PRODUCTION PLANNING AND PRODUCT QUALITY CONTROL A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background of Study

Production which is concerned with creation of utility provides for activities that produced goods through forms, time and place. This is the reason for Olayinka and Aminu’s (2006: 345) opinion that production is not complete in the absence of adequate technological capacity, strength or Ageing condition of equipment and quality control. In their explanation production in organizations when focused on innovative management (i.e technology) produced results that stands today’s world of intense competition and rapidly changing consumers tastes, wants and values. No organization relaxes and hope that at the end any goods produced will be sold. To stay relevant to the environment and stakeholders, organizations production requires planning that guarantees preferred quality by consumers. At this, Ewurum (2004) encourages that organizations continuously evolve means developing and managing production and products capable of creating product standard as well as sustainable value that satisfies customers through competitive advantage of such organization.

Thus, production planning of organizations are effective when it constantly explores and traverses the frontiers of innovation for new idea, methods, technology and products that can give the much-needed competitive edge. Production planning that gives organizations deserve product quality according to Onuoha (1999:173) is one in which the future and its consequences are predicted inline with recent trends. It is expected to involve acquiring the right materials using predetermined cost and times. In other words, relevant raw materials are purchased, processed in the right time, place and persons by way of finished products. As such production planning enables organizations to provides for future uncertainties or at least ameliorate their negative effects in product quality . what production planning is effectively carried out in organizations, ambiguity, errors, wastes and underutilization of resources are minimized for maximum productivity and quality product/service delivery to customers.

However, Chang’s (2001) assessment is that production planning that results into product quality of organizations depends on the type of plan in place. He specifically encouraged that organizations should embrace both short and long term production plan in addition to stipulated production policies, procedures, rules, programmes, projects and budgets. Production planning for product quality control according to him (Chang, 2001) is set to meet production of right quality and quantity.

The quality of the product is established based on the customer’s needs, customer’s needs are translated into product specifications by the design for engineering department. The manufacturing department then translates these specifications into measurable objectives. Thus the cost/quality trade off decides the final quality of the product. Therefore, a proper balance is obtained such that the product quality offered to the customer is within the pre-established manufacturing cost.

The manufacturing organization produced the products at the right number. If the products are produced in quantity excess of demand, the capital will be tied up in form- of inventory and if it is produced in quantity short of demand, there will be shortages of products. Thus a decision is taken regarding how much to produce. In an increasingly knowledge-based economy that emphasizes the ability of organizations to produce is greatly influenced by ideas and innovation in the adoption and utilization of production capacity and quality control. Among all organisational outputs, innovation in production and resource control is fundamental not only in view of its direct impact on the viability of firms but also because of its profound effects on quality service delivery (Robin and Courter, 2008). while manufacturers had hitherto focused on new product development as a means of growth, it is argued that a more structured mechanism for managing the process of product quality as value added to profitability. The modern industry must develop a way to coordinate and manage the flow of information and ideas on product planning and quality,  between the various functions in the industry if it is to tap from the ‘pool of knowledge’ to survive competition. This underscores the importance of planning (evolving and developing) products and production effectively in the industry. In this connection, they (Robin and Courter, 2008) assert that production planning and product quality control are process that  companies are going to have to manage, rather than something that magically happens. Companies need to establish a seamless innovation process in production planning and product quality control  required to create, market, and service breakthrough products are available and assessable to those who need them. This way a company can realistically hope to remain competitive and provide attractive returns on shareholders’ investment in the dynamics of global standards.

1.2     Statement of ProblemProduction planning like any other managerial activity is not always easy and smooth.