Production systems & Improvement programs

Improvement programs: Agile manufacturing.

Focuses on the change over from one product to
Benchmarking.
another. To increase the ability of producing a wider
Comparing with other companies, colleagues or other industries.
range of products in lower volumes than possible in the
Focussing on cost, quality, delivery time, NPD.
past.
Quality management.
Kaizen.
Helps meeting and exceeding customer expectations by features and
A structured and focused improvement project, where
zero defects. In order to do this, poor quality (waste) needs to be
the priority is action. So small incremental
identified. The following tools can be used: Cost of quality, plan-do-
improvements.
check-act cycle, statistical process control, house of quality, design of
experiments or process capability and six sigma. There are also
Re-engineering.
different models to help companies improving their quality systems,
Focuses on developing completely new ways of doing
such as ISO 9000. ISO 9000 is a series of standards, it represents in
things. To make huge improvements. This requires a
most industries the minimum / market qualifying level of quality.
significant amount of time and skilled and committed
resources.
Cycle time reduction.
Focuses on order process, design, purchasing, production and
distribution. It will reduce the delivery time, reduce costs and improve
quality.

Levers Job shop Batch flow Operator pace line flow Equipment based line flow Continuous flow Just in time FlMS
Human resources • High skilled employees. • Employees assigned to cell. • Employees in teams, trained to • Employees assigned to • Unskilled operators monitor • Multi skilled operators & • Small number of operators,
(Not flexible) • Incentive pay schemes are work on more then one station. operate specific equipment. and track quality attributes. managers. teamwork across departments.
• Expert fees. (Wages) used. • Incentive programmes are used. • Procedures and standards • No incentive pay schemes. • Wages according to number • No incentive pay schemes.
exist for all activities. of skills.

Organisational • Flat by function. • Flat by function. • Often a profit centre running • Hierarchical, centralised and • Hierarchical, centralised and • Flat structure. • Line departments are small.
structure & • Staff is small. • Staff is small. autonomously. bureaucratic structure. bureaucratic structure. • Teams are used extensively. • Staff large.
controls • Labor intensive. • Quality is responsibility of • Management of materials is • Staff large. • Staff large. • KPI’s are mainly costumer- • Quality department
operators. prioritized. • Decisions are taken top- • Quality department focused. responsible for all aspects of
• Scheduling production is down. responsible for all aspects of quality in sc.
prioritized to ensure capacity. quality in SC.

Sourcing • Many suppliers. • Low level of vertical • Little integration, irregular orders, • Partnership relations an • Small number of suppliers, high • Small number of suppliers, • A little vertical integration,
• No / limited control of integration, many suppliers. medium suppliers. option, small number of level of integration. long term relations. many suppliers.
suppliers. • Small irregular orders. • Suppliers evaluated on quality and suppliers. • Evaluating suppliers on cost, • Partnerships, exchanging • Evaluating suppliers on quality,
fast reliable delivery. • Shared responsibility on quality and delivery reliability. information. cost and delivery time.
quality and continuous
improvement.

Production • Make-to-order. • Make-to-order, common • Make-to-order, common • Make-to-stock, forecast. • Make-to-stock, forecast. • Production according to pull • Make-to-order.
planning & control • Small RM & FG components made to stock. components made to stock. • Plans exist far in the future. • Large RM & FG inventories. signals. • Real time scheduling & control.
inventories, large work-in- • MRP is introduced. • Large RM inventory, small WIP & • Larger RM & FG inventories. • Plans available far in the • MRP sets capacity plan. • Small RM & FG inventories.
progress. • Small RM & FG inventories, FG. future. • Inventories are reduced in
large work-in-progress. • Scheduling is flexible. general to stress
improvements.

Process technology • General purpose • General purpose machines. • Following the technical • Very specialized machines, • Highly specialized & • Smaller equipment, shorter • Everything automated,
machines, technology • Set-up times are long, development, semi specialized. technology leader. automated, technology leader. set-up, lower speed. technology leader.
follower. frequency of set-ups is high. • Easy & quick set-up, frequency of • Set-up time reduction • Automated, expensive. • Less expensive • Automated, expensive.
• Set-up times are long. set-ups is high. programmes.

Facilities • Small general purpose. • Linkage between • Medium sized. • Large facilities. • Very large, economy of scale. • Medium sized. • New & tidy facilities.
• Small areas for RM & FG. departments are loose. • Medium speed in production, • Line speed is high and • Production rate is very high, no • Speed of system is steady. • Speed of system is medium but
• Capacity fluctuates, bottlenecks infrequent. synchronized. bottlenecks. smooth.
bottlenecks move.

Matthijs Lucas
Portfolio 3