Relationship between volume &

variety
High Volume

Mid-volume
Mid-variety

High Variety

Mass Production
Petrochemicals,
Automobile
FMCGs
Consumer non-durables

Motor Manufacturing
Pharmaceuticals
White Goods
Consumer Durables

Project Organizations
Power plants
Aircraft manufacturing
Bridges & Large
Constructions

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Factors Influencing Process Choices

Volume: Average quantity of the products produced in a
manufacturing system

Low volume: Turnkey project management firms such as

L&T and BHEL
High volume: Consumer non-durable and FMCG sector
firms, Automobile, Chemical Processing
Mid-volume: Consumer durables, white goods and several
industrial products

Variety: Number of alternative products and variants of

each product that is offered by a manufacturing system

Variety of product offerings is likely to introduce variety at

various processes in the system; alternative production
resources, materials, and skill of workers

Flow: Flow indicates the nature and intensity of activities

involved in conversion of components and material from
raw material stage to finished goods stage

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Processes & Operations Systems

Available Alternatives

Process characteristics are largely

determined by the flow of products in
the operating system
Three types of flows occur in
operating systems:
Continuous
Intermittent
Jumbled

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Continuous Flow System

Characterized by a streamlined flow of products in the
operating system
Conversion process begins with input of raw material at
one end, progresses through the system in an orderly
fashion to finally become finished goods at the final stage
Production process is sequential and the required
resources are organized in stages

Examples:
several chemical processing industries such as
manufacture of petrochemicals, steel, pharmaceutical,
cement and glass
In a discrete manufacturing industry high volume
production of very few varieties (such as electrical bulbs
or spark plugs)

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Process Industry
Distinctive features

There should be balance of capacity between all the stages in

the manufacturing process to maintain an even flow of the
material from the raw material stage to finished goods
Productivity of the system is directly related to the flow rate
(or throughput) of the product
Requires huge capital investments, as incremental addition at
a later stage not possible. High productivity implies lower cost
of production and vice versa.
Need to make continuous process improvements and capacity
de-bottlenecking to maximize the flow rate in the system
Failure of any intermediate stage in the system will have an
adverse effect on the cost (see Ideas at work 4.2 for an
illustration of this)

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Operations Management Issues

Process Industry

The notion of capacity

Flow rate determines capacity

Bottleneck easily identifiable

Nature of inventories

Work in Progress will be minimal

Inventory of Spares & Maintenance will be high

Importance of maintenance
Relevance of vertical integration

Joint & Bye Products are many

Exploiting processing opportunities of these
important

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Backward Integration
at Reliance

Retailing

Textiles

Naroda
Complex

Fabric

Wool, Silk

Texturised Yarn
PSF

PG Complex
Polyester chips
Polyethylene

PFY

LAB
PTA

Polyester resin

PX

N-Parafins

Poly Propylene

MEG
EO

Spun Yarn

PVC
VCM

Oxygen

EDC

Hazira
Complex

Caustic Unit
Fuel Gas

Ethylene

C4s

Propylene

Toluene

Xylene

Benzene

Salt

Polymers
& Chemicals

Cracker
Jamnagar
Complex
Bombay
High

LPG

Naptha

Gasoline

ATF
Kerosene

Diesel

Sulphur

Fuel Oil

Bitumen

Refining & Marketing

Refining

Oil & Gas Exploration & Production

Oil & Gas

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Continuous Flow System

Mass production in discrete manufacturing

In discrete manufacturing various components are
manufactured in discrete fashion and the final product is
obtained through an assembly process
In a mass production system, the volume of production
is very high and the number of variations in the final
product is low

Examples:
Automobile and two wheeler manufacturers,
Manufacturers of electrical components such as switches
and health care products such as disposable syringes

The entire manufacturing is organised by arranging the

resources one after the other as per the manufacturing
sequence (known as product line structure)

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Process Design for Mass

Production Systems
Pre manufacturing Activities
Product A

Product B

Product C

Machining

Machining

Machining

Fabrication

Fabrication

Fabrication

Assembly

Assembly

Assembly

Testing

Testing

Testing

Dedicated & Decentralised Manufacturing Support

Product A

Machine
1

Machine
2

Machine
3

...

