Process Improvement using engineering knowledge to reduce cost through increasing productivity of machines and men by reducing machine time and man time is the main activity of industrial engineering.
Many other disciplines help industrial engineers to achieve their objectives. But the main discipline that is the foundation for IE is engineering of products and processes.
Process Industrial Engineering - Methods and Techniques - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5
Lesson 73 of Industrial Engineering ONLINE Course.
Case Study 73 of the course. Examples - Productivity Engineering - Process Industrial Engineering - Methods Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering of processes is the popular method. But industrial engineering at strategy level and industrial engineering at facility level are also there and they are at a level higher than process.
In strategic decisions related to industrial engineering, top management starts IE departments, approves annual budget and longer term programs, does staffing related decisions and approves the main initiatives to be taken up in various facilities and processes.
Facility related industrial engineering activities are related to acquisition of machines and human resources. Replacement of machines is an important area. Improvement of machines through retrofits is another important area. Currently many legacy machines can be retrofitted into smart machines. In the case of human resources, scientific selection of operators and their training in high productivity methods is an important area. Facility layout studies naturally form part of facility industrial engineering.
Process industrial engineering is study, analysis, engineering improvement and improvement of related aspects (knowledge, management, learning, facilities, resources, and capabilities) of the existing and proposed processes to improve their productivity further. Industrial engineering is concerned with improving the economy of the company instead of exclusive focus on technology improvement which is the concern of basic design engineers. Technology improvement is the responsibility of product and process designers. But industrial engineering monitors technology developments and takes an active role whenever it is found that specific technology adoption contributes to productivity and profit. Then, industrial engineering department will advocate to management and the technology departments, the adoption of the new technology as early as possible, as delay means loss of opportunity to make higher profit. It will take an active part in formulating projects to implement the new technology and engineering ideas and participates in the project execution to implement it successfully and realize the cost, revenue and profit benefits expected from the project.
Industrial engineering is system efficiency engineering. Using alternative term, it is system productivity engineering. We can also say it is cost reduction engineering. We can see the justification for this view of industrial engineering in the address to ASME by its first president in 1880. He told engineers to find ways to reduce cost of production of engineering goods or goods produced by engineering equipment like textiles and automobiles. In 1886, Henry Towne made a much more strong appeal to special focus on reducing the cost of production in ASME. F.W. Taylor, described his system of lower unit cost of production and productivity improvement in 1895. By that time, Taylor claimed the system was in operation for 10 years in Midvale, the company he was associated with.
James Gunn, in a paper dealing with cost accounting issues argued for engineering with cost analysis abilities who can modify engineering to reduce cost. He gave the name of industrial engineer or production engineers to such an engineer. Henry Towne, in 1905, described the role of industrial engineer as participant in the management of companies dealing with production and related issues. Hugo Diemer, who started the first industrial engineering program, credited Taylor for conceptualizing the role of industrial engineer. C.B. Going, who taught industrial engineering in the works management program o Columbia Mechanical Engineering Department, defined that industrial engineering is concerned with the efficient conduct of manufacturing, construction and transport organizations. Hence the association of industrial engineering with efficiency, productivity and cost reduction is strong and enduring.
Taylor proposed productivity improvement of machines and men through a new system of management described by him in his 1895 paper. In this article, various methods and techniques that evolved over the period in the area of process industrial engineering will be described in brief and each of the methods and techniques will be explained in detail in separate articles.
What is a Process?
According to Oxford Dictionary, process is course of action, especially series of operations in manufacture.
What is an Operation?
Out of the meanings given, activity is the appropriate word. Hence operation is an activity in the process.
What is a Method?
According to Oxford Dictionary, method is a special form of procedure especially in any branch of mental activity. It is an orderly arrangement of ideas. It is regular habits.
What is a Technique?
Technique is mode of artistic expression in music, painting, etc. It is mechanical skill in art. It is means of achieving one's purpose skillfully.
Taylor's Productivity Improvement System and Method
Elementary rate-fixing differs from other methods in that a careful study is made of each of the many elementary operations into which the manufacturing of an establishment may be analyzed or divided. The words 'method' and 'study' were used to describe the work of the new department proposed and implemented by Taylor in his company. The modem manufacturer seeks to surround each department of his manufacture with the most carefully woven network of system and method. So we can see the use of the word system also in Taylor's 1895 paper.
