The pace of economic development of modern countries is increasingly dependent on the structural structure of the national economy. The progressive development of social production cannot do without highly developed logistics with the effective functioning of all its components, affecting the sphere of management as well. The framework of this system is based on the production infrastructure (PI) as a whole, which determines the potential with resource funds for the country's economic development.
Basic concepts of PI
To begin with, it is worth deciding on the concept of a typical infrastructure of a conditional enterprise, within which the production process is carried out. In general terms, this is a list of interconnected services and units that ensure the normal functioning of the company without stops and interruptions.
The object of production infrastructure can be understood as the functional components on which the composition of the enterprise is based. It can be a variety of economic and instrumental departments responsible for energy, material supply, metrology, quality control, monitoring, personnel policy and other areas of the enterprise. The main thing is that this type of infrastructure is not limited exclusively to logistics and technical elements of production in various aspects of its provision. To illustrate the wide idea of PI, one can cite the concept of logistics management, which combines quite practical tasks of organizing transport networks and marketing products with marketing tools.
Also, do not limit the concept of PI to a well-functioning system of enterprise functioning, albeit in different manifestations of its activity. To a large extent, this infrastructure also provides work for the prospective solution of strategic tasks. For such purposes, the modern production infrastructure includes a control farm with a specific list of maintenance services that have a whole range of their own functions:
- Implementation of organizational, technical and technical and economic regulation of all work processes in the enterprise.
- Creation of conditions for the production of competitive products with minimal resource investment.
- Creation of conditions for performing technological operations with a high level of automation, mechanization and informatization.
- Providing flexibility and continuity with minimal costs when restructuring production to focus on new products.
Production Infrastructure Structure
The form of the organizational structure of production is determined by the tasks facing the enterprise. As a rule, they are reflected in order to ensure the stable functioning of the main technological processes from market research and the purchase of raw materials, to the distribution of goods to points of sale. The main divisions of the production infrastructure, on which the technological support of these processes rests, include the following:
- Tool economy. As a rule, a group of small units, each of which is responsible for the maintenance of a certain area in the production or type of equipment. Some services of this type are involved in the critical processes of design, manufacture and restoration, as well as in the organization and distribution of jobs, conservation of equipment, etc.
- Repair facilities. It is also a multifaceted unit from the point of view of functionality, the main task of which is to ensure control over the state of the equipment and accessories used. The workers of this workshop carry out repairs, preventive maintenance, tuning and commissioning.
- Transport facilities. Transport logistics, which provides channels for transporting raw materials, finished products, and other materials necessary for the working cycle, also belongs to the production infrastructure. Several different divisions usually work on the logistic model, since it affects different stages of the production process, and transport unit employees are involved in network maintenance. At the present stage of the development of logistics, information support services are added to this workshop, since virtual modeling with digital communication channels is becoming increasingly part of the production process system.
- Energy economy. Support for the enterprise and its work processes by the necessary sources of energy supply is also allocated to a separate structural unit, which requires the organization of its own logistics, engineering and communications services and technical capacities. The complexity of uninterrupted supply in many industries is the need to use several energy sources, create an electrotechnical protected network and connect redundant power supplies, which in principle can guarantee the independence of power equipment from main supply circuits.
Varieties of production infrastructure
Even within the framework of one enterprise, the infrastructure can be represented in different functional layers in terms of its goals, objectives and organization methods. The main types of PI include the following:
- Technical PI. It is directly connected with communications, on the basis of which transport networks, cable lines of power supply, information support and other engineering are laid.
- Social infrastructure. Also partly the technical sphere, but with an emphasis on the psychological aspects of organizing modern personnel policies in enterprises. The social and production infrastructure is formed by managerial, human rights and other means of ensuring working conditions within a specific enterprise. Compliance with labor protection measures in this case is a key factor regulating the infrastructure in its social sphere.
- Innovative infrastructure. The conditional technical and organizational model of the infrastructure device at the enterprise, the capacities of which can be used to transform the current structure. This potential is laid at the stages of designing the same logistics networks and developing strategic development projects. In the process of modernization of the enterprise, for example, in the context of the transition from mechanical to robotic production, the presence of a buffer of prepared innovative technologies will allow to complete the transition stage with minimal costs.
The principles of creating a production and organizational structure
Effective work of the enterprise is possible only if a number of principles are observed that ensure its full existence in a competitive environment. Among the fundamental principles of organizing the production infrastructure are the following:
- Availability. Infrastructure should be able to meet the needs of potential consumers in its segment in a specific territory of distribution of products. This principle is expressed both in territorial proximity and in a balanced pricing policy.
- Reliability. Emergency situations and unforeseen malfunctions of the enterprise infrastructure are factors that are also calculated at the stage of system design. Reliability assessment uses parameters such as service speed and quality control efficiency.
- Contingency. It also appears as the sufficiency of the production infrastructure, which is reflected in its compliance with the economic, social, technological and other environmental conditions in which the enterprise operates. For example, if the pace of development of the company does not correspond to the general level of development of the local production complex, then they speak of infrastructural insufficiency.
Now we can proceed to consider the phased creation of the organizational and production model of the enterprise in various aspects of the functioning of its infrastructure.
