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‘A MAP OF THE WORLD that does not include Utopia is not worth glancing at’ wrote Oscar Wilde. ‘It leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing. And when it lands there it looks out and, seeing a better country, sets sail again. Progress is the realization of Utopias’.

Sooner or later every manager is faced with finding the route out of a difficult dilemma; choosing the solution which will cure the company's ills — not complicate them. All too often, as Chesterton wrote “It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem.” In this article Michael Clay describes an American technique for analysing and solving problems which can be learned quickly and requires no prior knowledge of management.

At various times certain functions in industry become not merely fashionable, but exert considerable dominance over other functions. This was the case at one time with production; in the immediate post‐war years it was so with marketing; in the 1960s accountancy held sway. Over the past few years, the advocates of PDM have won a well‐deserved prominence. In this writer's opinion, we have passed the peak of the evangelistic surge for PDM, and a clearer picture is emerging. It is a good time to re‐appraise progress and assess where we are going. Are there perhaps tasks sometimes claimed as distribution territory which could be better allocated elsewhere? Michael Clay is senior manager in a large international chemical company, responsible for the production and distribution planning function covering distribution over the whole world from supermarkets to overseas companies. His first management textbook (co‐authored) was published by Longman in 1965 and two others are in course of preparation. He has written widely on management for magazines in the UK, North America, Australia and elsewhere.

After last month's article on control of raw material stocks, Michael Clay looks at another planning function which is all too liable to disruption — the forward loading of work on production units.

Michael Clay outlines some of the practical difficulties of introducing a computerised production system and the extent to which processes should be automated before they run the risk of becoming counter‐productive.

Michael Clay continues his series of planning articles with a look at the role of the computer in ledgering and the conflict of interest between the planning department and stores.

This occasional series on planning has covered problems as varied as raw‐material stock control, keeping an order‐book and planning distribution. The heart of the production planning function in any business, however, is the production programme, examined here by Michael Clay.

Planning manager Michael Clay — drawing from his own experience working for a major chemical company — offers some advice on stock control of raw materials.

The distillation of ideas and questions into a concise, memory‐prodding list is an aid which no manager can afford to be without. Michael Clay — planning manager of a major chemical company — describes how to draw up your own checklist.

The rapid rise in fuel cost — coupled with high labour content — has promoted distribution to a skilled science. In this special survey, Alec Snobel looks at the concept of Physical Distribution Management and reports, in general terms, how a company can contain its transport costs. In the third article — Scheduling in practice — planning specialist, Michael Clay, provides specific examples of a distribution manager's problems and offers advice on how they can be overcome.