The most formidable obstacle for productivity improvement and harmonious cooperation is the lack of knowledge on the part of both the men and the management (but chiefly the latter) of the quickest time in which each piece of work can be done; or, briefly, the lack of accurate time-tables for the work of the place. The remedy for this trouble lies in the establishment in every factory of a proper rate-fixing department ; a department which shall have equal dignity and command equal respect with the engineering and managing departments, which shall be organized and conducted in an equally scientific and practical manner.
The best results or the highest productivity were finally attained in the case of work done by metal-cutting tools, such as lathes, planers, boring mills, etc., after a long and expensive series of experiments were made, to determine, formulate, and finally practically apply to each machine the law governing the proper cutting speed of tools, namely, the effect on the cutting speed of altering any one of the following variables : the shape of the tool (i.e., lip angle, clearance angle, and the line of the cutting edge), the duration of the cut, the quality or hardness of the metal being cut, the depth of the cut, and the thickness of the feed or shaving. Due to effort of engineers and rate fixing department, the quality of the work was improved and the output of the machinery and the men was doubled, and in many cases trebled.
The studies conducted by the rate-fixing department have shown the necessity of carefully systematizing all of the small details in the running of each shop, such as the care of belting, the proper shape for cutting tools, and the dressing, grinding, and issuing sairfe, oiling machines, issuing orders for work, obtaining accurate labor and material returns, and a host of other minor methods and processes. These details, which are usually regarded as of comparatively small importance, and many of which are left to the individual judgment of each foreman and workman, are shown by the rate-fixing department studies to be of paramount importance in obtaining the maximum output, and to require the most careful and systematic study and attention.
Taylor concluded that the most successful manufacturers, those who are always ready to adopt the best machinery and methods when they see them, will gradually avail themselves of the benefits of scientific rate-fixing. Their success will compel the others to follow slowly in the same direction.
Thus we can see the effort to improve the cutting speed of machines and to reduce time taken by operators in other activities by finding the time taken to do elementary operations in any task are the features of the method advocated by Taylor in this paper in 1895. Also, there is no description of how study or studies are conducted by the elementary operation rate fixing department. In the 1903 paper, Shop Management, Taylor described many other features of the productivity improvement system.
Additional Features of the System Described by Taylor in Shop Management
The possibility of high productivity and a low labor cost per unit rests mainly upon the enormous difference between the amount of work which a first-class man can do under favorable circumstances and the work which is actually done by the average man under average working conditions and methods.
The essence of task management lies in the fact that the control of the speed problem rests entirely with the management.
It is comparatively easy to obtain, through a systematic and scientific time study, exact information as to how much of any given kind of work either a first-class or an average man can do in a day. When this information was used as a foundation, workmen of all classes were willing to devote all of their energies to turning out the maximum work possible, providing they were sure of a suitable permanent reward.
Taylor particularly emphasized that this whole system of increasing productivity rests upon an accurate and scientific study of unit times, which is by far the most important element in scientific management. The term "scientific management" was used by Taylor in the shop management paper (1903) itself.
For each job there is the quickest time in which it can be done by a first-class man (best people). This time may be called the "quickest time," or the "standard time" for the job. Under all the ordinary systems, this "quickest time" is more or less completely shrouded in mist. In most cases, however, the workman is nearer to it and sees it more clearly than the employer.
In the case, for instance, of a machine shop doing miscellaneous work, in order to assign daily to each man a carefully measured task, a special planning department is required to lay out all of the work at least one day ahead. All orders must be given to the men in detail in writing; and in order to lay out the next day's work and plan the entire progress of work through the shop, daily returns must be made by the men to the planning department in writing, showing just what has been done. Before each casting or forging arrives in the shop the exact route which it is to take from machine to machine should be laid out. An instruction card for each operation must be written out stating in detail just how each operation on every piece of work is to be done and the time required to do it, the drawing number, any special tools, jigs, or appliances required, etc. Before the four principles above referred to can be successfully applied it is also necessary in most shops to make important physical changes. All of the small details in the shop, which are usually regarded as of little importance and are left to be regulated according to the individual taste of the workman, or, at best, of the foreman, must be thoroughly and carefully standardized; such. details, for instance, as the care and tightening of the belts; the exact shape and quality of each cutting tool; the establishment of a complete tool room from which properly ground tools, as well as jigs, templates, drawings, etc., are issued under a good check system, etc.; and as a matter of importance (in fact, as the foundation of scientific management) an accurate study of unit times must be made by one or more men connected with the planning department, and each machine tool must be standardized and a table or slide rule constructed for it showing how to run it to the best advantage.
