ABSTRACT
Any task has some controls implicit in itself. Other controls are automatically determined by constraints on the resources available for performance. Thus a given task that is one of a series of successive operations is controlled by the preceding and succeeding operations. In the same way, the decision to manufacture a given product by a given technology predetermines the kind of raw materials that have to be acquired; and the decision to manufacture a given quantity should predetermine the amount of raw materials and the marketing plan. Conversely, the acceptance of a marketing plan can predetermine all manufacturing and buying activities. This is not to say that the implicit controls are always effective. As we saw in the Calico Mills, the short-term changes in the marketing plan could make chaos of any attempt to achieve long-term control of manufacturing, and failure to achieve manufacturing targets could be a serious embarrassment to sales. Again, attempts to standardize ‘grey’ cloth were frequently upset by variations in yarn, and the yarn depended on the availability of cotton varieties.
