Process Design & Analysis
How can we Understand the
Processes in an Operation?
Lecture 2
Learning Outcomes for Lecture
• Appreciate the importance of process design to
delivering operational excellence.
• Grasp the importance of the configuration of
resources & activities & how to calculate
process capacity
• Understand how to perform outline process
maps
Assembly line surgery
The detailed design of a process is important in determining its effectiveness
Assembly line surgery
The detailed design of a process is important in determining its effectiveness
Manufacturing process types
Process Process
tasks flow
Diverse/ (Unique) Job
complex Intermittent
Shop
(High Batch
variety) Worker-
Paced
Assembly
Variety
(Lower Line
variety)
Machine-paced
Assembly line
(Standardized)
Contin-
Repeated/ Continuous uous
divided
Volume
(Low (Medium (High (Very high
volume) volume) volume) volume)
Service process types
Process Process
tasks flow
High
Diverse/ Professional
Intermittent
complex service
Variety Service shop
Mass service
Low
Repeated/ Continuous
divided
Low Volume High
Process Types
Key Management Tasks
• Fast reaction
• Estimating capacity
• Estimating costs &
delivery times
Law Office • Breaking bottlenecks
Hospital Procedure • Systematizing diverse
elements
• Developing standards &
University Class methods
• Balancing process
stages
• Managing complex
operations
Fast Food • Meeting material
requirements
• Running equipment at
peak efficiency
• Timing expansion &
technological change
• Raising capital
Dominant Custom design Custom design Standardise design Vertical integration
Competitive Mode General Quality control Volume production Long runs
purpose Service & high Inventory Specialised equipment & processes
High margins margins Back up suppliers Economies of scale
Different process layouts are appropriate for different volume–variety
Figure 4.6
combinations
The impact of strategic performance objectives on process design objectives
and performance
‘Micro’ Process Measures
& Process Design Factors
(Flow time)
(WIP) (Flow rate)
Some common process design terms
Process task details for the ‘computer test and repair’ task
Precedence diagram showing the relationship between activities
‘Long-thin’ arrangement of stages for the ‘computer test and repair’ task
Intermediate configurations for the ‘computer test and repair’ task
The ‘short-fat’ arrangement of stages for the ‘computer test and repair’ task
Series (long and thin) v Parallel (short
and fat) layouts
•Long and short describes the number of stages
•Fat and thin describes the amount of work at each stage
Advantages of long-thin processes Advantages of short-fat processes
controlled flow higher mix flexibility
simple materials handling higher volume flexibility
lower capital requirement
(no duplication) greater robustness
less monotonous
greater efficiency
higher ownership
higher space utilization
Line Balancing
Balancing loss is that proportion of the time invested in processing the
product or service that is not used productively
The Role of Buffers
• Buffers have the potential to improve flow
through a process where balancing is not
possible
• Two events lead to reductions in flow rate:
1. Blocking
2. Starving
The Role of Buffers
(1) Resource is blocked
Activity completed
Inflow Outflow
T Inflow
Outflow
A resource is blocked if it is
Activity not unable to release the flow unit it has just completed
Resource is starved Empty space for a flow unit
As there is no buffer space available at the next resource downstream
yet completed
Space for a flow unit with a flow unit
in the space
Figure 9.6.: The concepts of blocking and starving
The Role of Buffers
Resource is blocked
A resource is starvedActivity
if it iscompleted
idle and the buffer feeding the resource is empty
S Inflow Outflow
(2) Inflow
Outflow
Activity not
Resource is starved Empty space for a flow unit
yet completed
Space for a flow unit with a flow unit
in the space
The Role of Buffers
• The buffers would have to contain a sufficient
number of flow units
a. To avoid starvation of the downstream resource
b. At the same time, the buffer should have enough
space to prevent the resource upstream from ever
being blocked
The Role of Buffers
• It is costly to have queues of flow units in a
process and also potentially detrimental on
quality
• Therefore operations managers must be careful
in choosing where and how much buffer space
is allowed in the process
How to Draw a Process Flow Diagram
• The best way to begin any analysis of a
process is by drawing a process flow diagram
• The perspective in a process flow diagram is
from that of the flow unit and how it makes its
journey through the process
Basic Process Vocabulary
• Inventory: The number of flow units in the system
• Activity times: how long does the worker spend on the task?
• Capacity=1/activity time: how many units can the worker make per unit of time
If there are m workers at the activity: Capacity=m/activity time
• Bottleneck: process step with the lowest capacity
• Process capacity: capacity of the bottleneck
• Flow rate =Minimum{Demand rate, Process Capacity)
• Utilization =Flow Rate / Capacity
• Flow Time: The amount of time it takes a flow unit to go through the process
Some common process mapping symbols
Process map for ‘enquire to delivery’ process at stage lighting operation
The ‘collect and check’ process mapped to show different levels of process
visibility
The ‘supply and install’ operations process mapped at three levels
Thank you
YOU HAVE COMPLETED
ONLINE LECTURE 3