Modern engineering proceeds with comparative certainty to the design and construction of a machine or structure of the maximum efficiency with the minimum weight and cost of materials, while the old style engineering at best only approximated these results and then only after a series of breakdowns, involving the practical reconstruction of the machine and the lapse of a long period of time. Engineering now centers in the drafting room and modern management of the shop has to be based on the planning department. There is necessity of a planning department with time study, route card and written instruction cards and it provides economy to the shop and justified expenditure on the staff and facilities provided to the department.
Time Study is the essential component of the productivity improvement system. Its detailed are covered in an article.
Modern engineering proceeds with comparative certainty to the design and construction of a machine or structure of the maximum efficiency with the minimum weight and cost of materials, while the old style engineering at best only approximated these results and then only after a series of breakdowns, involving the practical reconstruction of the machine and the lapse of a long period of time. Engineering now centers in the drafting room and modern management of the shop has to be based on the planning department. There is necessity of a planning department with time study, route card and written instruction cards and it provides economy to the shop and justified expenditure on the staff and facilities provided to the department.
Time Study is the essential component of the productivity improvement system. Its detailed are covered in an article.
Time Study - 1903 Explanation by F.W. Taylor - Process Time Reduction Study
Latter day texts, described time study as a technique to determine the time required to do a standardized or improved task. But for Taylor, time study is the means to understand the maximum speed with which a task can be done by a first class worker without any discomfort. This understanding will increase productivity as all the operators in an organization are taught the way in which this speed can be attained.
One of the most difficult works to organize is that of a large engineering establishment building miscellaneous machinery, and the writer has therefore chosen this for description.
Managers have of late years spent thousands of dollars in re-grouping their machine tools for the purpose of making their foremanship more effective. The planers have been placed in one group, slotters in another, lathes in another, etc., so as to demand a smaller range of experience and less diversity of knowledge from their respective foremen.
In the writer's experience, almost all shops are under-officered. Invariably the number of leading men employed is not sufficient to do the work economically.
The following is a brief description of the duties of the four types of executive functional bosses which the writer has found it profitable to use in the active work of the shop: (1) gang bosses, (2) speed bosses, (3) inspectors, and (4) repair bosses.
The gang boss has charge of the preparation of all work up to the time that the piece is set in the machine. It is his duty to see that every man under him has at all times at least one piece of work ahead at his machine, with all the jigs, templates, drawings, driving mechanism, sling chains, etc., ready to go into his machine as soon as the piece he is actually working on is done. The gang boss must show his men how to set their work in their machines in the quickest time, and see that they do it. He is responsible for the work being accurately and quickly set, and should be not only able but willing to pitch in himself and show the men how to set the work in record time.
The speed boss must see that the proper cutting tools are used for each piece of work, that the work is properly driven, that the cuts are started in the right part of the piece, and that the best speeds and feeds and depth of cut are used. His work begins only after the piece is in the lathe or planer, and ends when the actual machining ends. The speed boss must not only advise his men how best to do this work, but he must see that they do it in the quickest time, and that they use the speeds and feeds and depth of cut as directed on the instruction card In many cases he is called upon to demonstrate that the work can be done in the specified time by doing it himself in the presence of his men.
The inspector is responsible for the quality of the work, and both the workmen and speed bosses must see that the work is all finished to suit him. This man can, of course, do his work best if he is a master of the art of finishing work both well and quickly.
The repair boss sees that each workman keeps his machine clean, free from rust and scratches, and that he oils and treats it properly, and that all of the standards established for the care and maintenance of the machines and their accessories are rigidly maintained, such as care of belts and shifters, cleanliness of floor around machines, and orderly piling and disposition of work.
The following is an outline of the duties of the four functional bosses who are located in the planning room, and who in their various functions represent the department in its connection with the men. The first three of these send their directions to and receive their returns from the men, mainly in writing. These four representatives of the planning department are, the (1) order of work and route clerk, (2) instruction card clerk, (3) time and cost clerk, and (4) shop disciplinarian.
