MANUFACTURING IN A

COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
• Automation of Manufacturing
Processes
• Computer Aided
Manufacturing
• Flexible manufacturing
System
• Just-In-Time Production
• Lean Manufacturing
1
 AUTOMATION OF
MANUFACTURING
PROCESSES
■ The development of new products and parts with
complex shapes required numerous trial-and-error
attempts by the operators to set proper processing
parameters on the machines
■ Making parts that were exactly alike was often difficult,
time consuming and costly with human involvement
■ Processing methods generally were inefficient and that
labor costs were a significant portion of the overall
production cost
■ The necessity to reduce the labor share of product cost
became increasingly apparent, as did the need to
improve the efficiency and flexibility of manufacturing
operations
 AUTOMATION
■ The process of enabling machines to follow a predetermined sequence
of operations with little or no human intervention, using specialized
equipment and devices that perform and control manufacturing
processes and operations
■ Automation is and evolutionary rather than a revolutionary concept
■ Basic area of activity in manufacturing:
1) Manufacturing processes: Machining, forging, PM
2) Material handling and movement: materials and parts are moved
throughout a plant by computer controlled equipment, with little or no
human guidance
3) Inspection: dimensional accuracy, surface finish, quality
4) Assembly: components are assembled automatically into
subassemblies and assemblies to a complete product
5) Packaging: products are packaged automatically for shipment
 Flexibility and productivity of various manufacturing systems; note the
overlap between the systems, due to the various levels of automation and
computer control that are possible in each group.
Implementation of Automation
Goals of automation:
■ Integrate various aspects of manufacturing operations so as to improve
product quality and uniformity, minimize cycle times and effort, reduce
labor costs
■ Improve productivity by reducing manufacturing cost through better
control of production
■ Improve quality by using more repeatable processes
■ Reduce human involvement, boredom and thus possibility of human error
■ Reduce workpiece damage cause by the manual handling of parts
■ Raise the level of safety for personnel, especially under hazardous
working conditions
■ Economize on floor space in the plant by arranging machines, material
handling and movement etc.
 Production and Product Quantity

■ Production quantity is crucial in determining the type of machinery

and the level of automation required to produce parts economically
■ Total production quantity: the total number of parts to be made
■ Production rates: the number of parts produced per unit time
COMPUTER-AIDED MANUFACTURING

■ High quality of product is far more attainable and less

expensive if design and manufacturing activities are
integrated properly
■ Integration can be performed successfully and
effectively through computer aided design,
engineering, manufacturing, process planning and
simulation of processes and systems
Computer-Integrated Manufacturing

■ Involves the computerized integrations of all aspects of product

design, process planning, production and distribution, as well as
the management and operation of the whole manufacturing
organization
■ CIM is a methodology, ant its effectiveness critically depends on
the use of a large-scale integrated communications system
(computers, machines and their control)
■ Subsystem of CIM:
a. Business planning and support
b. Product design
c. Manufacturing process planning
d. Process automation and control
e. Production-monitoring systems
 Computer-aided Design
and Manufacturing
■ Involves the use of computers to create design drawings and
product models
■ Computer-aided design usually associated with interactive
computer graphics, known as CAD system
■ Used in the design and geometric modelling of components and
products
■ Ex. Software: SolidWork, ProEngineer, AutoCAD, CATIA etc
■ Computer-aided engineering (CAE): allows several applications
to share the information in database.
■ Example: finite element analysis of stresses, strain, deflections;
the generation, storage and retrieval of data; the design of
integrated circuits or various electronic device
 Computer-Aided
Manufacturing (CAM)
■ The uses of computers to assist in all phases of
manufacturing a product
■ Often combined into CAD/CAM systems
■ Allow the transfer information from the design stage to
the stage of planning for manufacture, without the need
to reenter the data on part geometry manually
Computer-aided Process
Planning (CAPP)
■ Process planning: concerned with selecting methods of
production (tooling, fixtures, machinery, sequences of
operations, and assembly)
■ Accomplishes the complex task of process planning by viewing
the total operation as an integrated system
 The individual processing steps are coordinated and performed
efficiently and reliably
■ Effective in small-volume, high variety parts production
■ CAPP is a powerful tool for efficiently planning and scheduling
manufacturing operations
 Flexible
Manufacturing
System
■ Integrates (FMS)
all of the major elements of production into
highly automated system
■ Capable of optimizing each step of the total operations
 One or more processes and operations (machining,
forming, PM, heat treatment & finishing)
 The handling of raw materials
 Measurement and inspection
 Assembly
■ Advantages:
 Parts can be produced in any order, in batch sizes as
small as one, and at a lower unit cost
 Direct labor and inventories are reduced or eliminated
 The lead times required for product changes are
shorter
 Production is more reliable and product quality is
uniform
 Just-in-time
Production (JIT)
■ Originated from US, 1st implemented on large scale in
1953 at Toyota Japan to eliminate waste of materials,
machines, capital, manpower & inventory throughout the
manufacturing system
■ Goals for JIT:
 Receive supplies just in time to be used
 Produce parts just in time to be made into subassemblies
 Produce subassemblies just in time to be assembled into
finished products
 Produce and deliver finished products just in time to be
sold
■ Advantages:
 Low inventory carrying costs
 Fast detection of defects in the production
or the delivery of supplies and hence, low
scrap loss
 Reduced inspection and reworking of parts
 High-quality products made at low cost
Lean Manufacturing System (LMS)

