Management: running a business well
Management means using resources well to reach a goal. A fish-product company uses four main resources: people, materials and machines, money and information.
A manager does four jobs:
- Planning: decide goals and the way to reach them.
- Organising: give each person a task and a place, and arrange machines.
- Leading: guide, train and motivate workers; keep them safe.
- Controlling: compare what happened with the plan and correct it.
A business also needs profit (income more than cost) so that it can pay workers and grow, and trust from customers, which comes from safe food and honest labels. Good managers also follow laws, look after the environment and keep records.
The Plan-Do-Check-Act circle
PDCA is a simple loop that helps a team get better again and again.
- Plan: set a target (for example 1,000 packs of fish paste by 4 pm) and decide who does what.
- Do: make the packs as planned. Write down what happens.
- Check: compare. How many packs? How many were wrong? Was the temperature right?
- Act: fix the cause (for example, a slow machine), and write the new rule. Then plan again.
Each time round the circle, the factory makes fewer mistakes. Many factories keep this habit under names such as continuous improvement.
Production management: quality, cost, delivery
Production management plans and controls how a product is made. It has three aims, called QCD:
- Quality: the food is safe, tastes right, and is the same each time.
- Cost: use materials, energy and time without waste, so the price stays fair.
- Delivery: the right amount reaches the customer on the promised day.
The four resources used in production are often called 4M: Man (workers), Machine, Material and Method (the way of working).
Everyday tools:
- Production plan: what, how many, when.
- Process control: watch temperature, time and speed during the making.
- Stock control: keep the right amount of raw material; use older stock first (first in, first out) so food does not go bad.
- Quality checks and records: measure samples and write them down, so a problem batch can be traced.
- Safety and tidiness: a clean, orderly floor (the "5S" habit: sort, set in order, shine, standardise, sustain).
The trade-off: if the line runs faster, more packs are made, but more mistakes happen. If you inspect more, fewer bad packs leave, but it costs time and money. A manager looks for the best balance.
Try it yourself
In the 3D: set speed to 100 and inspection to 0. Which bar crashes? (Quality.) Now set speed 100 and inspection 100. Which bar drops now? (On-time.) Find a setting where all three bars are above 60.
At home: plan a family lunch with PDCA. Write the plan, cook, check what was left over, and write one change for next time.
Key formulas and definitions
- PDCA: Plan → Do → Check → Act → (repeat)
- QCD: Quality, Cost, Delivery
- 4M: Man, Machine, Material, Method
- Output = rate per hour × hours worked
- Defect rate (%) = defective packs ÷ total packs × 100
- Yield (%) = good output ÷ raw input × 100
Worked examples
1. A line makes 240 packs per hour and runs 8 hours. How many packs?
Output = 240 × 8 = 1,920 packs.
2. In a batch of 500 packs, 15 are found defective. What is the defect rate?
Defect rate = 15 ÷ 500 × 100 = 3%.
3. 200 kg of raw fish gives 130 kg of fillets. What is the yield?
Yield = 130 ÷ 200 × 100 = 65%.
4. The plan says 3,000 packs by Friday. By Thursday evening 2,400 are done. What percent of the plan is complete, and what is left?
Percent = 2,400 ÷ 3,000 × 100 = 80%. Left = 3,000 − 2,400 = 600 packs. This is the Check step; the Act step is to decide how to finish the 600 on time.
Common mistakes
- Thinking quality, cost and delivery can all be pushed to the maximum together. Pushing one often hurts another.
- Doing Plan and Do but never Check and Act. Then the same mistakes repeat.
- Using new stock before old stock. Use first in, first out.
- Confusing defect rate with yield. Defect rate counts bad packs; yield compares good output with raw input.