Manufacturing Systems Types

Let us first look at the essential components of Manufacturing Systems:

The process of designing a manufacturing system therefore must engage upon the
design of each of the above four components AND their integration.

Notice that this figure is pretty much consistent with Prof Sohlenius's architecture of
Manufacturing systems, which is partially reproduced in the following figure. While
the following figure implicitly assumes the important role of the human in each of the
modules, I have explicitly placed it separately in the figure above, partly because it
helps in highlighting the importance of planning the human aspects of the system.

(source: Lecture notes, Prof Gunnar Sohlenius)

We first look broadly at these four elements, and subsequently, we shall study each of
these aspects in somewhat more detail.

Informal definitions:

Physical Systems refer to all physical aspects of a manufacturing system, including

the factories, including the facilities, machines, tools etc., the raw materials, the
material handling systems, the work in process, as well as the products.

The Operation refers to all aspects of decision structures that determine how the
system functions. For example, does it use a Toyota style pull production, or does it
depend on an MRP II system with forecasts driven production? How does the plant
manager determine the size and sequence of the jobs to be done on each machine, on
each day?

The Information in a manufacturing system refers to all data that will be accessed by
some function/person/decision-maker/software etc., and whose value may be used
deciding upon an action. Examples include design data, machine data, tool data,
inventory status, process data, vendors, clients, personnel data and so on. It is likely
that for any MS of reasonable complexity, one will need automated data handling
facilities, e.g. a DBMS. I will also loosely include in this definition, mechanisms that
are required for the flow of information, that is, Information Technology (IT). This
includes communication protocols (such as MAP, TOP, ISO-OSI), etc.

Humans refers to all personnel, vendors, customers, etc. Personnel related issues
include: what is the capability level of available labour, what is the working culture
(1-shift, 2-shift availability), how many do we need to hire for a given MS, what is the
level of training needed, what policies will lead to better working environment etc.
Customers are another essential human element in the design of MS.
We begin the study with the physical systems. I will use the following classification of
manufacturing systems, which uses the material flow type as its basis:

Product based: These are manufacturing systems that are designed specifically
for a fixed product (or product type). The underlying principles are those of
interchangeability, and division of labour. These systems may be highly
automated, or human-labour intensive. However, in every case, they must
operate at relatively high throughput rates.

Further divided into:

Continuous production (e.g. chemicals, food processing etc.)

Discrete part production. Further divided into:

Assembly lines

Transfer Lines

Process-based: these are facilities where machines of the same type are grouped
together physically. Some examples may be seen in job shops, workshops,
prototype makers, tool makers.

Flexible Manufacturing systems may loosely be categorized as highly

automated versions of process-based systems.

Cellular: Cells are formed using GT, and typical cells are small clusters of a
mixed bunch of machines that can handle a particular family of products. Such
layouts are used when the batch sizes of orders are not large, but throughput
times required are lower.
 Fixed position: For single units of a large item (e.g. construction project, MTR
line, ship building etc.)

The above are all the physical production systems. In addition, we shall look at
material handling systems, including transportation machines and inventory handling
systems.

Once we have a physical system all installed, we need to worry about the operational
aspects. This includes, among other things, Production Control. Several important
things here include:

Lot sizing;

Scheduling;

Process Planning;

When we design the physical systems, we are concerned with the capability to
produce the designed part. When studying the operational aspects, we are more
concerned with the efficiency at which we are working. Therefore, it is essential for us
to know our goals, when we make operational decisions. Some typical descriptors
used for Manufacturing Systems include:

WIP (Work in Process): The number of parts that are currently in the shop floor,
either being worked upon by a machine/operator, or waiting at a buffer or in a queue.

Production rate: number of finished parts being produced by the system in unit time.