Organization of material and technical structure
One of the most capacious and responsible infrastructure nodes, thanks to which the production is provided with a raw material base, technical means and energy resources. In particular, a logistics system can be developed to organize the supply of components, polymer raw materials, fuel cells, etc. In this part, the production infrastructure includes transport equipment, material handling machines, pipelines, storage facilities and other facilities for the temporary storage of materials. At some processing plants, already in the material and technical infrastructure, the possibilities are laid for the initial preparation of raw materials or blanks for the main technological stages of processing.
Unlike most of the further stages of building the infrastructure complex, at this stage the tasks of self-supporting the needs of the enterprise are realized. And do not forget that the production infrastructure includes not only the capacity of the conditional conveyor, but also auxiliary functional units, due to which, in principle, the activities of the enterprise are supported. For example, depending on the industry, the logistics department may ensure the availability of backup power supplies, ventilation and sewage systems, repair facilities, etc.
Organization of transport and warehouse support
Warehouse infrastructure acts as a link in the overall chain of the production cycle from the reception of raw materials to the storage of finished products. In organizing the production infrastructure at this stage, it is important to adhere to the following conditions:
- High speed of movement of resources, raw materials and finished products.
- Effective use of vehicles and maintenance personnel.
- Ensuring a high degree of mechanization or automation when performing typical work activities.
- Reducing the cost of technological processes.
- Consistency of production and transport operations.
The work of transport and storage facilities is mainly based on the functions of vehicles, among which are usually trucks, wagons, loaders, etc. The choice of a particular method of implementing a logistics system depends on the production and economic infrastructure, which is designed on the basis of preliminary marketing calculations. In some conditions, the standard option of arranging garages with repair shops and ordinary roads is acceptable, while in others the use of special rail tracks with full depots is required. One way or another, the characteristics of in-plant transport have a direct impact on the efficiency of distribution of products and on the course of the production process as a whole.
Energy Management
Almost all functional components of the production system need energy sources. The difference in approaches to the nutrition of different consumers is in the types of fuel, its delivery methods and energy volume. At large enterprises, the energy economy is a whole complex of divisions and maintenance equipment, which ensures the processes of delivery, transformation, accumulation and energy consumption. For example, for the production and transport infrastructure, traditional types of liquid fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and diesel fuel, are mainly used. But energy resources may be required for technological processes, which forms the basis of energy consumption. In this case, an infrastructure is being created aimed at servicing heat, steam and gas energy, which can be converted into mechanical energy required to maintain the function of power plants. Target consumers of this type can be hydraulic machines, compressor stations, boiler rooms, processing machines, as well as material handling equipment on conveyors.
Organization of instrumental economy
Maintenance of tools and equipment is also a mandatory component of the overall production process at the enterprise. Accordingly, certain capacities should be prepared for such tasks. Maintenance of the technical production infrastructure is provided by instrumental departments and workshops in which operations are performed for setting up, repairing, repairing and restoring working tools and technological equipment. Large enterprises can also organize full-fledged production lines of their own tools with individual sets of structural and operational characteristics. Typical operations performed by the tool shop include sharpening cutting nozzles and accessories - mills, drills, chisels, knives, etc.
The main tasks of the instrumental economy as a whole include providing jobs with functional equipment of adequate quality. In an expanded form, workshops of production infrastructure are also involved in accounting, inventory, conservation and disposal of technical equipment. The execution of these operations is interfaced with other processes of logistics and quality control. For example, the need to replenish the inventory of the tool base is determined in the course of a comprehensive audit with the participation of representatives of the warehouse supply department, which determine the current capacity utilization efficiency. There is also a special concept of the norm of stock of tools and working equipment, the parameters of which are determined at the stage of development of the production flow chart. The nomenclature of the used technical means is determined in different ways - for example, based on the applicability of specific tools. In small-scale and single-unit productions, in such calculations they are guided by the equipment of workplaces.
Features of PI in Russia
At every turn of the rise of the Russian economy, experts note the expressed problems of the weak development of the production complex in terms of its infrastructure structure. Even under favorable conditions with creative trends in the market, the implementation of promising projects is hindered by a number of problems of energy supply and the logistics of the regions.
The most acute problems in the development of industrial infrastructure in Russia include obsolescence and non-compliance with modern standards of roads and railways, communications, communications and utilities. Depreciation of production assets, one way or another connected with these industries, is 50-70%. For example, the gas transportation industry still operates more than half of the networks that have expired or require replacement of components.
This state of infrastructure is associated with the following set of systemic problems of the production complex:
- The lack of clear proportions in the allocation of material resources for infrastructure development.
- The lack of proven mechanisms for the development of production and technological infrastructure, which is reflected in the inconsistency of regional and economic policies with the stimulation of funds aimed at maintaining and modernizing operating funds.
- Differences in standards and regulations, in accordance with which the infrastructure is operated in different industries and regions.
- Different approaches to the operation of infrastructure by various departments and customers, which is also due to the unclear picture of the future development of the country's manufacturing sector.
Finally
The company's own infrastructure determines the effectiveness of its work in almost all aspects of logistics, marketing and interaction with contractors. The basis of the infrastructure of the production process is formed by the technical framework, which includes tooling, a fleet of equipment and a range of directly working machines and assemblies, not to mention auxiliary devices. But this set is not enough to form a full-fledged infrastructure. Especially in our time, a lot also depends on communication networks, controls and management in a broad sense, whose tools also affect the nature of the device of the production system.