Production & Operations Management By Kanishka Bedi Oxford University Press, New Delhi

A note on the use of this CD

This CD ROM contains two folders one folder contains the digital plant/ site tours of four Indian organizations, while the other includes MS Excel templates of various numerical examples given in the different chapters of the book. The MS Excel templates have been organized in the folder according to the chapter titles. Each folder with a chapter title contains various templates with the identification of the corresponding figure numbers given in the book. Readers are expected to view these templates on their computers while going through the various topics in the book. This will aid them in understanding the numerical examples in a better way by looking at the formulae entered in various cells of the spreadsheet. These templates will also help the readers in later solving the unsolved numerical problems given at the end of most chapters in the book. Managers today use commonly available software like MS Excel in solving their business problems, rather than expending unnecessary effort in doing the same manually. MS Excel saves on time and effort on part of managers in addition to enhancing the level of accuracy of results. The CD contains digital plant/ site tours of Indias four exemplary organizations in different spheres of industry. A digital tour is basically a MS PowerPoint presentation with background music and narration of the author in the background. The readers are therefore advised to use headsets or inbuilt speakers of their computer machines to listen to the narration of the digital tour while viewing the PowerPoint slides. The slides have been timed with narration and hence, would run automatically once the presentation is started. The readers may have to adjust the volume of the sound according to their desired level by using the volume control on their machines. The narration script for each slide has been saved as notes with each slide so that readers may refer to the same in case something is not clear in the audio narration. It is advised that the readers save the digital plant/ site tour files on their computer machines before running them. This is so because these files are of very large size and take long time to open directly from the CD. Hero Honda Motors Limited (HHML) is the worlds largest motorcycle manufacturer and has maintained this status for the last six years. In its digital plant tour, the readers will be able to further augment their understanding of concepts covered in this book like facility layout planning, automation, inventory management, just-in-time production system, assembly line, manufacturing cell, and quality management. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is the countrys Navratna public sector unit (PSU). Its Singrauli plant has created various benchmarks in quality power generation.

The readers will come across the operations management practices in a process industry through this digital plant tour. JCT Limited is the flagship of one of Indias biggest conglomerates, the Thapar group. The digital plant tour of the JCT plant in Phagwara provides an opportunity to the readers to understand the textiles manufacturing process. It makes the reader ponder over the operations management issues such plants would be facing and about the ways of resolving such issues. Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) is a typical example of exemplary project management practices in the country. The designs of the project had to be revised in view of the increased air traffic forecast for Bangalore by the time the project was approved by the government. Despite the revised designs, which included expansion in various part of the airport, the final deadline for completion of the project was kept unchanged. The way this project has made on-schedule progress, it seems all set to achieve its completion deadline of April, 2008. The readers will be able to view in this digital site tour as to how this mega project has progressed from time to time according to the project timeline. The caselet on Bangalore International Airport Project in Chapter 6 Project Management will provide further information on this project. The objective of providing these digital plant/ site is twin-fold. The first is, of course, to substantiate the operations management concepts covered in the book with these audiovisual aids so that the readers may relate these concepts to real-life authentic scenarios. The second objective is broader and far more important. It relates to making the Indian students aware that our country has its own state-of-the-art plants and facilities, which can give competition to any of their Western counterparts. In a way, this will help in reinstating the lost Indian pride and to let the Indian students know that the time has come for the Indian domestic industry to demonstrate to the world about our growing prowess in every sphere of activity. KANISHKA BEDI