Throughput time: the time that a part spends in the system from the moment it is
released from the inventory to the time it leaves the system.
Usually, we would like to make operational plans that are "good". That means we
should know what we mean by "good", especially since often, different desirable
objectives tend to be conflicting [which is what gave rise to teh famous saying: Good,
Cheap, Fast. Pick any two.] Here are some definitions and some typical objectives:

Assume that jobs coming into the system are identified as J i.

Due date, Di: date when the job is expected to be completed.

Completion time, Ci: time at which Ji is completed.

Flow time, Fi: length of time Ji is in the shop.

Lateness, Li = ( Ci - Di).

Tardiness, Ti = max( 0, Li).

Typical objectives include: minimize average flow time, minimize number of tardy
jobs, minimize average tardiness, minimize the makespan (makespan = time to
complete all the jobs), minimize the maximum tardiness etc.

Once we define our goals, we can test out which operational method (heuristic) gives
us the best performance in order to achieve our goal(s). We can do so by actually
testing our operation plans on the shop floor, or we may study their perfomance using
models. A good designer will model his MS before implementing it: it is almost
always cheaper to do so!

Therefore, we shall take a brief look at methods used to model manufacturing

systems: in particular, simple mathematical models, and simulation.

Why are operational performance tests important to MS Design ?

- since they can give a good estimate of potential bottlenecks, and also be used to
refine designs before implementation.

In the Human part, we will look at two important aspects:

What the are conditions under which the workers perform the best? How can
this information be used to design the work pattern of workers, and working
system of manufacturing systems (team oriented systems)?

Why is the customer an important part of the operations of the MS ? What

implications does this participation of the customer have on the operation and
organisation of the MS.

Manufacturing process management (MPM) is a collection

of technologies and methods used to define how products are
to be manufactured. MPM differs from ERP/MRP which is
used to plan the ordering of materials and other resources,
setmanufacturing schedules, and compile cost data.

Sales & Inventory Monitoring

Systems
by Audra Bianca
 Related Articles

1The Objectives of a Sales & Inventory System

2What Are the Benefits of Using a Computerized Inventory
System?
3Advantages & Disadvantages of a Computerized Inventory
Management System
4Scope & Limitations in Inventory Systems

To understand the need for this type of system -- which is really a

combination of software programs -- consider a customer's needs.
For example, if you go online and order a new digital camera and
arrange to ship it to your home, your purchase triggers different
events in the seller's system. The system must decide where the
camera will be shipped from, then notify the appropriate
warehouse to pack it and ship it. Think about where that
information comes from so the camera will reach your home on
time.

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Data Collection for Decision-Making
Using this type of system, a company makes strategic business
decisions regarding raw material purchases, production
scheduling, pricing, logistics and other decisions in the supply
chain. Sales and inventory data enables the company to increase
or decrease production in the factory so the company won't have
too many finished goods stored in its warehouses.

Function
A sales and inventory monitoring system collects data to aid in
production scheduling. For example, some systems use recent
sales data to forecast how many of a type of product will be
needed to meet consumer demand in the near future. This
includes monitoring the levels of a product at all locations. A good
example is a global company with customers all over the world.
The customer may live in Japan, but the system must see if the
warehouse in Canada has a product available to ship to Japan.

How it Works
The system compares current inventory levels of a product and
the number scheduled for production with the number needed,
and determines if the level of production must be changed. If
necessary, the system sends a message to the master production
schedule to increase production. Also, the inventory monitoring
system slows down production when a product's retail sales levels
don't meet the sales forecast and the company overproduces the
product.

Competitive Advantage
Automated sales and inventory monitoring gives a company a
competitive advantage by linking different automated processes
within the supply chain. For example, automating the ordering
process for customers and the production scheduling, then
adjusting manufacturing based on up-to-date inventory levels,
makes a company more flexible, capable of deciding how to best
satisfy customer orders. When automated activities are linked --
ensuring information flows rapidly from one part of the supply
chain to another -- a company can exploit these linkages.
Management can make rapid decisions to increase revenues, such
as ramping up production immediately in one location because of
a sudden surge in demand in another part of the world.