Shop Floor Control : A Systems Perspective

Shop floor control and namely the problem of job shop scheduling have been fields of research for a long time. However, until now no comprehensive framework on the various aspects exists. This book will provide a systems perspective towards shop floor control by stressing its sociotechnical and cybernetical nature. It focuses on the behavioral aspects of control activities and sees the shop floor as the center of value-adding manufacturing activities within an enterprise. The book enables the reader to understand the interaction of organization, information technology and human resources. This eventually allows to achieve holistic and agile solutions and facilitates profound organizational change. The book will therefore provide a welcome addition to several standard textbooks on the issue.

Foreword by Kenneth Preiss
From Deterministic Models Towards Agile Operations Management
About the Book
Acknowledgments
Contents

Part I : Understanding Shop Floor Control - A Close Look at Reality
Chapter 1 : The Reality of Shop Floor Control - Approaches to Systems Innovation
Chapter 2 : Control on the Verge of Chaos - Analysis of Dynamic Production Structures
Chapter 3 : Rationality, Culture and Politics of Production

Part II : Systems and Organizations
Chapter 4 : Models, Systems and Reality: Knowledge Generation and Strategies for Systems Design
Chapter 5 : Systems Concepts and Organizational Design: A Basic Review

Part III : Control Strategies for Complex Manufacturing Systems
Chapter 6 : From Central Planning and Control to Self-Regulation on the Shop Floor
Chapter 7 : System Models and Concepts for Distributed Production Planning and Control

Part IV : Planning, Scheduling and Control: Aspects of Decision Making
Chapter 8 : Approaches to Shop Floor Scheduling - A Critical Review
Chapter 9 : The Link to the ‘Real World’ : Information, Knowledge and Experience for Decision Making

Part V : Making Use of Information Technology: Human-Machine Interaction
Chapter 10 : The Application of Information Technology at Shop Floor Level: Use and Acceptance
Chapter 11 : Supervisory Control Principles for Dynamic Operations Management of Manufacturing Shop Floors
Chapter 12 : IT at the Shop Floor - Criteria-based Methodologies for Human-Machine Task Allocation
Chapter 13 : Guidelines for Systems Design for Operational Production Management

Part VI : On the Road to Agility: Changing Organizational Structures
Chapter 14 : Making Teams Work - A Key to Effective Shop Floor Control
Chapter 15 : Shop Floor Control as a Task of Organizational Development
Chapter 16 : Work-Process Knowledge and the School-to-Work Transition

Index
The Authors