Order of Work and Route Clerk. After the route clerk in the planning department has laid out the exact route which each piece of work is to travel through the shop from machine to machine in order that it may be finished at the time it is needed for assembling, and the work done in the most economical way, the order of work clerk daily writes lists instructing the workmen and also all of the executive shop bosses as to the exact order in which the work is to be done by each class of machines or men, and these lists constitute the chief means for directing the workmen in this particular function.
Instruction Card Clerks. The "instruction card," as its name indicates, is the chief means employed by the planning department for instructing both the executive bosses and the men in all of the details of their work. It tells them briefly the general and detail drawing to refer to, the piece number and the cost order number to charge the work to, the special jigs, fixtures, or tools to use, where to start each cut, the exact depth of each cut, and how many cuts to take, the speed and feed to be used for each cut, and the time within which each operation must be finished. It also informs them as to the piece rate, the differential rate, or the premium to be paid for completing the task within the specified time (according to the system employed); and further, when necessary, refers them by name to the man who will give them especial directions. This instruction card is filled in by one or more members of the planning department, according to the nature and complication of the instructions, and bears the same relation to the planning room that the drawing does to the drafting room. The man who sends it into the shop and who, in case difficulties are met with in carrying out the instructions, sees that the proper man sweeps these difficulties away, is called the instruction card foreman.
Time and Cost Clerk. This man sends to the men through the "time ticket" all the information they need for recording their time and the cost of the work, and secures proper returns from them. He refers these for entry to the cost and time record clerks in the planning room.
Shop Disciplinarian. In case of insubordination or impudence, repeated failure to do their duty, lateness or unexcused absence, the shop disciplinarian takes the workman or bosses in hand and applies the proper remedy. He sees that a complete record of each man's virtues and defects is kept. This man should also have much to do with readjusting the wages of the workmen. At the very least, he should invariably be consulted before any change is made. One of his important functions
should be that of peace-maker.
The greatest good resulting from this change is that it becomes possible in a comparatively short time to train bosses who can really and fully perform the functions demanded of them, while under the old system it took years to train men who were after all able to thoroughly perform only a portion of their duties.
The planning department performs more or less the functions of a clearing house. In doing their various duties, its members must exchange information frequently, and since they send their orders to and receive their returns from the men in the shop, principally in writing, simplicity calls for the use, when possible, of a single piece of paper for each job for conveying the instructions of the different members of the planning room to the men and another similar paper for receiving the returns from the men to the department.
Importance of Planning
The shop, and indeed the whole works, should be managed, not by the manager, superintendent, or foreman, but by the planning department. The daily routine of running the entire works should be carried on by the various functional elements of this department, so that, in theory at least, the works could run smoothly even if the manager, superintendent and their assistants outside the planning room were all to be away for a month at a time.
The following are the leading functions of the planning department:
(a) The complete analysis of all orders for machines or work taken by the company.
(b) Time study for all work done by hand throughout the works, including that done in setting the work in machines, and all bench, vise work and transportation, etc.
(c) Time study for all operations done by the various machines.
(d) The balance of all materials, raw materials, stores and finished parts, and the balance of the work ahead for each class of machines and workmen.
(e) The analysis of all inquiries for new work received in the sales department and promises for time of delivery.
(f) The cost of all items manufactured with complete expense analysis and complete monthly comparative cost and expense exhibits.
(g) The pay department.
(h) The mnemonic symbol system for identification of parts and for charges.
(i) Information bureau.
(j) Standards.
(k) Maintenance of system and plant, and use of the tickler.
(l) Messenger system and post office delivery.
(m) Employment bureau.
(n) Shop disciplinarian.
(o) A mutual accident insurance association.
(p) Rush order department.
(q) Improvement of system or plant.
IMPROVEMENT OF SYSTEM OR PLANT.
One man should be especially charged with the work of improvement in the system and in the running of the plant.
It is important to notice that Taylor indicated the need for a person to look after improvement in the system and operations of the plants.
In this article so far, we covered the system and method or methods recommended by Taylor in two papers, Piece rate system and Shop Management. We will cover the content in scientific management and papers of Gilbreth in a subsequent paper. Still, the initial coverage is to be described as brief. The actual use of each recommendation has to be examined in more detail. This module of Methods and Techniques of Process Industrial Engineering which spans from small features of machines to complete plant level facilities will have 60 lessons.
(C) 2020 Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.
