Theoretical Best Process Operation Development - Operation Productivity Analysis Step

Process Improvement - Productivity Analysis and Productivity Engineering.

Industrial engineer analyzes each process into its ultimate, simple elements, and compares each of these simplest steps or processes with an ideal or perfect condition and modifies the element appropriately. - F.W. Taylor - Hugo Diemer.

Prof. Hugo Diemer  - Taylor's Industrial Engineering

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2020/05/prof-hugo-diemer-taylors-industrial.html

Lesson 84 of Industrial Engineering ONLINE Course

Gerald Nadler, Professor of IE recommends a design approach to industrial engineering activity of productivity improvement. Development of the best way of doing an operation today, would be in line with the recommendation of Prof. Nadler. But as given above. Prof Hugo Diemer said it in 1910 itself. Industrial engineers have to ascertain or develop the concept of best way of doing an element and compare it with current method being done in the process under study.

The first step in operation productivity analysis has to be theoretical best operation development.

The material transformation to be achieved in the operation is specified in the operation information sheet. The process industrial engineering team has to achieve this material transformation in the most economical way subject to the constraints of specification for various dimensions, their tolerances and geometric shapes and their tolerances with the additional limitations of availability machine tools and cutting tools with in their factory or their supply chain facilities or potential supply chain facilities. Processing in each facility has a cost associated with it.

Professor Gideon Halevi advocates that as a first step the most economical process plan has to be generated that considers only engineering and technological constraints and the availability of facilities that exist any where in the world (we can generalize and say, available technology). Estimating cost for this solution may be difficult, but time estimation and productivity estimation can be done for this operation plan.

Actually process industrial engineering team has to collect the current process plan and the file of the process plan may have this best process alternative at the time the process is designed. Also, if an earlier process improvement study was done, the best operation plan at that time would be also available. The team now has to add the current knowledge.

For industrial engineers, daily reading engineering and industrial engineering developments is crucial. They should first individually read the days news and then as a team discuss the implications of the news. Engineering and industrial engineering knowledge updated by the IE team every day gives productivity to organization. - Narayana Rao (10 August 2020).

Once the best way of doing an operation subject to engineering and technological constraints is determined, the problem shifts to available equipment and tools and their cost. Halevi says, that the problem now shifts to mathematical calculations from engineering decisions. Mathematics was used by F.W. Taylor and even now industrial engineers like all other engineers use the recent mathematical models available to take further engineering decisions. For engineers and industrial engineers understanding engineering of the system and creating novel engineering solutions is the first step. Then only other subjects are to be employed to refine the certain parameters of the engineering solution to increase the output and to reduce negative outputs or outcomes.

If I can share personal experience many engineers in the companies are unable to think in terms of the best way. Their thinking is getting limited to the facilities of their companies and the problems of their facilities and their companies.

But how to arrive the best way of doing an operation today. One way is to understand all machine related aspects of the operation currently in use and looking for the best alternatives for each of them. It is good if directly a better way of doing the operation is available in the published literature or with the consultants. In the absence of such a direct solution, IE team has to assemble one.

Industrial Engineering for Productivity - NITIE International Online Management Development Program , 31 August to 4 September 2020. The program was well appreciated by the participants.
Course Leader: Prof. K.V.S.S. Narayana Rao

Updated on 9.10.2022,  9.9.2020

First published on 10 August 2020