In Intermittent manufacturing systems, the goods are manufactured specially to fulfill orders made by customers rather than for stock. Here the flow of material is intermittent. Intermittent production systems are those where the production facilities are flexible enough to handle a wide variety of products and sizes. These can be used to manufacture those products where the basic nature of inputs changes with the change in the design of the product and the production process requires continuous adjustments. Considerable storage between operation is required, so that individual operations can be carried out independently for further utilization of men and machines. Examples of intermittent systems are: machine shops, hospitals, general office etc. Characteristics of intermittent manufacturing systems are: Most products are produced in small quantities. Machines and equipment are laid out by process. Workloads are generally unbalanced. Highly skilled operators are required for efficient use of machines and equipment. In-process inventory Continue reading
Production Management Techniques
Mass Production Systems
Mass production (also called flow production or repetitive flow production) is the production of large amounts of standardized products on production lines. It was popularized by Henry Ford in the early 20th Century, notably in his Ford Model T. Mass production is notable because it permits very high rates of production per worker and therefore provides very inexpensive products. Mass production is capital intensive, as it uses a high proportion of machinery in relation to workers. With fewer labor costs and a faster rate of production, capital is increased while expenditure is decreased. However the machinery that is needed to set up a mass production line is so expensive that there must be some assurance that the product is to be successful so the company can get a return on its investment. Machinery for mass production such as robots and machine presses have high installation costs. One of the descriptions Continue reading
Concept of Material Handling – Definition and Functions
Material Handling involves the movement of material, manually or mechanically in batches or one item at a time within the plant. The movement may be horizontal, vertical or combination of horizontal or vertical. Material Handling is the movement, storage, control and protection of materials, goods and products throughout the process of manufacturing, distribution, consumption and disposal. The focus is on the methods, mechanical equipment, systems and related controls used to achieve these functions. Briefly, Material Handling is the moving of materials from the raw stage through production to ultimate Customer with the least expenditure of time and effort so as to produce maximum Productive Efficiency at the lowest Material Handling cost. Material Handling is concerned with motion, time, quantity and space. Material Handling Institute describes this as follows: Material Handling is MOTION. Parts, material and finished products must be moved from store to location. Material Handling is concerned with moving Continue reading
Line Balancing in Production Management
A production line is typically associated with continuous or flow production system. Production lines are particularly appropriate for high volume operations. In a production line work is divided into individual tasks and assigned to consecutive workstations on the line. In mass production on progressive assembly line the workload between various machines or workstations should be balanced. The need for balancing the line becomes obvious when it is considered that the output to be received from the line is determined by the maximum time involved in the performance of work at one particular workstation. The imbalances existing in the line would lead to wastage of time at all other work stations when one work station holds up the total output rate. Therefore, it is necessary to level out or balance the cycle times at each workstation. Line balancing refers to the apportionment of sequential work activities into workstations in order to Continue reading
Improvements In Productive Flow And Product Quality
The main objective of any business is profit making which it derives by making its products and services available to people. The business models therefore, can be described as value propositions for various stakeholders for which the management evolves strategies and methodologies to create goods and services in some particular arena and delivers the same to the desired target group or customers. It explains how the business would function, identify the goods and services that would be produced for identified customers, ensure the viability of the objectives and goals of the business to deliver values based services. In the contemporary environment of highly competitive business, innovative managerial practices become critical for increasing profitability without major capital investment. The essay would therefore focus on how the improvements in productive flow and product quality would impact on firms’ sales and profit. Productive Flow and Quality Product Productive flow broadly defines the streamlined Continue reading
Background of Lean Manufacturing
Lean is a philosophy that spurred from the Toyota Production System (TPS). TPS was created by Toyota’s founder Sakichi Toyodo, Kiichiro Toyoda, and Taiichi Ohno. Much of TPS was also influenced by W. Edwards Deming’s statistic process control (SPC) and Henry Ford’s mass production lines. However, the Japanese were not impressed with Ford’s approach because it was filled with over-production, lots of inventory, and much waiting. Toyota identified these weaknesses in Ford’s production line and adapted the production line to create a more productive and reliable production line. TPS and lean also use just-in-time inventory where only small amounts of inventory were ordered and very little inventory was left waiting in the production line. This also was very different from Ford’s production line which usually bought high volumes of materials and had high inventory levels to lower costs. After TPS proved to be successful for Toyota, many companies adapted their Continue reading