First published on 29 July 2020
Related Lessons
74. Part 2: Process Industrial Engineering - Methods and Techniques
75. Process Charts, Maps, Diagrams and Operation Analysis Sheet
76. Recording Operations Using The Motion-Picture Camera and Video Camera
77. Toyota Style Industrial Engineering - Toyota Process Maps - Process Improvement - Process Metrics
Lesson 73
Important Points of the Lesson
Process industrial engineering is study, analysis, engineering improvement and improvement of related aspects of the existing and proposed processes to improve their productivity further.
Industrial engineering is system efficiency engineering - system productivity engineering - system cost reduction engineering. We can see the justification for this view of industrial engineering in the address to ASME by its first president in 1880.
The association of industrial engineering with efficiency, productivity and cost reduction is strong and enduring.
Taylor proposed productivity improvement of machines and men through a new system of management described by him in his 1895 paper.
Elementary rate-fixing differs from other methods in that a careful study is made of each of the many elementary operations into which the manufacturing of an establishment may be analyzed or divided.
There is lack of knowledge on the part of both the men and the management (but chiefly the latter) of the quickest time in which each piece of work can be done;
The best results or the highest productivity were finally attained in the case of work done by metal-cutting tools, such as lathes, planers, boring mills, etc., after a long and expensive series of experiments were made, to determine, formulate, and finally practically apply to each machine the law governing the proper cutting speed of tools
The studies conducted by the rate-fixing department have shown the necessity of carefully systematizing all of the small details in the running of each shop, such as the care of belting, the proper shape for cutting tools,
We can see the effort to improve the cutting speed of machines and to reduce time taken by operators in other activities by finding the time taken to do elementary operations in any task are the features of the method advocated by Taylor in this paper in 1895.
There is enormous difference between the amount of work which a first-class man can do under favorable circumstances and the work which is actually done by the average man under average working conditions and methods.
The essence of task management lies in the fact that the control of the speed problem rests entirely with the management.
Taylor particularly emphasized that this whole system of increasing productivity rests upon an accurate and scientific study of unit times, which is by far the most important element in scientific management.
For each job there is the quickest time in which it can be done by a first-class man. This time may be called the "quickest time," or the "standard time" for the job.
In a machine shop doing miscellaneous work, in order to assign daily to each man a carefully measured task, a special planning department is required to lay out all of the work at least one day ahead.
An instruction card for each operation must be written out stating in detail just how each operation on every piece of work is to be done and the time required to do it, the drawing number, any special tools, jigs, or appliances required, etc.
There is necessity of a planning department with time study, route card and written instruction cards and it provides economy to the shop and justified expenditure on the staff and facilities provided to the department.
For Taylor, time study is the means to understand the maximum speed with which a task can be done by a first class worker without any discomfort.
The gang boss has charge of the preparation of all work up to the time that the piece is set in the machine.
The speed boss must see that the proper cutting tools are used for each piece of work, that the work is properly driven, that the cuts are started in the right part of the piece, and that the best speeds and
feeds and depth of cut are used.
The inspector is responsible for the quality of the work, and both the workmen and speed bosses must see that the work is all finished to suit him.
The repair boss sees that each workman keeps his machine clean, free from rust and scratches, and that he oils and treats it properly, and that all of the standards established for the care and maintenance of the machines and their accessories are rigidly maintained.
The shop, and indeed the whole works, should be managed, not by the manager, superintendent, or foreman, but by the planning department.
One man should be especially charged with the work of improvement in the system and the running of the plant.
Important Points from Part 2: Process Industrial Engineering - Methods and Techniques (Lesson 74)
Methods Described by Taylor in the Paper "Scientific Management"
In process industrial engineering, Certain improvements have to occur at elementary operation level and certain improvements are factory level decisions and implemented across the factory.
In process improvement, industrial engineer must be able to explain his improvement clearly with numbers. Otherwise many will not accept the new method.
An example of handling pig iron was given.
Shoveling Productivity Science and Engineering
What is the best shovel size for handling maximum quantity per throw?Answer:A shovel which would hold a load of 21 pounds of whatever material is to be shoveled. Different shovel design for different materials.
Thousands of stop-watch observations were made to study just how quickly a laborer, provided in each case with the proper type of shovel, can push his shovel into the pile of materials and then draw it out properly loaded.
Bricklaying Improvement by Gilbreth
Mr. Frank B. Gilbreth became interested in the principles of scientific management, and decided to apply them to the art of bricklaying.
