Process Characteristics


 Volume
 Variety
 Flow
 Relationship between
Volume and Variety

 Types of Processes

 Continuous Flow
 Intermittent Flow
 Jumbled Flow
 Process design for operations
Salient features of alternative choices

Flow Continuous Intermittent Jumbled

Characteristics
Product
Characteristics
High Volume, Very low
variety 
Mid volume, Mid variety Very high variety, low
volume
Examples of Process Industry, Mass Batch production in Project Organisations,
production production systems in Process and discrete Tool Rooms, General
systems discrete manufacturing manufacturing purpose fabricators
Issues of Flow Balancing, Manufacturing system Capacity Estimation,
importance Maintenance, Capacity and layout design, Scheduling, Production
utilization and Changeover Control, Cost estimation
debottlenecking, Vertical management, Capacity
integration planning and estimation
Operations Line Balancing, Forecasting, Capacity Project Management &
Management Maintenance Planning and estimation, Scheduling, Capacity
Tools & management, Process Optimized production planning and
Techniques optimisation, Product planning and product optimization, Job shop
layout design, Flow sequencing, Group scheduling, Functional
shope scheduling, Pull Technology layout Layout design, Job order
type scheduling, Single design, Materials costing, Work in Process
piece flow design Management Management
 Product – Process Matrix
Low Volume High Volume
Multiple Products Few Major Products
Low Standardisation High Standardisation
Low Volume Higher Volume
One of a kind Commodity Products

Jumbled
Flow
Satellite Launch
Vehicle
 None
(Job Shop)

Disconnected
Line Flow Machine Tools
(Batch)

Connected Line
Auto electric
Flow (Assembly
parts
Line)

Continuous
Flow Polyethylene
None

Source: Adapted from Hayes, R.H. and Wheelright, S.C., (1979), “Link manufacturing process and product life cycles”, Harvard Business Review, 57 (1), 133 – 140.
5 Min BREAK ?


 Some Terms

• Lead Time

• Setup Time (for machine)

• Change Over time (for wip)

• Interior Movement

• Interior Movement -> Effect on Inventory

 Types of Layouts

 Process Layout
 Product Layout
 Group Technology Layout
 Fixed Position Layout
 Types of Layout
 Process Layout

 arrangement of resources on the basis of the process characteristics of the
resources available
 Product Layout
 order in which the resources are placed follow exactly the visitation
sequence dictated by a product
 Group Technology (GT) Layout
 seeks to exploit commonality in manufacturing and uses this as the basis
for grouping components and resources
 Fixed Position Layout
 emphasis is not so much on optimum position of resources required for
the process, since the product itself largely dictates this; the focus is on
gaining better control of material flow and reducing delays
Lathe Machine

Milling Machine

 Process Layout
An example

Product A
Product B L L L L D D

Product C D D
L L L L
D D
M M

G G G
M M
Product Layout
An example

Product A
L D M G

Product B
L D L G

Product C
L D M L G
 Comparison –
Process Layout : Product Layout

Group Technology Layout
An example

Cell 1 Cell 2

L M D M D L

D L G G D L

L D L D
M L G L M
Cell 4 Cell 3

Fixed Position Layout
Example from Thermax


 Fixed Position Layout –

Ship Building

 What makes a Good Layout?
Performance Measures
Performance Measure
Distance travelled by jobs in the shop
floor
Space utilization index
Material Handling costs
Lead time of the processes
Investment in work-in-progress
Inter-departmental moves
Utilisation of the resources
Ease of production control
Number of ownership changes

Basis for measurement
Kg - Metres of job movement for each
product
Minimum space required to actual space
utilised
Rupees per month
Hours per average product
Rupees per month
Number and quantum of inter-
departmental moves
Percent to total capacity
Number of job cards and control
documents generated; Size of the progress
chasing staff
Number of times the responsibility for the
job changes hands
Designing of Layouts

 