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Machine
m

Intermittent Flow System

Characterised by mid-volume, mid-variety
products/services
Increases the flow complexities
Flow and capacity balancing are difficult but
important
Process industries use batch production methods
Discrete industries use alternative methods of
designing layout issues

Capacity Estimation is hard

Production Planning & Control is complex

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Process Design for Intermittent Flow

in Discrete Manufacturing
Pre-manufacturing activities
Gear
Components
Sheet
Metal parts

Other
rotating parts

Shafts
Prismatic
Components

Assembly & Test

Product A

Housings

Assembly & Test

Product B

Assembly & Test

Product C

Dedicated Manufacturing Support for the products

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Layout redesign to minimise complexity

in Intermittent flow: An example

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Intermittent Flow System

Sources of Problems

A bad choice on structure & people issues

Leads to
Complicated Material & Information Flows
Thereby
Making Production Planning & Control Complex
Which Demands
Special mechanisms to bring order out of chaos

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Special Mechanisms

To bring order out of Chaos

Lot of paper work
Enormous supervision/Co-ordination
Progress Chasing/Expedition
All these finally result in
Long Lead Times/Poor Delivery Reliability
Excess and Unwanted Inventory
High Overhead/High Cost

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Jumbled Flow System

Occurs on account of non-standard and complex flow
patterns characteristic in certain systems
Highly customised items
customer orders for one or a few

Examples
turnkey project executor such as BHEL or L&T
customised manufacturing systems such as PCB
fabricators, sheet metal fabricators, tool room operators
and printing and publishing

Operational complexity arising out of jumbled flow is high

Discrete manufacturing with Jumbled flow uses a Job
Shop structure

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Process flow in Job Shops

Machine
1

Machine
3
Machine
6

Job 1

Job 3

Machine
4
Machine
7

Machine
2
Machine
5

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Job 2

Jumbled Flow System

Complex issue is capacity management
Considerable time is lost due to repeated setup
of processes

Due to jumbled flow, crisscrossing of jobs

in the system results in poor visibility.
Problems are often hidden and build up of work
in process inventory takes place

Cost accounting and estimation systems

are crucial as there is a constant need to
quote for specific customer orders

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Process design for operations

Salient feature of alternative choices
Flow
Characteristics

Continuous

Intermittent

Jumbled

Product
Characteristics

High Volume, Very low

variety

Mid volume, Mid variety

Very high variety, low

volume

Examples of
production
systems

Process Industry, Mass

production systems in
discrete manufacturing

Batch production in
Process and discrete
manufacturing

Project Organisations,
Tool Rooms, General
purpose fabricators

Issues of
importance

Flow Balancing,
Maintenance, Capacity
utilization and
debottlenecking,
Vertical integration

Manufacturing system
and layout design,
Changeover
management, Capacity
planning and estimation

Capacity Estimation,
Scheduling, Production
Control, Cost
estimation

Operations
Management
Tools &
Techniques

Line Balancing,
Maintenance
management, Process
optimisation, Product
layout design, Flow
shope scheduling, Pull
type scheduling, Single
piece flow design

Forecasting, Capacity
Planning and
estimation, Optimized
production planning and
product sequencing,
Group Technology
layout design, Materials
Management

Project Management &

Scheduling, Capacity
planning and
optimization, Job shop
scheduling, Functional
Layout design, Job
order costing, Work in
Process Management

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Product Process Matrix

Low Volume
Low Standardisation
One of a kind
Jumbled
Flow
(Job Shop)

Few Major Products

Higher Volume

High Volume
High Standardisation
Commodity Products

None

Satellite Launch
Vehicle

Disconnected
Line Flow
(Batch)

Machine Tools

Connected Line
Flow (Assembly
Line)

Continuous
Flow

Multiple Products
Low Volume

Auto electric
parts

None

Polyethylene

Source: Adapted from Hayes, R.H. and Wheelright, S.C., (1979), Link manufacturing process and product life cycles, Harvard Business Review, 57 (1), 133 140.

