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International Journal of Production Research

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Concept of a manufacturing system

a
J. PARNABY
a
Schools of Mechanical and Manufacturing Systems Engineering University of Bradford ,
Bradford, U.K.
Published online: 15 Mar 2007.

To cite this article: J. PARNABY (1979) Concept of a manufacturing system, International Journal of Production Research,
17:2, 123-135, DOI: 10.1080/00207547908919600

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207547908919600

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 concept
.. . of a manufacturing system

There is no single concept of a manufacturing system covering all industries in every detail.
It is necessary to examine the fundamental properties and characteristics of a range of
s)istems and to consider the way they are synthesized andoperated befo&consolidating
-
nenerd conclusions. What is seen d e ~ e n d vew
s much on the view~oiintand the narrowne&
of the focuslng range Nevertheless there is much to be gained from a fundamental study of
d l aspects of manufacturing systems and their interactions since there are opportunities fof
technology transfer between industries.
.Manufacturing systems must be designed by trrking into account both steady state and
dynamic performance, whilst ensuring there is an adequate number of controllable
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variables to compensate the effects of uncontrolled disturbances. The technological procem

part of the manufacturing system is synthesiwid from interacting unit-operationsub-
systems, and this itself is a subsystem of the overall business system. The business system
has a complex multivariable nature and f o r i t s effective control it is important that
information flows and plans or set points are well defined to allow people to be effective
controllers of the system.
System design and system control must be effectively integrated.

Manufacturing system
I n general terms, a manufacturing system is one in which raw materials are
processed from one forminto another, known as a product, gaining a higher or added
value in the process. The output products from one manufacturing system may be
the inputs to another. There is thus considerable interaction. Such systems
incorporate particular product dependent applications of science and technology via
their processes and associated machinery and are usually complex. They directly
involve many people who carry the process know-how and they interact in many
complex ways with our social system and physical environment.
We live in a dynamic and competitive world where market competition is met a t
inter-firm level and inter-country level. For a manufacturing industry to survive it
must keep pace with change, and each and every firm must be efficient in achieving
its objectives. Efficiency in terms of return on capital employed,lor profit, has to be
achieved these days in the face of increasingly complex interactions and constraints
of a technical and sociological nature.
One representation of a manufacturing system, in an overall sense, is given in Fig.
1 in input-output analysis form. Fig. 1 , whilst interesting, is not particularly useful
other than to remind us that not all inputs to the system are controllable by
management, and disturbances in these must be mitigated by manipulations in
controllable inputs such as resources and plans.
Figure 1 gives the impression of manufacturing systems in general being a
homogeneous group. However, this is not so fdr a number of reasons, not least of
which is the differing natures of the products, as can be deduced from the list given in
Table 1 of different manufacturing systems making u p the British manufacturing
industry. Engineering companies and processing companies are represented in Table
1.
Received 8 June 1978.
t Schools of Mechanical and Manufacturing SystemsEngineering,Univenity of Bradford,
Bradford, U.K.
Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd, 10-14 Macklin Street, London WC2 B5NF
 124 J. Parnaby

Sales Fluctuations Production Rate, Q u a l i t y

Raw Materials A v a i l a b i l i t y D e l i very

Business Environment s
Sys tern
lable Social Pressures Reputation
inputs
Resources and Plans
>
I I

Figure 1. Overall view, input-output analysis.

Food, drink, tobacco Textiles

Chemicals and allied industries Leather, leathe! goods and fur
Metal manuftkture . Clothing and footwear ..
Engineering and electrical goods Bricks, pottkry, glass, cement,
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Shipbuilding and marine engineering etc.

Vehicles Timber, furniture, etc.
Other metal goods Paper, printing and publishing
Others!

Table 1. Manufacturing industry.

