Production and Operations Management is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering

research on all topics in product and process design, operations, and supply chain
management.

Production and Operations Management is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of

the Production and Operations Management Society. It is listed as one of the 45 journals
used by the Financial Times to compile its business-school research ranks [1] and Bloomberg
Businessweek's Top 20 Journals.[2] According to ISI Journal Citation Reports, the journal is
ranked 5th out of 37 titles in the engineering and manufacturing category and 17th out of 74
in the operations research and management science category.

Portfolio Management (PPM) is the centralized management of the processes, methods,

and technologies used by project managers and project management offices (PMOs) to
analyze and collectively manage current or proposed projects based on numerous key
characteristics. The objectives of PPM are to determine the optimal resource mix for
delivery and toschedule activities to best achieve an organizations operational and financial
goals, while honouring constraints imposed by customers, strategic objectives, or external
real-world factors.

Key Capabilities[edit]

PPM provides program and project managers in large, program/project-driven organizations

with the capabilities needed to manage the time, resources, skills, and budgets necessary
to accomplish all interrelated tasks. It provides a framework for issue resolution and risk
mitigation, as well as the centralized visibility to help planning and scheduling teams to
identify the fastest, cheapest, or most suitable approach to deliver projects and programs.

Pipeline Management[edit]

This is the determination of whether (and how) a set of projects in the portfolio can be
executed by a company with finite development resources in a specified time. Fundamental
to pipeline management is the ability to align the decision-making process
for estimating and selecting new capital investment projects with the strategic plan.
Resource Management[edit]

The focus on efficient and effective deployment of an organizations resources where and
when they are needed. These can include financial resources, inventory, human resources,
technical skills, production and design. In addition to project-level resource allocation, users
can also model what-if resource scenarios, and extend this view across the portfolio.

Change Control[edit]

The capture and prioritization of change requests that can include new requirements,
features, functions, operational constraints, regulatory demands, and technical
enhancements. PPM provides a central repository for these change requests and the ability
to match available resources to evolving demand within the financial and operational
constraints of individual projects.

Financial Management[edit]

With PPM, the Office of Finance can improve their accuracy for estimating and managing
the financial resources of a project or group of projects. In addition, the value of projects can
be demonstrated in relation to the strategic objectives and priorities of the organization
through financial controls and to assess progress through earned value and other project
financial techniques.

Risk Management[edit]

An analysis of the risk sensitivities residing within each project, as the basis for determining
confidence levels across the portfolio. The integration of cost and schedule risk
management with techniques for determining contingency and risk response plans, enable
organizations to gain an objective view of a project uncertainties

Evolution of PPM[edit]

In the early 2000s, many PPM vendors realized that project portfolio reporting services only
addressed part of a wider need for PPM in the marketplace. Another more senior audience
had emerged, sitting at management and executive levels above detailed work execution
and schedule management, who required a greater focus on process improvement and
ensuring the viability of the portfolio in line with overall strategic objectives. In addition, as
the size, scope, complexity, and geographical spread of organizations project portfolios
continued to grow, greater visibility was needed of project work across the enterprise, allied
to improved resource utilization and capacity planning.

Enterprise Project Portfolio Management[edit]

Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) is the practice of taking a top-down

approach to managing all project-intensive work and resources across the enterprise. This
contrasts with the traditional approach of combining manual processes, desktop project
tools, and PPM applications for each project portfolio environment.

Business Drivers for EPPM[edit]

The PPM landscape is evolving rapidly as a result of the growing preference for managing
multiple capital investment initiatives from a single, enterprise-wide system. This more
centralized approach, and resulting single version of the truth for project and project
portfolio information, provides the transparency of performance needed by management to
monitor progress versus the strategic plan.

The key aims of EPPM can be summarized as follows:

Prioritize the right projects and programs: EPPM can guide decision-makers to
strategically prioritize, plan, and control enterprise portfolios. It also ensures the
organization continues to increase productivity and on-time delivery - adding value,
strengthening performance, and improving results.