■ In a modern manufacturing environment,

companies must be responsive to the needs of the
customers and their specific requirements and to
fluctuating global market demands.
■ To ensure competitiveness, the manufacturing
enterprise must be conducted with a minimum
amount of wasted resources.
■ This realization has lead to lean production or lean
manufacturing strategies.
■ Lean manufacturing involves the following steps:
a) Identify value.
 The critical starting point for lean thinking is a recognition of value, which
can be done only by a customer or by considering a customer’s product.
 The goal of any organization is to produce a product that a customer wants,
at a desired price, capability, location, time, volume, etc.
 It is important to identify all of a manufacturer’s activities from the
viewpoint of the customer because it helps identify whether or not an
activity:
a. Clearly adds value.
b. Adds no value, but cannot be avoided.
c. Adds no value, but can be avoided.
b) Identify value streams.
 The value stream is the set of all actions required to bring a product to
fruition, including
a. Product design and development tasks, involving all actions from
concept, to detailed design, to production launch;
b. Information management tasks, involving order taking, a detailed
schedule, and delivery;
c. Physical production tasks, by means of which raw materials progress to a
finished product in the hands of the customer.
c) Make the value stream flow.
■ It has been noted that flow is easiest to achieve in mass production,
but it is more difficult for small-lot production. Production in batches
should be avoided, so just-in-time approaches are essential.
■ Establishing product flow through factories requires the following:
a)Eliminating waiting time.
b)Eliminating unnecessary processes and steps, because they
represent costs.
c)Minimizing or eliminating product transportation
d)Performing time and motion studies to identify inefficient workers
or unnecessary product motions.
e)Eliminating part defects.
d) Establish pull.
■ It has been observed that once value streams are flowing, significant
savings are gained in terms of inventory reduction, as well as
product development, order processing, and physical production.
■ It is possible to establish pull manufacturing, where products are
produced upon order by a customer, and not in batches that
ultimately are unwanted and do not create value.
e) Achieve perfection.
■ With lean manufacturing approaches, it has been
found that continuous improvement can be
accelerated, so that production without waste is
possible.
 ECONOMIC
CONSIDERATION
■ Flexible manufacturing system installations are very capital
intensive; consequently, a thorough cost-benefit analysis must be
conducted before a final decision is made. This analysis should
include such factors as the following:
 The cost of capital, energy, materials, and labor.
 Expected markets for the products to be produced.
 Anticipated fluctuations in market demand and in the type of
product.
 The time and effort required for installing and debugging the
system.
■ Ex: Large production reduce cost per unit product. WHY?
■ Near- net-shape manufacturing (die casting, precision forging,
powder metallurgy, and injection molding) reduced cost and lead
time. WHY?