Meaning of Tool Control Tool control in production management implies (1) determining tool requirements (2) procuring necessary tools and (3) controlling/maintaining tools once they have been procured. A tool or process planner must calculate tool requirements prior to the time of production to ensure that proper tools will be available when needed. Lost time resulting from incomplete tools planning can be expensive as well as causing work to delay. In order to facilitate tool control and to limit the investment in tool inventory, it is important to standardize wherever possible all the tools within an organisation. Need for Tool Control It is very important to ensure: Against loss through theft or negligence and production delays through misplacement or non-availability of tools. That the investment in tool inventories is minimized consistent with proper tool availability. Tool Control Procedure Two methods are commonly used to control the issue and receipt of tools Continue reading
Production Management Concepts
Routing in Production Management
Meaning of Routing Routing lays down the flow of work in the plant. It determines what work is to be done and where and how it will be done. Taking from raw material to the finished product, routing decides the path and sequence of operations to be performed on the job from one machine to another. The purpose of Routing is to establish the optimum sequence of operations. Routing in production management is related to considerations of layout, temporary storage of in-process inventory and material handling. Routing in continuous industries does not present any problem because of the product type of layout, where the equipment is laid as per the sequence of operations required to be performed on the components (from raw material to the finished products). In open job shops, since, every time the job is new, though operation sheets (sometimes) may serve the purpose, but the route sheets Continue reading
Continuous Manufacturing Systems
In continuous manufacturing systems the items are produced for the stocks and not for specific orders. Before planning manufacturing to stock, a sales forecast is made to estimate likely demand of the product and a master schedule is prepared to adjust the sales forecast according to past orders and level of inventory. Here the inputs are standardized and a standard set of processes and sequence of processes can be adopted. Due to this routing and scheduling for the whole process can be standardized. After setting of master production schedule, a detailed planning is carried on. Basic manufacturing information and bills of material are recorded. Information for machine load charts, equipment, personnel and material needs is tabulated. In continuous manufacturing systems each production run manufactures in large lot sizes and the production process is carried on in a definite sequence of operations in a pre-determined order. In process storage is not Continue reading
Inventory Management
What is inventory? What are its varieties? Inventory is the buffer between two related sequential activities. Between purchase and production, between the beginning and completion of production, and between production and marketing, buffers are needed. Buffer means a cushion to fall back on. Production should not suffer due to some difficulty in purchase of raw materials. Marketing should not suffer due to some difficulty in production. If the business has some stock of raw materials, a temporary difficulty in purchase will not effect production since the stock of raw materials can be used. If there is a stock of finished goods marketing will not be effected due to any temporary hurdle in production. The stocks of raw materials and finished goods, therefore serve as buffers absorbing the difficulties in purchase and production respectively. So, inventory takes different forms. Stocks of raw materials, work-in-process and finished goods are prime inventory. Stocks Continue reading
Plant Layouts – Definition and Objectives
Plant layout means the disposition of the various facilities (equipment’s, material, manpower etc.) within the areas of the site selected. Plant layout begins with the design of the factory building and goes up to the location and movement of work. All the facilities like equipment, raw material, machinery, tools, fixtures, workers etc. are given a proper place. Some definitions of Plant Layout are; In the words of James Lundy, “It identically involves the allocation of space and the arrangement of equipment in such a manner that overall cost are minimized”. According to MoNaughton Waynel, “A good layout results in comforts, convenience, appearance, safety and profit. A poor layout results in congestion, waste, frustration and inefficiency”. According to Andrew Greasly (2007), the layout of a plant or facility is concerned with the physical placement of resources such as equipment and storage facilities, which should be designed to facilitate the efficient Continue reading
Kaizen and Kanban in Lean Manufacturing
Kaizen Kaizen is broadly interpreted as the Japanese term for continuous improvement, although it is perhaps more accurately translated as a form of control. It applies to all aspects of organisational output, and can thus be linked to both Toyota Production System (TPS) and types of waste, as well as the means of introducing and managing basic employee working conditions. One of the most popular tools of Kaizen is a Kanban, which of itself translates to differing types of organisational process control, which collectively lead to greater organisational production efficiency. The overarching principle of Kaizen, and Kanban within that, is to create a ‘pull through’ organisational process, as opposed to push through. Historically, for many manufacturing organisations, understandably, they would place the manufacturing process itself at the heart of operations, and would strive to make this element as efficient as possible working towards metrics such as overall equipment Continue reading