Book excerpt: This widely adopted and well-established book, now in its Third Edition, provides the students of management and engineering with the latest techniques in production and operations management, considered so vital for maximizing productivity and profitability in business. What distinguishes the text is a comprehensive coverage of topics such as contract laws, capacity requirement planning, vendor evaluation including AHP method, quality function deployment, and enterprise resource planning. The new topics, which are of current interest, along with the characteristic features and easy-to-read style, would enhance the value of this text. The book is primarily intended as a text for postgraduate students of management, undergraduate students of mechanical engineering and undergraduate and postgraduate students of industrial, and production engineering courses. This profusely illustrated and well-organized text with its fine blend of theory and applications would also be useful for the practicing professionals. NEW TO THIS EDITION : Objective Type Questions at the end of each chapter Additional example problems in Chapters 5 and 17 XYZ, VED, FSN, and SDE analyses Process planning case study in Chapter 2 Case Study Questions in Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 15 Heuristic to minimise total tardiness in single machine scheduling KEY FEATURES : Focuses on productivity related concepts and techniques Provides solved examples at suitable places Includes sufficient tables and diagrams to illustrate the concepts Updates the reader with many efficient and modern algorithms Contains Answers to selected questions and Objective type questions