Then and now – 50 years of production research

This paper is based on the author’s experience of three different firms 50 years ago, around the time when The International Journal of Production Research began publication. It describes the issues and challenges that these firms faced in planning and managing production or distribution, and the approaches and recommendations that were made at the time for addressing these issues. Next the question is asked: how, 50 years later, would the same situation be addressed? Asking this question enables an assessment of the contribution of production research to understanding issues, developing solution approaches, and helping production managers.