Process Layout
 Design of process layouts
Qualitative method

Department 1
Value Closeness O
A Absolutely necessary Department 2 A
U I
E Especially Important Department 3 O E
I Important A X A
O Ordinary closeness OK Department 4 U U
U O
U Unimportant Department 5 O
X Undesirable O
Department 6
 Group Exercise –

Shopping Mall

 Design of Process Layout
Quantitative Method

 Cij = Cost per unit of transporting a unit distance from department
“i” to department “j”
 Fij = Inter-departmental flow between department “i” and
department “j”
 Dij = Distance between department “i” and department “j”
 n = Number of departments to be laid out
 The total cost of the plan is given by: n n
TC   F D C
i 1 j 1
ij ij ij

 One can model the above as a mathematical programming problem

with the objective function of minimising the total cost of the plan
 Process Layout continued (contd…)
Numerical Example (Service)

 Process Layout


5 Min BREAK?

 
Product Layout
 Line Balancing
Decisions & Trade-offs

Line balancing
 A method by which the tasks are optimally combined
without violating precedence constraints and a certain
number of workstations designed to complete the tasks
 Key decision variables are production rate, cycle time and
the number of workstations, which are inter-related
 Solving the “line balancing” problem calls for striking the
right trade-off between increased production and better
utilisation of resources
Cycle time is the ratio of the available time to the
actual (desired) production rate
 Line Balancing
Some measures of interest

AvailableTime
Actual ( Desired ) CycleTime 
Actual ( Desired ) Pr oduction

Sum of all task times

Minimum No. of work stations required 
Cycle Time

Sum of all task times

Average Re source Utilisation 
Number of workstations * Cycle time
 Numerical Example 1 (Line Balancing)


 A factory working in 2 shifts each of 8 hours
produces 24,000 electric bulbs using a set of
workstations. Using this information compute the
actual cycle time of the plant operation.
 There are 8 tasks required to manufacture the bulb.
The sum of all task times is equal to 12 seconds.
How many workstations are required to maintain this
level of production if combining of tasks into that
many workstations is a feasible alternative?
 Numerical Example 2 (Line Balancing)
A computer manufacturer needs to design the assembly stations in the
factory where the cabinet housing the hard disk, motherboard and other


accessories are to be done. The factory currently works for one shift of 8
hours. The tasks, their duration and their precedence relationships are
given below: Precedence relationship among the tasks
Task Description Duration B
(seconds)
A Assemble and position the base unit 70 F
B Install Hard disk 80
A C
C Install Mother Board 40 G H
D Insert Ports 20
E Install speaker 40 D
F Connect relevant modules to mother board & Disk 30
G Install controller 50
H Visually inspect & close with a cover plate 50 E

 If the cycle time is 80 seconds, what will be the daily production of cabinets?
 If the desired production rate is 320 cabinets per day, what is the maximum permissible cycle
time?
 What is the minimum number of workstations required to maintain this daily production rate?
 Design an assembly setup with 5 workstations
 Solution to Example 1

 Available time =
 Actual production = 

Cycle time for each bulb is ……… seconds

 This means that the factory is producing a bulb every

……..seconds.
 No. of work stations required = ……….

 Therefore the tasks are to be split among the ………. such

that each workstation will have sum of the task times to be
………..seconds.
 Solution to Example 2


Workstation Workstation Workstation Workstation Workstation
1 2 3 4 5
Tasks A,D B C,G E,F H
Assigned
Workstation 90 80 90 70 50
Times
Cycle time 90 90 90 90 90
Workstation 0 10 0 20 40
idle time
Workstation 100% 89% 100% 78% 56%
utilization
 The 3 Class!
rd
Some options
 Revision

 Solving End of Chapter Exercises from Book
(Mahadevan / Chary)
 Explore company websites - > try to figure out their
manufacturing process as much as possible
 Any Group Project – of Operations Management
 Students presentation or Shepherding on any of above
(Teacher may or may not be present)
 
Process Analysis
Introduction Completed