Editorial Reviews
Review
`Overall, the editor Paul Swamidass and Kluwer did a very good job in organizing the book project.‘
OR News, 13 November (2000)
The Encyclopedia of Production and Manufacturing Management is an encyclopedia that has been developed to serve this field as the fundamental reference work. Over the past twenty years, the field of production and operations management has grown more rapidly than ever and consequently its boundaries have been stretched in all directions. For example, in the last two decades, production and manufacturing management absorbed in rapid succession several new production management concepts: manufacturing strategy, focused factory, just-in-time manufacturing, concurrent engineering, total quality management, supply chain management, flexible manufacturing systems, lean production, mass customization, and more. It is clear that with the increasing globalization of manufacturing, the field will continue to expand. This expositive growth makes the need for this volume abundantly clear. The Encyclopedia’s audience is a technically diverse one. It includes anyone concerned with manufacturing techniques, methods, and manufacturing decisions. Since this audience encompasses many professional educational backgrounds and skills, the Encyclopedia’s organization has been developed with sensitivity to the form, format, and scope of each of its articles. The articles are fundamentally designed to serve as initial sources of information for all readers, with special emphasis on the needs of students and practitioners. In addition, most researchers in manufacturing deal fairly exclusively with a limited number of manufacturing areas. Hence, the Encyclopedia provides the researcher with an effective reference tool covering the broad spectrum of topics (new and classic) in production and manufacturing management. The manufacturing industry thinks and acts more broadly than it did several decades ago. The most notable change has been the need for manufacturing managers to think in technological, strategic and competitive terms. This is a very favorable development, and it leads to manufacturing success. The entries in this Encyclopedia include the most recent technical and strategic innovations in production and manufacturing management. Comprehensiveness and currency are the guiding principle of topics covered in the Encyclopedia. The encyclopedia consists of articles of varying lengths. The longer articles on important concepts and practices range from five to fifteen pages. There are about 100 such articles written by nearly 100 authors from around the world. In addition, there are over 1000 shorter entries on concepts, practices and principles. The range of topics and depth of coverage is intended to suit both student and professional audiences. The shorter entries provide digests of unfamiliar and complicated subjects. Difficult subjects are made intelligible to the reader without oversimplification. The articles themselves are organized for a consistent presentation. The structural organization used by the majority of the articles is as follows: + Description and basic concepts: What is it? + Historical perspective: How did it evolve and seminal works? + Strategic perspectives: Why is it important? + Implementation: How is this practiced or implemented? + Technology perspective: What technologies are essential? + Significant analytical models: Problem solving with analytical models + Effect: Effect on performance + Timing: When it is appropriate? + Location: Where is it used or practiced? + Results What results and problems to expect? + Cases: Who uses them? + Collective wisdom: Caveats. A special feature of this encyclopedia is the list called Manufacturers and Organizations Discussed in the Encyclopedia following the Table of Contents. Several articles use real life examples from more than 100 manufacturing and other firms from the U.S., Japan, Europe, and other countries. The practices of some manufacturers such as Chrysler, Ford, GM, and Toyota are discussed in several articles. The list provides an easy and quick access to references about companies and organizations in the list. At the end of the Encyclopedia, there are two Appendixes with different bibliographies. Appendix I is organized alphabetically and includes writings on all topics covered by the encyclopedia. Appendix II is a topical bibliography under 21 broad topics from Capacity Planning to Supply Chain. The second bibliography can greatly speed the, search for publications on a given topic. The two appendixes should serve as valuable research tools. The strategic and technological perspectives on various topics provide distinctiveness and uniqueness to this Encyclopedia. The world of manufacturing today is increasingly competitive. It is apparent that manufacturers today must respond to these competitive pressures with technical and strategic innovation. This encyclopedia has been developed to help researchers, students and those in the manufacturing industry to understand and implement these ongoing changes in the field.
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