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Layout Planning
Layout planning in manufacturing & service
organisations
deals with physical arrangement of various resources
that are available in the system
with an objective to improve the performance of the
operating system

Benefits of good layout design

Jobs in a manufacturing system travel lesser distance

Customers spend less time in service systems
Costs & Lead time come down
Improved quality

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Types of Layout
Process Layout

arrangement of resources on the basis of the process

characteristics of the resources available

Product Layout

order in which the resources are placed follow exactly the

visitation sequence dictated by a product

Group Technology (GT) Layout

seeks to exploit commonality in manufacturing and uses this as

the basis for grouping components and resources

Fixed Position Layout

emphasis is not so much on optimum position of resources

required for the process, since the product itself largely
dictates this; the focus is on gaining better control of material
flow and reducing delays

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Volume Variety Flow

Implications for layout planning
Variety
Very low
variety

Medium
Variety

High
Variety

One off
execution

Flow
attributes

Stream lined
flow

Multiple flow
paths

Disorganised
flow

Jumbled flow

Volume
attributes

High Volume

Mid-volume

Low volume

One piece

Process
industry; Mass
Product/
Service
provider

Batch
Manufacturing
firms

Job shops;
Customized
Product/
Service
Provider

Project
Shops

Line Layout;
Product Layout

Group
Technology
Layout

Process
Layout

Fixed
Position
Layout

Examples of
operating
systems
Types of
layout used

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Process Layout
An example
Product A
Product B
Product C

L
L
M
M

L
L

L
L

L
L

M
M

D
G

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Product Layout
An example
L

Product A

Product B

Product C

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Alternative Layouts
An example from Banking

APPENDIX
APPENDIX
3 B3 B

Bank A

LAYOUT - INDUSIND BANK

APPENDIX 3 A

ENTRY
ENTRY

LAYOUT- STATE
- STATE
BANK
LAYOUT
BANK
OFOF
MYSORE
MYSORE

Bank B

ENTRY

FOREX DIVISION

BILLS

MANAGER

BILLS

MANAGER

WAITING
AREA

KITCHEN

COMMUNICATIONS
ROOM

RECEIVING

STRONG
ROOM

STRONG
ROOM

CASH COUNTERS

DY.
MANAGER

REST ROOMS

RECEPTIONIST
SECY.

PAYING

PAYING
RECEIVING
CASH COUNTERS

DY.
MANAGER
COMPUTER
ROOM

CREDIT
OPERATIONS

CREDIT

CURRENT
A/C &
OTHERS

RECORDS
ROOM

OPERATIONS
CONFERENCE
ROOM

MGR.
OPS

CURRENT
A/C &
OTHERS

RECORDS
ROOM

VICE PRESIDENT

LUNCH
ROOM

MGR.
CREDIT

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2

LUNCH
ROOM
nd

COMPUTER
ROOM

UPS
LOANS
&ADVANCES

FIXED
DEPOSITS

Edition Pearson Education FIXED

UPS

Product & Process Layout

Pros & Cons

Process Layout

Advantages

Product Layout

Sharing of specialized
and costly equipments

Standardised product/
process routing

More flexibility

Operational Control is
simpler

Less vulnerable to
breakdowns

High output rate is

possible

Low tolerance for

Large Inventory buildup breakdowns
Disadvantages

Operational control
difficult

Duplication of
equipments leading to
high cost

Excess Material
Handling

Less flexibility due to

dedication of resources

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Group Technology Layout

An example

Cell 1

Cell 2

L
Cell 4

M
Cell 3

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Fixed Position Layout

Example from Thermax

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Layout Design

Performance implications
Product
Line
Product A
Product B
Product C
Product D

Total Distance
Travelled
(in meters)
375,655
415,125
288,710
297,110

Number of
items
Manufactured*
1080
757
301
405

Average
Distance
per item
347.83
548.38
959.17
733.60

* The total distance travelled includes only those of the items manufactured on the
shop floor. The number of items that finally get assembled into the final product
includes many bought out items in addition to these.