Certain features are common, for example:
A manufacturing system should be an integrated whole. It is composed of
different subsystems, each of which interacts with the whole system. The
system will have a ;umber of objectives and the system must be operated in
such a way as to optimize some weighted function of the objectives (Beishon
and Peters 1972).
The manufacturing system will be synthesized by selecting sets of energy
consuming subsystems for raw materials pro&ssing from the typical list in
Table 2, linking these together and operating or controlling the resulting
system and its interactions with i t s environment.
To operate the system requires an administration information flow system
and decision making processes.
The processes taking place in the unit operations and reactors must all be
constrained to satisfy the laws of mass and energy conservation and of
chemical combination.
However, there are many differences resulting from the various different
vombinations of subsystems met in each company as a result of product differences
from company t o company and also the differing interactions with the social and
business environment. Each company in its way is a unique manufacturing system
with its own set of problems, many of which also are unique in certain detailed
aspects (Riggs 1970).
Again, there is a superficial apparent uniformity in t h a t the block diagram ofPig.
2, this time showing subsystems grouped on a functional (Lockyer 1974) or
departmental basis, appears to apply to all manufacturing companies. Clearly all will
have a production function within which combinations of unit operations and
reactions from Table 2 will be found. Clearly also the nature of the technology must
affect the structure of the system, the way it is controlled and the types of staff
employed, and one cannot really design and operate the system without an
understanding' of the technology.
 Concept of a rnanufactu~ngsystem

Figure 2. Equipment manufacturing company

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A: Unit operations-physieel processes B: Chemiral processes

1 . Viscoelastic $uid flow 1: Organic, inorganic
Pumping, mixing, casting, moulding, extrusion reactions or -,

combinations.
2 . Heal transfer
(Possibly channelling beat to or from 2. Electrolysis.
chemical reactions.) Annealing, melting, heating

3. Mass transfer
Gas absorption, stripping, leaching,
adsorption, ion exchange, conveying, solvent
extraction, painting, coating, welding,
plating

4 . Separation
Filtration, sedimentation, elutriation,
flocculation

5 . Combined heat and mass transfer

Humidification, de-humidification,
crystalization, drying, diitillation

6 . CzLtting
Drilling, milling, shaping, sawing,
planing, slicing, etc.

7 . Elastic-plastic forming
Deepdrawing, vacuum forming, etc.

8 . Assembly
9 . Inspection
Physical examination, chemical examination
-
Table 2. Elemental subsystem building blocks.
 126 J . Parnaby

I n defining a manufacturing system', therefore, it is necessary to do so from a

number of different viewpoints ranging from the overall macroscopic description of
Pigs. 1 and 2 or Table 1, to a detailed microscopic analysis of the physical and
chemical processes taking place and the static and dynamic interactions involved. It
is natural when describing rnanufa;cturing systems to use as a language the pro'cess
flow block diagram to clarify the logic and help to correctly match inputs and
outputs for the various subsystems. Typical examples of production process system
flow block diagrams are given in Fig. 3 (Riggs 1970, L0ck~er.1974,Vilbrandt 1959).
One essential basic requirement of all manufacturing systems, regardless of the
types of production processes, machinery used and business environment, is that of
.
long-term stable operation in the face of continually changing constraints and
external disturbances. This creates a need for a supply of information to facilitate
control-decision-making by management i n d requires (Kochhar and Parnaby 1977)
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the following three basic functions to be deiiberately incorporated:

1. data acquisition and sorting function;
2. information flow function;
3. systems control function.
I n order to further illustrate characteristics of manufacturing systems, it is necessary
to next consider the interacting aspects of systems design and control.

Figure 3. Eroduction'processblock diagrams.