Eliminate surprises: formal portfolio project oversight provides managers and

executives with a process to identify potential problems earlier in the project lifecycle,
and the visibility to take corrective action before they impact financial results.

Build contingencies into the overall portfolio: flexibility often exists within individual
projects but, by integrating contingency planning across the entire portfolio of
investments, organizations can have greater flexibility around how, where, and when
they need to allocate resources, alongside the flexibility to adjust those resources in
response to a crisis.
 Maintain response flexibility: with in-depth visibility into resource allocation,
organizations can quickly respond to escalating emergencies by maneuvering resources
from other activities, while calculating the impact this will have on the wider business.

Do more with less: For organizations to systematically review project management

processes while cutting out inefficiencies and automating those workflows and to ensure
a consistent approach to all projects, programs, and portfolios while reducing costs.

Ensure informed decisions and governance: by bringing together all project

collaborators, data points, and processes in a single, integrated solution, a unified view
of project, program, and portfolio status can be achieved within a framework of rigorous
control and governance to ensure all projects consistently adhere to business
objectives.

Extend best practice enterprise-wide: organizations can continuously vet project

management processes and capture best practices, providing efficiency as a result.

Understand future resource needs: by aligning the right resources to the right
projects at the right time, organizations can ensure individual resources are fully
leveraged and requirements are clearly understood. EPPM software also allows an
organization to establish complete project capacity.

Project Portfolio Optimization[edit]

A key result of PPM is to decide which projects to fund in an optimal manner. Project
Portfolio Optimization (PPO) is the effort to make the best decisions possible under these
conditions.

See also[edit]

Materials management can deal with campus planning and building design for the
movement of materials, or with logistics that deal with the tangible components of a supply
chain. Specifically, this covers the acquisition of spare parts and replacements, quality
control of purchasing and ordering such parts, and the standards involved in ordering,
shipping, and warehousing the said parts.
upply Chain Materials Management Areas of Concentration [edit]

Goals[edit]

The goal of materials management is to provide an unbroken chain of components for

production to manufacture goods on time for the customer base. The materials department
is charged with releasing materials to a supply base, ensuring that the materials are
delivered on time to the company using the correct carrier. Materials is generally measured
by accomplishing on time delivery to the customer, on time delivery from the supply base,
attaining a freight, budget, inventory shrink management, and inventory accuracy. The
materials department is also charged with the responsibility of managing new launches.

In some companies materials management is also charged with the procurement of

materials by establishing and managing a supply base. In other companies the procurement
and management of the supply base is the responsibility of a separate purchasing
department. The purchasing department is then responsible for the purchased price
variances from the supply base.

In large companies with multitudes of customer changes to the final product over the course
of a year, there may be a separate logistics department that is responsible for all new
acquisition launches and customer changes. This logistics department ensures that the
launch materials are procured for production and then transfers the responsibility to the
plant materials management

Standards[edit]

There are no standards for materials management that are practiced from company to
company. Most companies use ERP systems such as ARA5,SAP, Oracle, BPCS, MAPICS,
and other systems to manage materials control. Small companies that do not have or
cannot afford ERP systems use a form of spreadsheet application to manage materials.
Some other construction projects use barcode and GPS materials management systems
like Track'em.[1]

Materials management is not a science and depending upon the relevance and importance
that company officials place upon controlling material flow, the level of expertise changes.
Some companies place materials management on a level whereby there is a logistics
director, other companies see the importance level as managing at the plant level by hiring
an inventory manager or materials manager, and still other companies employ the concept
that the supervisors in the plant are responsible accompanied by a planners.

Materials Management[edit]

The major challenge that materials managers face is maintaining a consistent flow of
materials for production. There are many factors that inhibit the accuracy of inventory which
results in production shortages, premium freight, and often inventory adjustments. The
major issues that all materials managers face are incorrect bills of materials, inaccurate
cycle counts, un-reported scrap, shipping errors, receiving errors, and production reporting
errors. Materials managers have striven to determine how to manage these issues in the
business sectors of manufacturing since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Although
there are no known methods that eliminate the afore mentioned inventory accuracy
inhibitors, there are best methods available to eliminate the impact upon maintaining an
interrupted flow of materials for production.

