Module-1

Introduction to Agile mfg.

 Content
• Introduction
• Types of Production
• The Agile Production Paradigm
• History of Agile Manufacturing
• Agile Manufacturing Vs Mass Manufacturing
• Agile Manufacturing Vs Mass Customization
• Agile Manufacturing Research Centres.
 INTRODUCTION
• Agile manufacturing refers to the ability of a company
to change its production according to the unforeseen
changes in the customers demands.
(OR)
• Agile manufacturing is a term applied to an organization
that has created the processes, tools, and training to
enable it to respond quickly to customer needs and
market changes while still controlling costs and quality.
• https://www.scaledagileframework.com/sony-playstati
on-network-case-study
/
 Why Agile?
• Agile manufacturing- An approach
– Needs of customers
– High quality standards
– Overall cost control
• This means that
– Company can increase production w.r.t. consumer
demand
– Redesign products to respond to issues which
have emerged on the open market.
1. Customer enrichment
2. Flexibility for rapid reconfiguration of resources
3. Enhance competitiveness through internal
cooperation
4. Nurture an entrepreneurial culture that leverages
the impact of people and information
5. Agile teams are multifunctional combine the
knowledge and skills necessary to enrich the
customer
6. Agile teams are co-operative  enable intra- and
extra-firm cooperation needed to enhance
competitiveness
7. Agile teams are virtual allow the company to
combine resources (people and information) as
needed in order to pursue entrepreneurial goals
8. Competitive advantage  continuously satisfy
its customers
9. Innovative designs based on customer demands
are provided. wider variety for customers to
choose from
10.Though production changes rapidly, Mass
production could still be reached as flexibility is
still possible
 Why is agile manufacturing an effective
strategy?
• Consumers love instant gratification
• Consumers love choice
• Consumers are fickle. Their interests shift and
move in unpredictable ways.
• Agile is effective because it directly addresses the
above issues
• It leverages proximity to the market by delivering
products with an unprecedented level of speed
and personalization
• It turns local manufacturing into a competitive
advantage
• A hallmark of agile manufacturing is its ability
to adapt and succeed where other
manufacturing philosophies would suffer from
their rigidity
TYPES OF PRODUCTION
1) Unit or Job type of production
• You produce one single unit of a product.
• Example:
– Harley Davidson bikes
– Chartered aircrafts.

Features of Unit production or Job Production

• Depends a lot on skill
• Dependency is more on manual work than
mechanical work
• Customer service and customer management plays
and important role
2) Batch type of Production
• Production takes place in batches.
• Known number of units
• Manufacturer, produces in one batch.

Example:
• LG has many different types of home appliance
products in its portfolio. It has to manufacture all these
different variants of the same type of product. There
would be 10-20 types of mixer grinders alone in the
product portfolio of LG home appliances. Thus, a
company like LG manufactures these variants via Batch
production.
Features of Batch production
• Production is done in batches
• The total number of units required is decided
before the batch production starts
• Once a batch production starts, stopping it
midway may cost a huge amount to the
company.
• Demand plays a major role in a batch
production
3) Mass Production or Flow production
• Focus is on specialization.
• Assembly line goes through multiple workstations turn
by turn.
• Each workstation is responsible for one single type of
work.
• As a result, these workstations are very efficient and
production due to which the whole assembly line
becomes productive and efficient.
• If 1000 products are manufactured using mass
production, each one of them should be exactly the
same. There should be no deviation in the product
manufactured.
• One of the best examples of mass production
is the manufacturing process adopted by Ford
Features of Mass Production
• Huge volumes of the product
• It is used only if the product is standardized
• Demand does not play a major role in a Mass
production. However, production capacity
determines the success of a mass production.
• Heavy initial investment and huge working
capital needed.
4) Continuous production or Process production
• In continuous production, the production is
continuous,24×7 hours, all days in a year.
• A good example is sugar manufacturing. The production
goes on day and night.
• There is a continuous input of raw materials such as
Sugarcane, sulphur, water etc and there is continuous
output in the form of sugar.

Features of Continuous production

• Majority of the work is done by machines
• Work is continuous in nature. Once production starts, it
cannot be stopped otherwise it will cause huge loss.
• A very controlled environment is required
 THE AGILE PRODUCTION PARADIGM

• The Agile methodology was developed to

counter the more convoluted methods that
pervaded the software development world
despite being notoriously inefficient and
counterproductive.
• Promoting similar values to Lean,
Agile methods mostly focus on the following
key principles:
• Satisfying customers is of foremost importance
• Develop projects with inspired contributors
• Interactions are best when done in person
• Software that works is a measure of progress
• Reflect and adapt on an ongoing basis

Additionally, the 4 core values of Agile are:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive
documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan
 Here are some of the most popular Agile methodology examples

1. Extreme Programming (XP):

• Oldest
• High degree of participation  Customers &
Developers
• Development of programs through feedback +
innovation
2. SCRUM:
• Complex set of development principles
• Focus is on project management
• Product owner collaborates with IT team to isolate
and harness system functions (product backlog)
• Assorted team distributes programs in increments
(Sprint)
• Analysis on delivery is made and priorities are
shifted as needed
3. Feature-Driven Development (FDD)
• Involves turning models into builds at fortnightly
iterations
• Centers on strict operations that involve the
walkthrough of domains, as well as design, code
and inspection.
• The model is then built up along with a list of
features.
• For every feature, a development and design
plan is implemented.
• Following a series of inspections, a unit test is
performed to see whether it’s ready for the
build stage.
• FDD facilitates top-quality documentation and
design
4. Crystal Methodology
• The Crystal methodology is actually a family of
smaller agile methodologies such as Crystal
clear, Crystal yellow, Crystal red etc.