 Concept of a manufacturing system 127

',? Design of the manufacturing system

Just as systems can, with great care and an experienced professional approach,
be designed to be controllable, the converseis certainly alsotrue if care is not taken.
~iery subsystem of the whole is required to process certain inputs and produce
certain outputs. To obtain the desired outputs-the correct inputs must be svaileble.
When all subsystems are put together the inputs and output interactions must be
compatible (Rudd and Watson 1968, Forrester 1969).
Examples
(1) The food manufacturing industry interacts with the agriculture system, with
its time' cycles of production, as well as with the chemical industry which
supplies various additives such as colourings and flavours.
(2)' A man operatinga machine tool must clearly have all the skills and
knowledge of the product required to operate his machine whilst he must also
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have the broader skills required 'to allow him to fit harmoniously in@ the
workshop sociil environment. .
(3) If a process reactor is supplied with liquid raw materials by a pump, then
(a) the output variables of flow-rate and pressure from the pump must
always match the input variables required by the reactor to ensure the
correct output rate of homogeneous, well reacted product from the
reactor;
(b) the flow-rate/pressure characteristics of the pipeline connecting pump
and reactor must correctly match the pump characteristics;
(c) the pump input torque-speed characteristic must be carefully matched
to the electric drive motor (Holmes 1977).
Further consideration of the design of the simple production process system of
example 3 above 'reveals the need for two stages in system design:
Steady state design
Matching the elements of a system together based upon averaged input-output
performance characteristics assumed to be constant at all times. This gives a figure
for average overall performance.
Dynamic design
I n Example 3 there are two largely uncontrollable variables which are likely to
exhibit random changes and so continually alter system performance:
(a) fluid properties: temperature, viscositjr, density, reactivity, purity;
(b) reactor environment: wind, rain, air temperature, internal clogging.
If the fluid properties vary, then the pump speed must change to compensate for
flow rate changes.,so making demands for torque changes on the electric motor. If the
reaction conditions change due to fluid property or flow rate changes or environment
changes then the reaction rates may be inhibited or increased and such possible
changes must be examined.
The anticipation of theeffects of dynamic changes in uncontrollable variables as
well as in controU,able variables a t the system design stage is known as dynamic.
design and requires response times for the system elements to. be known either
empirically or theoretically.
As a consequence of dynamic or time-dependent changes in uncontrollable
variables, it is necessary for the system to be provided with a means of control of
system performance. This is a very fundamental property of real manufacturing
I.J.P.B. I
 J. Parnaby

systems which never operate under steady-state conditions (Forrester 1969, Parnaby
et al. 1978).Far the reactor-pump system it would be necessary to control production
rate and product quality. This requires that data be continuously collected relating
to these two variables prior t o controlling changes by changing pump speed. Thus,
five interrelated stages of manufacturing system design have been identified:
1. subsystem inpuboutput analysis working backwards from the product
requirements
2. steady-state design using specifications from stage 1
3. dynamic design
4. specification of data-collection system required
5. control system design
The ,above five stages are fundamental to the design of any part of the
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manufacturing system and are not specific only to the design of process plants.
Example 4 illustrates this fact by reference to a different type of simplified
production process system.

Ezanzple (4): Design and control of mnnufmtunng system cenired on a machine shop
Stage 1-Input-output analysis
Starting from a parts-explosion for the product, the following typical variables
and the types of subsystem for which inputs and outputs are necessary are defined:
types of machinery and assembly processes needed;
skills required of all personnel and personnel types needed;
product variables and associated tolerance limits.
Figure 4 gives some sample inputroutput descriptions for elements typically found
in such a system.

Stage 2-Steady-state design

Here would be specified the number and types of departments, machines, staff
and operators and steady-state operating levels based upon typically.
(a) an assumed average constant performance rate for each machine and person;
(b) an assumed average rate of flow of orders for the products;
(c) an assumed average estimated work content for each product;
(d) choice of operational rota systems for all sections.

Stage 3-Dynamic design

This would be based upon assessments of likely sources of variations in
performance from the average steady-state values, e.g. machine breakdowns,
operator absenteeism and performance variation, changes in raw materials process-
ability characteristics, product changes, sales level variation, changes in legislation,
activities of competitors, etc. End products of this stage would include sizing of
interstage buffer inventories, stock order policies, maintenance plans, sizes of data
sampling time intervals t o suit the dynamic response of each subsystem, assembly
plans, policy for overtime working and work subcontracti?@;;

I Stage 4--Data collection system design

i It would be necessary to specify which variables were t o be frequently sampled
and the time-intervals for sampling, suited t o the particular requirements of each
 Concept of a manufacturing system 129
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Figure 4. Examples of input-output analysis