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Layout Design

Performance Measures
Performance Measure

Basis for measurement

Distance travelled by jobs in the shop

floor

Kg - Metres of job movement for each

product

Space utilization index

Minimum space required to actual space

utilised

Material Handling costs

Rupees per month

Lead time of the processes

Hours per average product

Investment in work-in-progress

Rupees per month

Inter-departmental moves

Number and quantum of interdepartmental moves

Utilisation of the resources

Percent to total capacity

Ease of production control

Number of job cards and control

documents generated; Size of the
progress chasing staff

Number of ownership changes

Number of times the responsibility for the

job changes hands

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Design of Process Layouts

Alternatives

Qualitative Method
Links some criteria to the closeness required between a
pair of resources
Computer packages such as ALDEP and CORELAP are
available

Quantitative Method
Uses some quantitative performance measures for
assessing the impact of a layout design
Seeks to arrive at the best layout design by optimising on
this performance measure
One of the popular method used in CRAFT

Performance evaluation models using computer

simulation techniques

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Design of process layouts

Qualitative method

Department 1

Value
A
E
I
O
U
X

Closeness
Absolutely necessary
Especially Important
Important
Ordinary closeness OK
Unimportant
Undesirable

Department 2

O
U

Department 3
Department 4
Department 5
Department 6

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

A
U
O

A
O
U
O

I
X
O

E
U

Design of Process Layout

Quantitative Method

Cij = Cost per unit of transporting a unit distance from

department i to department j
Fij = Inter-departmental flow between department i
and department j
Dij = Distance between department i and department
j
n = Number of departments to be laid out
n
n
The total cost of the plan is given by:
TC
Fij Dij C ij

i 1 j 1

One can model the above as a mathematical

programming problem with the objective function of
minimising the total cost of the plan

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Design of Product Layout

Several Mass Production Systems are in operation
today
Various sub-assemblies in a mass producer need to be
configured to match the production rate
Similarly, the final assembly stations also need to have
the required number of resources at each station to
meet the targeted demand

A product layout design

seeks to identify the minimum number of resources
required to meet a targeted production rate and the
order in which these resources are to be arranged
Technique employed for designing of product layout is
known as line balancing

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Line Balancing

Decisions & Trade-offs

Line balancing
A method by which the tasks are optimally combined
without violating precedence constraints and a certain
number of workstations designed to complete the tasks
Key decision variables are production rate, cycle time
and the number of workstations, which are inter-related
Solving the line balancing problem calls for striking the
right trade-off between increased production and better
utilisation of resources

Cycle time is the ratio of the available time to the

actual (desired) production rate

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Line Balancing

Some measures of interest

Available Time
Actual ( Desired ) Cycle Time
Actual ( Desired ) Pr oduction
Sum of all task times
Minimum No. of work stations required
Cycle Time
Sum of all task times
Average Re source Utilisation
Number of workstations * Cycle time

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Example 4.1.
A factory working in 2 shifts each of 8 hours produces
24,000 electric bulbs using a set of workstations. Using
this information compute the actual cycle time of the
plant operation.
There are 8 tasks required to manufacture the bulb. The
sum of all task times is equal to 12 seconds. How many
workstations are required to maintain this level of
production if combining of tasks into that many
workstations is a feasible alternative?

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Solution to example 4.1.

Available time = 2*8*60*60 = 57,600 seconds
Actual production = 24,000 electric bulbs
Therefore, using equation 8.2
Cycle time for each bulb is

57,600
seconds
2.4
24,000

This means that the factory is producing a bulb every 2.4

seconds.

12
5
2 .4
Therefore the tasks are to be split among the five
stations such that each workstation will have sum of
the task times to be 2.4 seconds.
No. of work stations required =

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Example 4.2.

Task
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

A computer manufacturer needs to design the assembly stations in the factory

where the cabinet housing the hard disk, motherboard and other accessories
are to be done. The factory currently works for one shift of 8 hours. The tasks,
their duration and their precedence relationships are given below:

Precedence relationship among the tasks

Duration
(seconds)
B
Assemble and position the base unit
70
Install Hard disk
80
Install Mother Board
40
A
C
Insert Ports
20
Install speaker
40
D
Connect relevant modules to mother board & Disk
30
Install controller
50
If the cycle time is 80 seconds, what will be the daily production of cabinets?
Visually inspect & close with a cover plate
50

Description

If the desired production rate is 320 cabinets per day, what is the maximum permissible cycle time?
E
What is the maximum and minimum number of workstations required to maintain this daily production
rate?
Design an assembly setup with 5 workstations and 6 workstations.

