Within the management processes of a company it is very important to advance processes of PLANNING OR ORGANIZATION OF PRODUCTION. This seeks to gain efficiency and meet the proposed goals by distributing activities over time
To start the programming work, we must always take into account how the work will be done, when it will be done, the location where it will be done and finally who is available for the work.
After having determined the above, the work of materializing the planning must be started through a board or graphic visible to all interested parties.
There is a very popular method to organize planning using charts called Gantt Chart, which is a tool for scheduling and controlling activities that allows you to see their progress over time.
To develop a Gantt Chart we must take into account the Activities to Perform, that is, the parts of the product or the complete product. Or just isolated operations. These activities will be located on the horizontal lines
The other element to take into account is Time, which we can classify in days, weeks, years, etc. according to the need of the activity. Depending on how much time will be spent, it will be indicated with a horizontal line on the graph.
An important detail to take into account is that when making the graph we have a recognized convention to indicate when an activity begins and when it ends, since the single horizontal line that was discussed above may not be very clear in this regard.
In this regard, you can place some marks in the shape of a square at the beginning and end of the horizontal line, or any other figure that clearly denotes the limit in time.
Gantt chart
Now let's go over to review some practical alternatives for you to efficiently organize your production process. For this exercise we will consider your product to determine the best way to produce it according to the internal and external conditions of the business.
We will also take into account if what is going to be produced is to store it or if on the contrary it will work on request.
In the event that it is On Order, this production has some very advantageous characteristics.
- It has an assured clientele. Short-term production is planned. Large inventories of raw materials are not needed. Stockpiling of finished products is zero.
When we speak of Production to Store, it refers to the type of production where products are made that are stored waiting for a customer to request a certain quantity.
- It allows to standardize production Labor can specialize in some operations Planning can be medium term Larger volumes of raw material can be negotiated at lower cost.
However, risks such as stagnation of sales must be faced, which will immediately affect the development of the microenterprise. For this, it is advisable not to exaggerate the inventories of the finished products.
1. Production by piece or product.
It is very common within the microenterprise sector, it is focused on the particular needs of the client, it is an individualized job, the same equipment and machinery are used to produce various products, and the most interesting thing is that there is a direct relationship between the producer and the client. In other words, work is made to suit the client's taste and need or to measure.
2. Production of products or parts in series.
It refers to the production that responds to a request for several of the same products. This form of production is clearly more profitable than the previous one, since several of the parts of the product can be produced in series, in addition this offers several possibilities of combination and finishes to the customer. In short, this form of production allows machismo to plan processes better and also increases efficiency in the use of resources available to the microenterprise.
3. Series-mass production.
This refers to production carried out in large volumes following similar patterns, that is, large quantities of the same items.
4. Mass production.
Even more general than the previous one, this refers to a mass production of various articles.
The last two classifications are not the most appropriate for microenterprises since it is necessary to have a large market, use high technology, long-term planning, large capital investment.
Finally, we recommend that you be a careful observer of the times that are needed for the production of the elements, you cannot plan correctly if you do not have that information, that is, you need to control the averages that your production handles.
Apart from the Gantt chart and depending on the type of process, other scheduling mechanisms can also be applied. When it comes to online processes it will be advisable to apply the Balance The Line method to manage the times equitably to the work that is done, when dealing with intermittent activities use Sequencing, when it comes to entire projects follow the control method called From The Critical Path.
