SHIELDING PRODUCTION - ESSENTIAL STEP IN PRODUCTION CONTROL

Effective production control systems are structured around the assignm ent as the unit of analysis. The quality of work assignments in produc tion units such as construction crews and engineering squads is the ke y to production control and for determining production unit productivi ty. Research has revealed that the quality of assignments can be subst antially improved by forming and selecting them to meet soundness, seq uence, and size criteria. Quality assignments shield production units from work flow uncertainty, enabling those units to improve their own productivity, and also improve the productivity of the production unit s downstream. The associated reduction in task duration can shorten pr ojects. Further reduction of project duration comes from shortening th e buffers previously needed to accommodate flow uncertainty.