Historical Evolution of Operations & Productions Management

Operations & production management is all about the production of goods & providing
services. The manufacturing of goods & delivery of services how its existence since
ancient times.
In ancient line there was a concept of:

“Cottage System.” In which goods was produced by only highly skilled persons
using simple available tools according to specific needs of customer.
These goods were exchange directly against other goods. This process was known as
“Barter System” & production of goods or products in small colleges ^ shops was
known as “Craft Production”.

Barter System: “A system in which goods or services are directly exchange

with other goods or services.”

Craft System: “A system in which highly skilled workers used simple flexible
tools to produce small quantities of customize goods.
Although the “Craft System: was used at large scale but it has many limitations &
shortcomings. Which leads to high cost & low production which ultimately resorted in
very low profit. Impossibility of producing standard product was also major limitations
of ‘craft system’ are as follow deficiency of this system.

I. Production was Slow & Costly: because products were made by few
skilled craftsmen who custom fitted different parts therefore production of large
quantities of product was very slow.
II. Economic of Scale: Another limitation was that the production cost did not
decrease as the volume of production increased. Therefore economies of scale
could not be achieved.
III. Lack of Standard Gauging System: each craftsman has its own standard of
measurement therefore mass production of identical products was impossible.
“Craft System” then get started change from “Cottage System” to “Factory
System” which was the start of Industrial Revolution.

Industrial Revolution
Industrial revolution started in eighteen (18th) century. The human power was replaced
by machine power which leaded to the mass production at low cost.
“Industrial revolution refers to that time in our history in which number of
inventions changed the face of production forever by substitute machine power
for human power.”
It had overcoming the shortcomings of “Craft System” in a way that:
 o Production became fast & low costly
o Economies of scale
o Development of standard gauging system
o Factories grew rapidly
o Provided countless jobs
This revolution was made possible due to two important contributions

Strict division of Labor.

This specialization theory was developed by Adam Smith (1776) Adam Smith
developed this theory for specialized knowledge of a particular task. Because it leads to
increase productivity.

Invention of Steam Engine: The steam engine was invented by “James Watt”
(1964) to provided power to machines in factories.
However after this industrial evolution there was an emphasis on maximizing the
output with minimum input of time & resources. Studies was made by different authors
in this regard. All these studies became foundation for the concept of Scientific
Management.

Evolution of Scientific Management:

Different studies was done by different scholars was done by different scholars for
maximizing the output with minimum utilization of time to increase productivity. From
which the studies are most important, which are as follow:

1. Time study by Taylor:

This study was done by “Frederick Winslow Taylor” known as the father of scientific
management. The study was done to identify efficient method for doing a job. For his
purpose the Taylor has divided a unit of time (minute) into 100 seconds to identify the
time of an activity on stop watch. Therefore these studies also known as “Stopwatch
Studies”.
“Studies conducted by Taylor in which he computed the time required to
complete each component of each job to 100th of a minute”.

2. Motion Study by Gilbert:

Motion study was devised by Frank B. Gilbert known as father of motion study. His
emphasis was on movement or motions that could be minimally apply to a portion of a
task or activity.
‘F & L Gilbert studied the hands & body motions required to perform each job.
They defined 17 basic motions a human body can made white working on a
task’.
Time & Motion Study:
Time studies of Taylor combined with the motion studies of his studies are known as
time & Motion studies.
The objective of both of these studies was to make minimum use of resources such as
labor & line to increase productivity & efficiency. Which leads to higher profitability.

Scientific Management
“By studying the time required & the movement required to perform each job
Taylor was able to determine one best Way to perform a job. It is referred as
Scientific Management.
Later on he developed principles of Scientific Management for the first fine.

Principles of Scientific Management

i. Study work and determine the best practice to perform it.
ii. Scientifically select & train each worker instead of leaving them so they learn by
themselves.
iii. Cooperate with workers to ensure that scientific methods are being followed.
iv. Divide the work equally between managers and workers, managers to apply
scientific methods, worker to actually perform the task.

These principles are also being followed by managers in organizations now a days.
We come see these practices in our organization with new methodologies such as:
i. Reengineering:
Decompose all the elements of work.
ii. Bench making:
Determine one best way of doing a job best produces.
iii. Training & Development:
Select & Train each employee.
iv. Participative Management:
Manager & Employees both showed participate.

The scientific management study became the base for further improvements in
industrial a production sector. Second worked was played or great role in this era
which had developed the concepts of decision model & Quantitative techniques.
Because mathematical & statically methods introduced by F. W. Harris, H. F. Dodge &
others was used widely in II world war. These ware used also for forecasting, inventory
management & other areas of operations management.
 Decision Model & Quantitative Techniques
The use of quantitative techniques & mathematical models to improve decision
(missing) in a business is referred to as decision models & quantitative techniques”.
Different contribution have been down in this vegan specially the following ones.

Henry Ford: Practically adopted the scientific management principles of Taylor.

He introduced the moving assembly line, “Mass production”.
 Assembly Line: Had affect the production methods which results in:
 Mass Production: In which large volumes of standard products was produced
by low skilled workers using specialized machines”.
The concept of mass production was launched by another important concept
“Interchangeable parts” introduced by Eli Whitney, an American Invertor.

Human Relation Movements

“Although scientific management movement heavily emphasized on technical aspect of
production but these were also many studies conducted by different philosophers for
the dignity of human relation”

Some famous studies are:

Hawthorne Studies (1930s)
Elton Mayo: conducted that studies at Hawthorne division of western Electric. These
studies experiment emphasized on that only goods working conditions are not enough
for increased productivity but social & psychological factors also play a great role for
this.

Maslow’s Motivations Theory: (1940s)

Second one is Maslow’s hierarchy of need that study shows that different level of needs
motivates the different workers or employees in different ways.

Theory X & Theory Y (1950s)

The third one was McGregor’s “Theory X & Theory Y”. Shows there are two kinds of
employee. Employee Y, lies work & do not meet strong super vision but employees x as
negative type of employees.
All these studies & theories emphasizes on human aspect of production or work design
that how the satisfaction of an employee can increase productivity.

Influence of Japanese Manufactures

 A number of approaches developed by different nations to maximizing
productivity but the approaches developed by Japanese are entirely different.
 They do not only focused an increasing productivity but also on productivity
with goods quality.
 The basic emphasize of Japanese approach is on quality & continual
improvement.
 This approach have make them very competitive even the companies outside
Japan shows interest on their approach.
 Because of that approach Japanese companies promise for foreseeable future.

Chronological Sequence of History

Year Contributions / Concepts Originator
1776 Division of labor Adam Smith
1790 Interchangeable parts Eli Whitney
1911 Scientific management Fredrick W. Taylor
1911 Motion studies Frank & Lillian Gilbert
1912 Chart for scheduled activities Henry Gantt
1915 Moving assembly line Henry Ford
1930 Mathematical model for inventory F.W Harris
1935 Hawthorne Studies Elton Mayo
1940 Statistics, Sampling & quality control H.F Dodge
1947 Linear programing Gorge Danzig
1951 Commercial digital computers Sperry Universal IBM
1980 Emphasis on quality, flexibility time base Japanese Manufactures
competitions