Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Principles of Work System Design

Principles of motion economy for human effort industrial engineering. 

Principles of machine economy for machine effort industrial engineering.


Machine Utilization Principle of Industrial Engineering - Prof. Ralph Barnes


1. Few people advocate using human labor to do work that can be done better and cheaper by machines.

2. It is suggested that the best manual method and the best combination of manual and machine method (mechanized) be developed and used as a basis for evaluating a proposed automated process.

(Restated as: Compare best manual method, mechanized method and automated method for each element of an operation and choose the best.)

3. If a large-volume fairly complex job is to be considered, a comparison would be of the estimated cost to do each element of each suboperation manually, or in mechanized way, or automatically.

Ralph Barnes is the first PhD in Industrial Engineering. He wrote the popular text, Motion and Time Study.

Industrial engineers have to learn mechanization and automation that is engineering very well and use it in industrial engineering to provide increased support of machines to people to increase their productivity and standard of living.

Principles of Motion Economy



Automation Principles - Mikell Groover

 USA Principle

The USA Principle is the industrial engineering approach used for automation.

.USA stands for

1. Understand the existing process

2. Simplify the process - Improve the process with current facilities by eliminating waste activities.

3. Automate the process.


Understand the Existing Process. This is the first step of any IE study.

Simplify the Process.  This is a step of ECSR steps of industrial engineering. 

Automate the Process. Once the current process has been improved eliminating the waste activities, automation can be studied.  It is important to remember the principle of reengineering. It is very important for the new technology implementer to thoroughly understand the new technology and use its full power in converting the input into the operation or process into output. The current process is not a constraint for the new automatic production process design.

Ten Strategies for Automation of Production Systems

Groover in 1980 suggested the following ten.

1. Specialization:  Design special-purpose equipment to perform one operation with the greatest possible efficiency.

2. Combined operations.  Complex parts production  require tens  or even hundreds, of processing steps. The strategy of combined operations involves reducing the number of distinct production machines or work stations  by performing more than one operation at a given machine. An economic evaluation has to be done for combining specialized machines.

3. Simultaneous operations. A logical extension of the combined operations strategy is to simultaneously perform the operations that are combined at one workstation. 

4. Integration of operations. Another strategy is to link several workstations together into a single integrated mechanism, using automated work handling devices to transfer parts between stations. Scheduling becomes simplified.  

5. Increased flexibility. Design for flexibility

6. Improved material handling and storage. Automated material handling and storage systems give reduced work-in-process and shorter manufacturing lead times.

7. On-line inspection. Incorporating inspection into the manufacturing process permits corrections to the process as the product is being made and also reduces errors.

8, Process control and optimization. This includes a wide range of control schemes intended to operate the individual processes and associated equipment more efficiently from more central locations.

9. Plant operations control. There is control of the individual manufacturing processes. But we required also  control at the plant level. It attempts to manage and coordinate the aggregate operations in the plant more efficiently. Its implementation usually involves a high level of computer networking within the factory.

10. Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM). Integration of factory operations with engineering design and the business functions of the firm, CIM involves extensive use of computer applications, computer data bases, and computer networking throughout the enterprise




Productivity Measurement


Work system productivity design requires measurements - work, cost, productivity.

Work System Theory


Work system theory: an integrated, evolving body of assumptions, concepts, frameworks, and principles for analyzing and designing systems in organizations
Steven Alter


Updated on 21.6.2023,  7 November 2020
First published on 19 October 2020



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