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Solution to example 4.2.

Total available time per day = 8*60*60 = 28,800 seconds

If the cycle time is 80 seconds, then

Daily production rate =

Since the desired production rate is only 320 cabinets, one can obtain
the maximum permissible cycle time for the assembly stations
Maximum Cycle Time =

Total Available Time 28,800

360
Cycle Time
80

Total Available Time

28,800

90 Seconds
Desired Pr oduction Rate
320

Minimum number of workstations is dictated by the maximum cycle

time permissible

Sum of all task times = 380 seconds

Minimum number of workstations =

380
4.22 5
90
Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Solution to example 4.2.

Design with 5 work stations

We assign tasks to the five workstations on the basis of the

following two criteria:

Workstation times should not exceed maximum permissible cycle

time of 90 seconds
The precedence relationships need to be honoured

Tasks
Assigned
Workstation
Times
Cycle time
Workstation
idle time
Workstation
utilization

Workstation
1
A,D

Workstation
2
B

Workstation
3
C,G

Workstation
4
E,F

Workstation
5
H

90

80

90

70

50

90
0

90
10

90
0

90
20

90
40

100%

89%

100%

78%

56%

Average Utilisation =

Sum of all task times

380

84.4%
No. of work stations *Cycle time 5 * 90

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Solution to example 4.2.

Design with 6 work stations
Work
station
1

Work
station
2

Work
station 3

Work
station 4

Work
station 5

Work
station 6

Tasks
Assigned

C,D

E,F

Workstation
Times

70

80

60

70

50

50

Cycle time

80

80

80

80

80

80

Workstation
idle time

10

20

10

30

30

Workstation
utilisation

87.5%

100%

75%

62.5%

62.5%

87.5%

Sum of all task times

380

79.2%
Average Utilisation =
No. of work stations * Cycle time 6 * 80
Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Design of GT Layout
Guiding Principles

The objective is one of sub-dividing an universe of machines

and components into sub-groups

Each sub-group of components form a part family and is

endowed with a corresponding sub-group of machines known as
machine groups
Each sub-group is referred to as a cell

GT layout design is done with a systematic analysis of a

machine-component incident matrix
Number of methods available for identifying sub-groups

Production Flow Analysis (PFA)

Clustering techniques
Matrix manipulation methods
Graph theory
Mathematical programming methods

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Machine Component Incident Matrix

Before Grouping

Machines

Components

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Machine Component Incident Matrix

After Grouping

Machines

Components

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Design of GT Layout

Rank Order Clustering Algorithm

1.
2.
3.

4.
5.

Read each row of the Machine Component Incidence

Matrix (MCIM) as a binary word. Rank the rows in the
descending order of the binary word.
If there is no change in the row order stop the
procedure. Otherwise go the next step.
Re-arrange the rows based on the ranking of the
rows. Read each column of the MCIM as a binary
word. Rank the columns in the descending order of
the binary word.
If there is no change in the column order stop the
procedure. Otherwise go the next step.
Re-arrange the columns based on the ranking of the
columns. Go to step 1.

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Rank Order Clustering Method

An example

Rearranged rows

Initial Matrix
A
B
C
D
E

1
0
0
1
0
1

2
0
1
0
1
0

3
1
1
0
1
0

4
0
0
1
0
1

5
1
0
0
1
0

6
0
1
0
0
1

C
E
B
D
A

1
1
1
0
0
0

4
1
1
0
0
0

6
1
0
1
0
0

3
0
0
1
1
1

2
0
0
1
1
0

5
0
0
0
1
1

Final Solution

E
C
D
B
A

1
1
1
0
0
0

2
0
0
1
1
0

3
0
0
1
1
1

4
1
1
0
0
0

5
0
0
1
0
1

6
1
0
0
1
0

C
E
D
B
A

1
1
1
0
0
0

4
1
1
0
0
0

6
1
0
0
1
0

3
0
0
1
1
1

2
0
0
1
1
0

5
0
0
1
0
1

Rearranged columns

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

One man multiple machine layout

An example from Lucas TVS

Lathe

Press

4 way
Drill
SS
Drill

4 way
Drill

Press

Bench
Lathe
Manfg. Lead time
Manpower
Transfer batch
Space (sq. ft)

