Product Planning - An Engineer's Job

The theme of this paper is that only an engineer is equipped by virtue of his training to perform an adequate production planning job. The author proves his point by reviewing the procedures adopted by General Motors Corp. and showing how the newly created Forward Planning staff has operated to combine the efforts of design, manufacturing, assembly, distribution, and service staffs. Engineers on this staff devote their planning efforts to two areas, forward planning and program planning. In the early stages of their studies, marketing advice is sought and styling counsel is solicited. From this point on the Forward Planning staff directs assembly of prototypes and manufacturing evaluations of tooling and facility requirements.