass production

Currently, for most of the business conferences, Lean manufacturing is a favourite

buzzword and it also stress free for inexperienced to be unclear in the difference amid lean
and mass production. In reality, there is huge variation between the two in several manner i.e.
from philosophy to business strategy and from company culture to production models. The
lean production approach works on the principle of “work smarter rather than work harder”
(Garvin, 2004). The main emphasis is being given on eliminating the production waste that
could not add value to the final product. In comparison to lean manufacturing which work off

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of customer orders, mass production is based off of forecast and sales. Because of this, the
need of warehouse is eliminated as very little excess product is being manufactured. Other
than this, it also keeps the firm away from selling products at losses when the business
become old-fashioned. Furthermore, the most efficient lean manufacturers report more than
20 inventory turnarounds in a year, mass producers are reported less than 10. Other than this,
even the culture of two types of firms differs as well. The hierarchy of mass production firms
is quite inflexible and generally, it produces unfriendliness amid managers as well as
workers. In contrast, lean production firms usually have flat structure and it also encourages
participation of employees are broad level that helps in creating a culture of mutual trust,
accountability and communication (Lean vs Mass Manufacturing: A Very Brief Overview,
2010). Moreover, in mass production firms, each and every worker tends to specialize in one
area only and they carry out their operations on a specified area or machine. While, in case of
lean manufacturing companies employees are widely cross trained and skilful.
Those industries which are established in continuously changing markets as well as
those who need a lot of know how in order to manufacture qualities product generally get
benefited by the lean production system. Moreover, technological manufacturers are normally
fond of lean production approach because of the fact that large inventory within the
organization can easily and speedily alters into obsolete junk according to the change in the
industry. For instance, in case of a customer cable producer, he will be left with reels of
inoperable wire and outdated assemblies, which are required to be discharged at a loss. In
addition to this, technological production industries such as cable assembly needs high
quality employees and skills for the purpose of producing quality products and services.
Pertaining to this, it will become more costly as well as expensive in case of mass production
system (Heizer & Render, 2008). Although results from both the kinds of production system
i.e. mass and lean manufacturing are regarded as more forward thinking, it is becoming
increasingly famous and widespread especially in case of a technologically industry. Even
though more and more firms are converting their production system and switching towards
lean manufacturing approach, organizations will continuously depend on mass production
approach when the top priority of the firms is not quality and they are capable enough to bear
small seasonal loss.

Description Mass production Lean production

Basis Hennery Ford Toyota
People production People being required in this People being required in this
type of manufacturing method is type of manufacturing method

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 unskilled or semi-skilled is cross skilled and multi-
workers skilled workers, which works
as a team at all the levels in
the firm.
Methods of This type of production On the other hand, lean
production approach pays attention towards manufacturing approach pays
making high volume of attention towards making the
standardized products products being ordered by the
customers (Bicheno, 2000)
Equipments The equipments being used in In comparison, lean
mass production are handled by production system makes use
experts and are single purpose of automated and manual
machines only systems that can help in
manufacturing large amount of
products with wide range as
well
People design Professionals are narrowly Employees and teams are
skilled (Jacobs & Bendoly, multi-skilled and are present at
2003) all the levels of management

CONCLUSION

Thus, from the above study it can be concluded that manufacturing is necessary
activity of human that helps in offering required products to carry out important facets of life.
Thus, production needs to be done in such a manner that satisfies the needs of the customers
and offer sustaining economic prosperity for the organizations. It was found in the study that
lean manufacturing is adopted in contrast of mass production system by most of the
sophisticated and large firms recently and it will not fail in future as well.

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REFERENCES

Books and journals

Bicheno, J. (2000). Cause and Effect Lean. Lean Operations, Six Sigma and Supply Chain
Essentials. Buckingham, England: Picsie Books.

Chong, E.K.P. & Zak, S.H. (2013). An Introduction to Optimisation. New Jersey: John Wiley
and Sons.

Garvin, D. (2004). Product quality: An important strategic weapon. Business Horizons, 27(3):
40–43.

Hayes, R.H. & Wheelwright, S.C. (2009). Link manufacturing process and product life
cycles. Harvard Business Review, 57(1): 133-140

Heizer, J.H. & Render, B. (2008). Operations Management. Harlow, England. Pearson
Education.

Jacobs, F.R. & Bendoly, E. (2003). Enterprise resource planning: developments and
directions for operations management research. European Journal of Operational
Research, 146 (2): 233.

Slack, N., Chambers, S. & Johnston, R. (2007). Operations Management. 5 thed. Harlow,
Pearson Education Limited.

Online references

Davies, J. (2018). Difference between Lean Manufacturing and Mass Production. [Online].
Available through: <http://www.winman.com/blog/difference-between-lean-
manufacturing-and-mass-production>. [Accessed on 3rdDecember 2018].

Lean vs Mass Manufacturing: A Very Brief Overview. (2010). [Online]. Available through:
<https://customcable.ca/lean-vs-mass-manufacturing/ >. [Accessed on 3rdDecember 2018].