He experimented with every minute element which in any way affects the speed and the tiring of the bricklayer.
Positions of Tools and Materials: He developed the exact position which each of the feet of the bricklayer should occupy with relation to the wall, the mortar box, and the pile of bricks, and so made it unnecessary for him to take a step or two toward the pile of bricks and back again each time a brick is laid.
Help of assisting laborer: Sorting of bricks by a laborer, and placing bricks with their best edge up on a simple wooden frame.
Motion improvement or method improvement. Mr. Gilbreth found that by tempering the mortar just right, the bricks could be readily bedded to the proper depth by a downward pressure of the hand with which they are laid.
Mr. Gilbreth has reduced movements required for bricklaying from eighteen motions per brick to five, and even in one case to as low as two motions per brick.
He has given all of the details of the study and analysis to the civil engineering profession in the chapter headed "Motion Study," of his book entitled "Bricklaying System."
He teaches his bricklayers to make simple motions with both hands at the same time, where before they completed a motion with the right hand and followed it later with one from the left hand.
Mr. Gilbreth calls his analysis, scientific motion study. Taylor has called similar work,time study.
Mr. Gilbreth used his new method in in a large brick building construction and operators achieved 350 bricks per man per hour; whereas the average was earlier 120 bricks per man per hour.
Mr. Gilbreth also developed an ingenious method for measuring and recording the number of bricks laid by each man, and for telling each workman at frequent intervals how many bricks he had succeeded in laying to give him an indication of higher earnings.
One of the dangers to be guarded against, when the pay of the man or woman is made in any way to depend on the quantity of the work done, is that in the effort to increase the quantity the quality is apt to deteriorate. It is necessary therefore, to take definite steps to insure against any falling off in quality due to process industrial engineering.
Gilbreth on Methods Study, Motion Study and Time Study
(In the book, Applied Motion Study, Collection of Essays by Gilbreth, 1917)Motion-study is a subfunction of function No. 3 of the planning department related to specifying time and cost.
Motion-study, time-study, micromotion-study, fatigue-study, and cost-study are important measures of scientific management, by which the efficiency of each function and subfunction is determined, tested, and checked.
We advocate the use of micromotion study in all work demanding precision. Micromotion study consists of recording the speed simultaneously with a two or three dimensional path of motions by the aid of cinematograph pictures of a worker at work and a specially designed clock that shows divisions of time so minute as to indicate a different time of day in each picture in the cinematograph film.
A standard under modem scientific management is simply a carefully thought-out method of performing a function, or carefully drawn specifications covering an implement or some article of stores or of product. The idea of perfection is not involved in standardisation.
To illustrate, in the case of assembly of a machine, The existing method of assembling the machine is recorded in the minutest detail.
As a result of motion studies made upon this, where eighteen braiders had been assembled by one man in a day, it became possible to assemble sixty-six braiders per man per day, with no increase in fatigue.
Improvement. Machine assembled was placed on a special table, which could be turned on its side and transformed into a lower table.
The quality of the output is maintained through a new type of inspection, which considers not only the output itself, but the elements, material and human, which result in that output. Nothing is a higher guarantee of quality than insistence on a standard method.
The engineer must secure the co-operation of the educator, the psychologist, the physiologist and the economist before he can hope to secure complete data, and to understand the full interpretation of what he finds.
The methods study was formulated into motion study, and divided into three parts: 1. Study of the variables of the worker. 2. Study of the variables of the surroundings, equipment and tools. 3. Study of the variables of the motion itself.
The writer's acquaintance with Dr. Taylor brought an added appreciation of the need for including time study with motion study.
The operator can apply the same method of attack to the minutiae of motions in his own work that the management has not had the time or the money to investigate.
Process Charting for Improvement - Gilbreths' View (1921)
In 1921, he presented a paper in ASME, on process charts.
The Process Chart is a device for visualizing a process as a means of improving it.
The use of this process-chart procedure permits recording the existing and proposed methods and analysis of it without the slightest fear of disturbing or disrupting the actual work itself.
The aim of the process chart is to present information regarding existing and proposed processes in such simple form that such information can become available to and usable by the greatest possible number of people in an organization before any changes whatever are actually made, so that the special knowledge and suggestions of those in positions of minor importance can be fully utilized.
