The focus of this book is manufacturing lead time - ie the time from when a batch enters the shop floor to the time it leaves manufacturing as a finished part or product. Typically, this manufacturing lead time is 10 to 20 times the actual processing time. It is the author's contention that this time must be reduced to a level comparable to the actual processing time. This, they explain can be achieved by the use of sound operational planning and control systems. To reinforce this the major concern of this book is operational level production planning and control systems normally referred to as shop floor control systems. The text suggests that conventional commercially available computer based systems are very weak on this aspect of production planning and control. It recommends an approach to the development and installation of sophisticated shop floor control(SFC) systems which is a social technical approach to design and installation and develops a set of software tools to support the development and installation of these systems. The overall approach is verified by an industrial case study which concludes the book.