One challenge for materials managers is to provide timely releases to the supply base. On
the scale of worst to best practices, sending releases via facsimile or PDF file is the worst
practice and transmitting releases to the supplier based web site is the best practice. Why?
The flaw in transmitting releases via facsimile or email is that they can get lost or even
interpreted incorrectly into the suppliers system resulting in a stock out. The problem with
transmitting EDI releases is that not all suppliers have EDI systems capable of receiving the
release information. The best practice is to transmit the releases to a common supplier web
base site where the suppliers can view (for free) the releases. The other advantage is that
the supplier is required to use the carrier listed in the web site, must transmit an ASN
(advanced shipping notification), and review the accumulative balances of the order.

Improving circulation infrastructure[edit]

Redundancy can be reduced and effectiveness is increased when service points are
clustered to reduce the amount of redundancy. An effective materials management program
can also resolve island approaches to shipping, receiving, and vehicle movement.
Solutions can include creating a new central loading location, as well consolidating service
areas and docks from separate buildings into one. Developing better campus circulation
infrastructure also means re-evaluating truck delivery and service vehicle routes. Vehicle
type, size, and schedules are studied to make these more monument for other uses.
Materials Management Week[edit]

Each year, an entire week is dedicated to celebrating resource and materials management
professionals for their outstanding contributions to healthcare and the overall success of the
supply chain. Sponsored by the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials
Management (AHRMM), National Healthcare Resource & Materials Management Week
(MM Week) provides an opportunity to recognize the integral role materials management
professionals play in delivering high-quality patient care throughout the health care industry.
In 2010 Material Management Week is October 410.

Materials Management Campus Planning and Building Design[edit]

Overview[edit]

Materials management plans and designs for the delivery, distribution, storage, collection,
and removal of occupant-generated streams of materials and services. It is usually an
additional service that is offered as part of a campus planning process or a building design
project. It is most beneficial for university, health care, and corporate environments.
Materials management looks at the planning and design considerations needed to support
the efficient delivery and removal of goods and services that support occupant activity. The
streams of occupant-generated materials and activity include mail, office supplies, lab
supplies, food, special deliveries, custodial services, building supplies, waste and recycling,
and service calls.

A materials management plan may include planning guidelines or full design for the
following:

Truck delivery and service vehicle routes, to reduce vehicle / pedestrian conflict

Loading docks and delivery points, to increase accommodation and reduce queuing
and vehicle idling

Recycling, trash, and hazardous waste collection and removal, to increase waste
diversion and reduce costs

Service equipment and utility infrastructure relocation or concealment, to improve

aesthetics and realize landscaping goals
 Regulatory and operation planning [2]
Benefits[edit]

The effective materials management plan builds from and enhances an institutional master
plan by filling in the gaps aNd producing an environmentally responsible and efficient
outcome. An institutional campus, office, or housing complex can expect a myriad of
benefits from an effective materials management plan. For starters,there are long-term cost
savings, as consolidating, reconfiguring, and better managing a campus core infrastructure
reduces annual operating costs. An institutional campus, office, or housing complex will also
get the highest and best use out of campus real estate.

An effective materials management plan also means a more holistic approach to managing
vehicle use and emissions, solid waste, hazardous waste, recycling, and utility services. As
a result, this means a greener, more sustainable environment and a manifestation of the
many demands today for institutions to become more environmentally friendly. In fact,
thanks to such environmental advantages, creative materials management plans may
qualify for LEAD Innovation in Design credits.

And finally, an effective materials management plan can improve aesthetics. Removing
unsafe and unsightly conditions, placing core services out of sight, and creating a more
pedestrian-friendly environment will improve the visual and physical sense of place for
those who live and work there.[3]