If any operation of the process shown in the process chart is one that will sufficiently affect similar work, then motion study (operation analysis) should be made of each part of the process, and the degree to which the motion study should be carried depends upon the opportunities existing therein for savings.
Improve present methods by the use of —
1 Suggestion system
2 Written description of new methods or 'write-ups," "manuals," ''codes," ''written systems," as they are variously called
3 Standards
4 Standing orders
5 Motion study
6 Micromotion studies and chronocyclegraphs for obtaining and recording the One Best Way to do Work.
Important points
Lesson 75. Process Charts, Maps, Diagrams and Operation Analysis Sheet
Maynard & Stegemerten (1939)
Process Charts. A process chart may be broadly defined as any charted presentation of information connected with a manufacturing process or any other engineering process or business process.The information that is presented in the process charts along with the steps in the process can include any or all of such factors as time for operations performed, machine time, motions used, operator time, working and idle time of machines, cost, production data, time allowances, distance moved, and other similar data.
If a process chart is first prepared and every member of the group is given a copy to study, the discussion will start at the beginning and proceed systematically toward the end. Progress is rapid, and little time is wasted by the discussion going off at a tangent.
There are certain major types of charts that, are widely used for methods-study work.
1. Operation process charts.
2. Flow process charts.
3. Man and machine process charts.
4. Operator process charts.
5. Progress process charts.
6. Miscellaneous types.
If an operation process chart is drawn up as the first step of a methods study, it insures that the study will begin at the right point which is the first operation and proceed systematically to the last operation.
When it is necessary to show in detail the exact manner in which a process is performed, describing what happens between operations as well as the operations themselves, the flow process chart is more suitable.
The operation process chart shows the problem more clearly. If after a preliminary study more detailed information is desired, flow charts can be made for the various parts that make up the complete assembly.
Time estimates for processing operation step is normally available. Time for other operations may be determined by brief time study.
After process level analysis, a refined analysis needs to be performed upon the operations themselves.
This analysis requires more information and operation analysis sheet needs to be used.
Process Charts and Other Recording Devices - R.L. Barnes (1931).
“Process charts are used to record in a simple, compact form and to visualize the elements of a process in sequence and in relation to the entire process.
Important points
Lesson 77. Toyota Process Maps - Process Improvement - Process Metrics
Japanese productivity is high because of our fundamental production systems (production system and production control system) and highly qualified work force. - Shigeo Shingo.
1. Process - The course by which material is transformed into product. This consists of four phenomena: processing, inspection, transport and storage.
2. Operation - The action performed on the material by machines and workers.
When we record process, we record flow of material in time and space and its transformation from raw material to semi-processed state and at intermediate stage into component, and then inclusion into assembly at a specified stage and finally into the finished product.
When we record an operation for analysis, we record the work performed to accomplish a specified transformation in the input by equipment and operators in time and space.
Flow Process Chart: All production activities can be analyzed using the flow process chart and its five symbols.
Process Improvement
Processes can be improved in two ways.
The first improves product itself through improvement of product design from engineering design point of view and efficiency point of view or productivity point of view.
The second improves manufacturing methods from the standpoint of manufacturing technology and industrial engineering.
Details of Operations to be Observed and Recorded
Setup operations - Removal of old dies and tools, mounting new dies and tools, adjustments of dies and tools.
Principal operations - Actually changing the form of the material.
Incidental operations - Loading and unloading work pieces.
Margin allowances or operations - Lubricating the machine, arranging finished items on pallets etc.
Toyota Process Metrics
Taiichi Ohno created the concept of 7 wastes and efforts to improve the processes and facilities to eliminate these 7 wastes.
Material and Information Flow Mapping
Mike Rother and John Shook, the authors of the book, Learning to See, the book on Value Stream Mapping said, in Toyota, infinite attention is given to establishing flow, eliminating waste and adding value.
Toyota people talk about three types of flow, material, information and flow in process and operations (Shigeo Shingo uses the terms, flow of equipment and people).
Material and information flow map covers on material and information. Process and operation related issues are analyzed using different maps or charts.
How can we flow information so that a supplier operation knows what is the requirement of the customer operation in the tact time of the process?
The authors gave an interesting explanation, "flow kaizen" as the purpose of material and information flow map. Flow kaizen is a higher level responsibility.
Updated on 17.5.2022, 25.3.2022, 12 August 2021, 26 August 2020, 3 August 2020
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