Factory Physics is a book written by Wallace Hopp and Mark Spearman, which introduces a framework for manufacturing management. 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

1. Identify opportunities for improving existing systems.
2. Design effective new systems.
3. Make the tradeoffs needed to coordinate policies from disparate areas."

Critical response

This work won the 1998 Institute of Industrial Engineers

Institute of Industrial Engineers

The Institute of Industrial Engineers is a professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving quality and productivity...

 (IIE) Book of the Year Award.

Editions

• Factory Physics: Foundations of Manufacturing Management, first edition, 1996. 668pp. ISBN 0-256-15464-3.
• Factory Physics: Foundations of Manufacturing Management, second edition, 2000. 698pp. ISBN 0-256-24795-1.
• Factory Physics: Foundations of Manufacturing Management, third edition, 2008. 720pp. ISBN 978-0-07-282403-4.

See also

• CONWIP
  CONWIP
  CONstant Work in Process are pull-oriented production control systems. Such systems can be classified as pull and push systems . In a push system, the production order is scheduled and the material is pushed into the production line...
  
  
• Supply chain management
  Supply chain management
  Supply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers...
  
  
• Arc Whitepaper on Factory Physics.pdf
• Arc Whitepaper on Absolute Benchmarking