. .
subsystem for efficient control. Thus, information relating to the following variables
might typically be collected a t regular intervals:
level of work in in each subsystem;
state of each machine, i.e. working/not working;
queue levels in each subsystem;
general stock levels;
level of scrapped work;
state of completion of each product ordered;
.
.
manpower availability;
level of sales;
i.e. detailed information relating to the states of all manpower, machinery and
matirials involved in the production process as well as for design offices and other
areas.
 Stage 5-Control system design
This would involve the careful definition of procedures for providing and
changing control set points or plans, such as
(a)
. . Authorized work schedules: i.e. list of total waitine work reauired to meet
.
2

sales/forecasts i n the variods catego~ies-dri!ling, milling, grinding, welding,

assembly, - painting,
- etc. in hours of estimated operation to match customer orders. A
coded list of operations required in sequence would also be provided . . for each
component part.
(b) Loading schedules: detailed route plans showing consecutive machine
operations for each ccjmponent and detailed hourly, daily, weekly or monthly plans
showing the actual jobs associated with each order allocated .to machines or
operators taking into account the estimated time needed . .
for eachoperation and the
length of each working day.
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(c) Materials schedules: showing the detailed raw materials and bought-in,
component, sub-assembly lists required for each order, together w i t h a time-scale
plan for the ordering of supplies, allowing for delivery of materials to a detailed
time-schedule as required by the loading schedule.
(a!) Ins'pection schedules: inspection points,frequency and quantity of samples
required for efficient product quality control.
(e) Cost schedules: u& cost standards for each operation carried out, together
with procedures for warning when departures from planned component costs are
taking place.
, Cf) Delivery schedules: plans showing when each customer order is estimated to
be completed if the schedules in (a)to (e) are closely followed.
The services (a) to Cf)mustbe provided by a department or subsystem having a
responsibility for production control within the m'anufacturing system. Clearly there
is considerable scope'for using a computer to assist with the detailed information
flows required for control.

Control of the manufacturing

- system
-
he dynamic processes involved in a manufacturing system must be ordered and
controlled if they are to efficiently meet the system objectives. At the same timethey
must be idapti;e;i.e. able td change their s&ctu&s and characteristics, in order
survive. Their adaptive nature comes from the dominant involvement of people in
the control procedures and decision making strategies a t all levels. Manufacturing
systems involve many people and exist to serve people, and clear recognition of this
fundamental point is essential tigood control. Management a t all levels clearly has
to see it has a controller function andmust ensure it has adequate information flow
systems, computers, etc. to facilitatecontrol (Hammond and Oh 1973, Alford 1973).
As manufacturing systems are so complex ih general,'it is not possible for a
control theory approach to be used for continuous real-time overall optimization.
Instead a theoretically based heuristic procedure is necessary where majoc control
functions are applied to maintain overall control discontinuously (Hammond and
Oh 1973, Alford 1973).
For example, in the production control layer, supervisors maintain continuous
real-time control of production (Hollwey et al. 1978)by reference to sales, in parallel
with a cost control layer which operates with. a different time scale and different
sampling time intervals but nevertheless in real-time so far as effective 'control of
 Concept of a manufacturing system 131

costs is required. There is regular routine flow of information between these two
layers but in addition a t irregular intervals the cost control system interacts strongly
with the control set-points for production control in an overriding way owing to
emergencies, effects of cost inflation on standard cost data, etc. Similarly, there may
nowadays be an energy control system layer which only interacts strongly with
production when energy usage or cost set points require major changes.
Furthermore, sudden market changes can take priority and cause overruling of
routine production control systems. ..
Within the production system itself, for similar reasons of complexity, one can
often identify several levels of control which have tended t o operate in a pseudo-
independent way ( ~ a m m o n d and Oh 1973, Alford 1973).However, the increasing
distributed use of linked minilcomputers a n d micro-processors promises the
opportunity during the next decade of a better overall integrated form of control
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whilst a t the same time allowing individual managers to have adaptively con-
trollable units more effectively under their control. (Parnaby 1979)
Figure 5 shows schematically the levels of control typically found in a production
subsystem and. indicates
.
how the following two areas of control have to integrate in
practice:
process control-automated control of technological processes to manual set
points with overall managerial supervision;
production control-control by people, based on information flow systems
involving computers, of processes involving people and machines.