Old layout
300 minutes

Revised layout
2 minutes
5
2
150
1
150
120

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

SS
Drill
Bench

Flexible Manufacturing System

Definition

A Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) is

A system consisting usually of numerical control (NC)
machines
Connected by an automated material handling system.
Operated under a central computer control
Capable of simultaneously processing a family of parts
with low to medium demand, different process cycles
and operation sequences

It is an attempt to solve the process complexities

arising out of mid-volume and mid-variety parts

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Typical Machines used in FMS

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Structure of an FMS
System Controller
Load
Unload

Primary
MHS

Machine
Tools

Information flow

Secondary
MHS

Auxiliary
Equipment

Material flow

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Flexibilities in FMS
Machine flexibility: the ease of making changes required to
produce a given set of part types
Process flexibility or mix flexibility: the ability to produce a
given set of part types, each possibly using different materials
in several ways
Product flexibility: the ability to produce a new set of products
very economically and quickly
Routing flexibility: is the ability to handle breakdowns and to
continue processing the given set of part types
Volume flexibility: is a measure of the ability to operate an FMS
profitably at different production volumes
Expansion flexibility: is the capability of building a system, and
expanding it as need arises, easily and in a modular fashion

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Material Handling in FMSs

An automated storage system is used for large scale
bulk storage as well as for small in line buffer storage
Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS)
Horizontal & Vertical Carousels

An automated transport system is used to move

parts and products from the storage systems to the
production operations
Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) system
Conveyors in a wide variety of forms such as overhead,
monorail, carry and free, power and free and under
floor drag chain
Gantry and Pick & Place Robots

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Complexity of Operations Management

Some indicators
Fewer Variety in
Products, Models
Processes, Routing
Technology Choices

Many Variety in
Products, Models
Processes, Routing
Technology Choices

Fewer Stages
in Production

Continuous
Flow

Many Stages
in Production

Intermittent
Flow

Low
Complexity
Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Jumbled
Flow
High
Complexity

Design of Manufacturing Processes

Chapter Highlights

Volume, variety and flow exert significant influence on process

design in organizations.
Process industries and mass production systems generally
have a streamlined flow of products.
Mid-volume and mid-variety manufacturing systems have
intermittent flow. Capacity estimation is difficult in such
systems compared to a continuous flow systems.
Project organizations & customized manufacturing systems
have jumbled flow. Capacity estimation and scheduling of jobs
are quite difficult. Operations management complexity is high
in jumbled flow systems.
A process product matrix depicts the relationship between
process flow characteristics and volume of production in any
manufacturing organization.

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Design of Manufacturing Processes

Chapter Highlights

Volume, variety and flow exert significant influence on the

layout problem in organizations.

Product layouts are useful for high volume low variety

situations.
At the other extreme, fixed position and project layouts are
useful for high variety situations.

Product layout and process layouts are used in discrete

manufacturing industry. They have several advantages and
disadvantages.
Mid-volume and mid-variety manufacturing systems can
benefit from a Group Technology (GT) layout.
Several computer packages are available for designing
process layouts. Popular among them include CORELAP,
ALDEP COFAD and CRAFT.

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education

Design of Manufacturing Processes

Chapter Highlights

Product layout design seeks to identify the minimum number of

resources required to meet a targeted production rate and the
tasks to be assigned to each of these resources using a
technique called line balancing.
GT layouts are designed with the objective of sub-dividing a
universe of machines and components into sub-groups such that
each sub-group consists of part families and machine groups.
New technology manufacturing such as Flexible Manufacturing
Systems (FMS) have the potential to simplify flow complexities
in mid-volume, mid-variety manufacturing organizations due to
increased flexibility.
Volume, variety & flow characteristics determine the complexity
of operations management. By a careful design of the process,
some of the complexities can be minimized.

Mahadevan (2010), Operations Management: Theory & Practice, 2nd Edition Pearson Education