d, forecasting, scheduling, inventory control, job design, quality control, research and development, product design, machine/labor planning, and wage incentive formulation (Chase & Aquilano, 1973). In running the aggregate production process, the manager attempts to coordinate all such production areas in an optimum way. The criteria for such optimization includes parameters like cost, time, quality, productivity, and profitability. It is more than optimizing each individual facet of production, because trade-offs invariable arise. For example, minimizing the production time for the railway wheel cited earlier might result in lower cost, but also lower quality, and possible worker discontent. Similarly, updating a given machine to one that is "state of the art" might be counterproductive if it is too complicated to run or maintain without extensive training. Thus, the aim of the operations manager is to balance all of the sub-elements of the production process in order to optimize them as a whole.
Finally, operations management, which of course deals with the production function, must be coordinated with the company as a whole in terms of its other functions -- such as marketing, advertising, accounting, finance, engineering, and others (Chase & Aquilano, 1973). Optimizing the production function might result in lower sales, for example, if customers are more interested in product design or quality than price. Or tax considerations, as determined by the accounting department, might affect the choice of machinery, or whither to use labor versus machinery, regardless of what would minimize manufacturing cost. The point is, in the final analysis, total corporate profitability, particularly long-term, is the ultimate criterion. Thus, operations management does not function in a vacuum, but in an aggregate corporate environment.
Just-In-Time production (JIT) originated in Japan as a method of improving productivity. The the...