Ill
Manaprncnt
mntrol
Interface linteractive) level

121
Production
mntrol
lwel

141
Materials
fhvl

Rework
Purrhas Materials flow>-I

Figure 5 . Levels of control and information flows in a production subsystem

 ,132 J . Parnaby

I n discrete manufacturing, such as machine tool or motor car manufacture, the

production control system will be dominant owing to high product complexity and
number of items. I n a processing industry such as chemicals m&ufacturing, process
control systems will be dominant (Parnaby and Billingtonl976, Parnaby 1977).
I n addition t o ensuring- that control of individual layers of the manufacturing -
system, such as the production subsystem, is satisfactory, i t is necessary that overall
control of the manufacturing- system
- is maintained in the face of market and other
environmental disturbances. Figure 6 illustrates high-level overall feedforward,
control of the .total manufacturing system based upon predictions of future
requirements. Such a form of control is happening now in all manufacturing systems
even if in some the forecasting roles of elements A and B and the models of element C
(Kochhar el al. 1978) are simply intuitive ideas in the minds of managers or if the
marketing strategy involves merely the spreading of rumours over a pint of beer in
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Business
proce? Raw materials
disturbances resources
'Set Points'
Manufacturing Inventory
process aims
E '
Schedules - Current
manufacturing
levels I.

--
Control logic MANU stare variables Manpower
Customer specification Loading allocations M,
decision making W FACTURING
changes planning
a~~ocation Shon. medium Production
A p,
Long term plans
Recommendationsfor Efficiencies E,
I control strategy for
dealing with changer

C future

I I MODELOF
MANUFACTURING
-
PROCESS Allows
Current
sale

-l
alternatives to
be evaluated
(faster than real
timel

MANUFACTURING SYSTEM CONTROL

SALES
CONTROL

ness of sales
and marketing Disturbances
Rratew

advertising forecasting
strategy programme

Feedforward sales information

Figure 6. High-level feedforward control block diagarn.

 Concept of a manufacturing system

VDU No. 1

Production process

Many manual auto-

matic data collection
points

information
Data validation
supervisor

VDU No. 2 VDU No. 4

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Data entry
Production terminals Relevant
planning and sales
control supemisor
Order
I. M. E. W. P. C P. W. C. S entry and
COmputer operating forecasts
System: application
programs; databare
E, C

1 Stores
control
1 Relevant

supe~isorr

Key: I = inventory; M = machine and manpower allocation state; E = production efficiency;

W = work in progress state; P = plans and schedules; C = cost data; S = rales

Figure 7. Elements of an on-line real-time production control system

the pub on a Friday night. However, an awareness of the implications of Fig. 6 may
help to improve such rudimentary forms of control. Figure 7 shows a form of on-line
real-time production control system desirable to facilitate feedforward control. Note
that each VDU user in Fig. 7 sees a different system and a different control problem.
Each must have information available a t time-intervals suited to the nature and
dynamic response of the particular control function he carries out to ensure truly on'-
line real-time control as in process control.

Conclusions
There is no clear concept of a manufacturing system acceptable to everyone.
Much depends upon the viewpoint, the nature of the industry and the t p of
produc't. However there are certain properties and characteristics which may be
reg&ded as somewhat fundamental. One of these is a clear need for good control
systemsto counteract the many external disturbances interactingwith manufactur-
ing systems. Control has, of course, clearly t o recognize the many constraints
including legislation. I n manufacturing systems the basic overall structural and
performance logiccan easily be obscured by a mass of paperwork and detail as well a i
by stultifying administrative systems. I t must be clearly recognized that such
systems are dynamic and must be adaptive to survive.
 There is the basic dilemma of ensuring that the overall system operational and
control philosophy and objectives are clear whilst paying sufficient attention to
detail a t all levels, which creates a major demand for leadership from managers and
engineers. Effective leadership requires, amongst other things, a sound education in
fundamentals relative t o manufacturing systems design and control. Until recently
the traditional undergraduate education of many production engineers was con-
centratid unduly on m e t 4 working systems and did not reflect the dajor importance
of the production function in all other industries listed in Table 1. However, recently
developed new engineering degree courses in the broader area of manufacturing
(systemsj engineering (University of Bradford 1975) hive rectified this deficiency
and pay sufficient attention to scientific prin'ciples governing all the processes in
Table 2 as well as t o control and systems principles. Adequately broadly trained
engineers are an essential ingredient of any recipe for improving the performance of
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the British manufacturing system

