MANAGEMENT CONTROL AND THE MANUFACTURING HIERARCHY - MANAGING INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING ORGANIZATIONS

The complexity and scale of most manufacturing systems dictate a hierarchical approach to operations management (OM). Current OM models decompose the overall production problem into distinct and more manageable subproblems, at hierarchical levels characterized by product aggregation and time horizon, which mirror the organizational structure of traditional manufacturing concerns. These static models are particularly useful-for establishing production goals and plans, but do not adequately capture the dynamic problems of production control and goal achievement in a changing operational environment. This article outlines an OM problem decomposition, based on a hierarchical management-control framework, which emphasizes the dynamic balance of autonomy and decentralization in achieving planned goals within a hierarchical organization. This conceptual framework is applied to the problem of distributed production scheduling, in which plant facilities are scheduled and controlled in separate groups. Objectives for real-time scheduling decision aids are developed, which reflect not only static considerations of time horizon and parameter aggregation, but also the organizational dynamics required for schedule control and replanning. In particular, schedule management practices must bound two hierarchical chain reactions, caused by replanning and decision-deferral, through the use of decentralization and autonomy. (C) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.