''Factory Physics'' is a book written by Wallace Hopp and Mark Spearman, which introduces a science of operations for
manufacturing
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...
management
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
. According to the book's preface, Factory Physics is "a systematic description of the underlying behavior of
manufacturing systems. Understanding it enables managers and engineers to work with the natural tendencies of manufacturing systems to:
* Identify opportunities for improving existing systems
* Design effective new systems
* Make the
trade-off
A trade-off (or tradeoff) is a situational decision that involves diminishing or losing one quality, quantity, or property of a set or design in return for gains in other aspects. In simple terms, a tradeoff is where one thing increases, and anot ...
s needed to coordinate policies from disparate areas
The book is used both in industry and in academia for reference and teaching on
operations management. It describes a new approach to manufacturing management based on the laws of Factory Physics science. The fundamental Factory Physics framework states that the essential components of all value streams or production processes or service processes are demand and transformation which are described by structural elements of flows and stocks. There are very specific practical,
mathematical
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
relationships that enable one to describe and control the performance of flows and stocks. The book states that, in the presence of
variability, there are only three buffers available to synchronize
demand
In economics, demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. The relationship between price and quantity demand is also called the demand curve. Demand for a specific item ...
and transformation with lowest
cost
In Production (economics), production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one o ...
and highest
service level
Service level measures the performance of a system. Certain goals are defined and the service level gives the percentage to which those goals should be achieved. Fill rate is different from service level.
Examples of service level:
* Percentage o ...
:
*
Capacity
*
Inventory
Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation.
Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the sh ...
*Response time
The book states that its approach enables practical, predictive understanding of flows and stocks and how to best use the three levers to optimally synchronize demand and transformation.
This work won the 1996
Institute of Industrial Engineers
The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), formerly the Institute of Industrial Engineers, is a professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving ...
IIE/Joint Publishers Book of the Year Award.
Editions
*''Factory Physics: Foundations of Manufacturing Management'', first edition, 1996. 668pp.
*''Factory Physics: Foundations of Manufacturing Management'', second edition, 2000. 698pp.
*''Factory Physics: Foundations of Manufacturing Management'', third edition, 2008. 720pp.
See also
*
CONWIP
CONWIP (CONstant work in process) are pull-oriented production control systems. Such systems can be classified as pull and push systems (Spearman et al. 1990). In a push system, the production order is scheduled, and the material is pushed into t ...
*
Supply chain management
In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) is the management of the flow of goods and services including all processes that transform raw materials into final products between businesses and locations. This can include the movement and sto ...
References
{{italic title
1996 non-fiction books
Business books
Operations research
Collaborative non-fiction books