I1 n'existe pas de concept unique d'un s y s t h e de fabrication couvrant toutes lea
industries dans toui les d8tails. I1 est neceasaire pour ce faire d'examiner lea propri6t& e t
caractAristiques fondamentales de toute une gamme de s y s t h e s e t d'envisager la f q o n
dont ils sont synthetids e t opirent avant d'effectuer des conclusions &n6ralea. Ce que I'on
peut observerd6pend large&ent du point de w e e t dk 1'6tmitesse duchamp de vision que
I'on se donne. NBanmoins. une 4 u d e fondamentale de tous lea e i ~ e c t sdessvstimes de
fabrication e t de leun interactions p'eut apporter beaucoup, etant donne qu'il peut y avoir
des retomMes'dans le domaine des transferts de technologic e n t g industries diff6rentes.
Les systim& de fabrication doivent A t 6 w n p s en tenant compte t i la fois des
performances dynamiques e t shtiques tout en s'assurant qu'il y a un nombre suffisantde
variables cont16lables pour compenser I'effetdes perturbations non contrbl6a. Le processus
technologique faisant partie du systAme d e fabrication est synth6tid Q partir de sous-
'
systhmeci&actifs d'<p6r?tidns uiitaires,ce qui, en soi mhme; peut dtre &nsid6r6 wmme
-
un sous-svstime de la chaine industrielle nlobale. Celle-ci est de nature com~lexeQ variables
multiples e t pour.pouvoir la contr6ler de manikre efficace, il eit important que I'information
circule e t que des plans ou points d'intervention soient bien definis de m a n i h B permettre
au personnel de decision de contI6ler ldellement I'ensemble du s y s t h e .
L'Btude. des
.
s y s t h e s kt le contr6le des syst&meadoiventhtre eficacement intbgr&.

Ein Konzept f i r ein Produktionssystem, daa allen Bereichen der Industrie in siimtlichen
Einzelheitengerecht w i d , gibt es nicht. Bevor mangenerelle SchluBfolgemngen zieht, mu0
man die gmndlegenden Eigenschaften und Besonderheiten verschiedener Systeme
studieien sowieihren Aufbau und ihre Betriebsweise untersuchen. Die auf dime Weise
gesammelten Daten hangen stark vom jeweiligen Ausgangspunkt der Betrachthg und der
Weite des Gesichtsfelds ab. Dennoch kann eine solche grundlegende Untefsuchung 'dler
Aspekte der verschiedenen Pmduktionssysteme und deren Interaktionen iuBerst gewinn-
bringend sein, d a die Moglichkeit dea Technologie-Austausches zwischen einzelnen
Tnduntrieiweigen gegeben ist.
Pmduktionasysteme sollten im Hinblick auf den Regelbetrieb sowie auch auf wech-
selnde Anforderungen entworfen werden, wobei zu beachten ist, daB ausreichend variable
Steuerstellen zur Ausgleichung etwaiger Stiirfaktoren vorhanden sind. Die technische
Herstellungskomponente des Produktionssystems besteht aus zusammenwirkenden
Untergruppen mit spezifischen Funktionen und ist ihrerseits Teil des allumfassenden
Betriebssystema. Das Betriebasystem ist iiuBekt komplex und wird von zahlreichen
.verachiedenen Faktoren bestimmt. Fur eine wirksame Steuemng mull ein guter
InformationsfluO vorhanden sein, und Pliine oder Steuerstellen mussen genau definiert und
unrniOverstiindlich sein.
Systementwicklung und Systemsteuemng sollten wirkungsvoll miteinander integriert
win.

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BEISHON, J.,a n d PETERS,G., (Editors), 1972, System Behaviour (Open University: H a r p e r
a n d Rowe).
 Concept of a manufacturing system 135

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