• There are 3 main factors that will determine

the characteristics of different projects:
– team size,
– system criticality,
– project priorities.
• Projects are categorized depending on
the system criticality as there are four
levels of criticality:
– Comfort (C)
– Discretionary Money (D)
– Essential Money (E)
– Life (L)
• No. of people per project is directly
proportional to the Project size
• Crystal preaches early delivery of working
software, frequency, less bureaucracy and
high involvement of users.
• The Crystal family suggests that each project is
unique and requires the application of
different processes, practices, and policies.
• This is why it is perceived as one of the most
lightweight agile methodologies.
5. Kanban Method
• Most agile methodology among all
• Designed as a system for scheduling
• Kanban facilitates production and inventory
control
• Helps accomplish JIT
• Facilitates systems of production and an
effective means for generating improvements.
• It limits the amount of work that can linger in
an unfinished state, which helps prevent
production chains from getting backlogged
• Kanban synchronizes quantity of stock with
the viability of a given product.
• The supplier is informed by a signal that new
product must be produced and shipped once a
previous batch has been consumed.
• Each signal is followed along the replacement
chain, which keeps people informed on both
the supply side and consumer end.
 HISTORY OF AGILE MFG.
• The Agile movement started in the IT space
during the 1990s
• Agile manifesto was brought by 17 cos. in 2001.
• Mass implementation began after that.
• Agile has evolved to become much more than a
group of processes. It has become a way of
being, a culture, a belief in the intent to provide
the most value from the work we do
• Agile is a supporting platform and way of
thinking that is exceptionally powerful to
assist our business practices that are not well
defined and have uncertainty along the way.
• This method brought a sense of organization
and engineering practice to software
development.
AGILE VS MASS MANUFACTURING
• Agile mfg. is defined as “the ability to
successfully manufacture and market a broad
range of low-cost, high-quality products and
services with short lead times and varying
volumes that provide enhanced value to
customers through customization.”
• Mass mfg. is the manufacture of large
quantities of standardized products, frequently
using assembly line or automation technology
• Agility is necessary to respond to the emerging
competitive environment.
• Mass production is necessary to respond to
demand for large number of similar products.
• Agile is characterized by integration of flexible
technologies with skill, knowledge, motivation
and empowered workforce
• Mass production is typically characterized by
some type of mechanization, high volume and
organized material flow
• Agile responds to changes quickly
• Mass Mfg responds to changes very slowly
• Agile mfg changes are less expensive
• Mass mfg changes is very expensive
• Agile mfg results in customized products
• Mass mfg results in identical products
Manufacturing Agile Mass
Characteristics Manufacturing Manufacturing

Quantities Small Large

Manufacturing Small / one

Assembly Lines
method person shop
Manufacturing Humans and/or
Human
source machines

Labor costs More Less

 Human error More Less

Design changes Easy Difficult

Large
Business Model Made to order inventory /
JIT

Production time High Low

Quality
High Low
Assurance
Product type Customized Standardized
Market life Shorter Longer
Produce to
Produce to order
Production type forecast

Low
High information
Information information
content
content content

Pricing by
Pricing by
production
Pricing customer value
 Examples
Custom Manufacturing Mass Manufacturing
Products Products
Furniture Cars
Gates / fences / railings Computer chassis
Military projects Mailboxes
Choppers HVAC ducts
Metal signage Filing cabinets
Airplane wings Screws
Roller coasters Lockers
Architectural structures Home appliances
 Agile Mfg. Vs Mass Customization

• Mass customization Delivers wide-market

goods and services that are modified to satisfy a
specific customer need.
• Mass customization  marketing and
manufacturing technique
Combines the
flexibility and personalization of custom-made
products
low unit costs associated with mass
production
Certain features of a product are customized
Costs are kept closer to that of mass produced
products
Eg: Furnitures, Modular kitchens, fabrics etc.
In short:
Mass customization deals with making changes to a
product or service to satisfy a given consumer group.
Eg: Furnitures, Modular kitchens, fabrics etc.
Macbooks are available in different RAM sizes, hard
disk capacities and the outer finish to provide users
exactly what they are looking for.
Mass customization is also known as “build to order”
or “made to order”.
 APPROACHES TO MASS CUSTOMIZATION

• Collaborative customization
• Cosmetic customization
• Transparent customization (Done without telling
the customer)

Eg:
Dell offered consumers not only what they wanted but
also something they hadn’t seen before: the ability to
choose the design, software and hardware options best
suited for their individual needs.
That ground breaking concept exploded onto the market
and launched Dell to the top of PC manufacturers.
 Agile Mfg. Research Centres.

• Machine Tool Agile Manufacturing Research

Institute
• State: Illinois, Country: United States, Main
Website: http://mtamri.me.uiuc.edu/
• The Center for
Agile Materials Manufacturing Science
(CAMMS)
• https://www.arl.army.mil/opencampus/?
q=centers/camms
END OF MODULE-1