Analysis and Management

of Production Systems
Lesson 03: Working sequence

Prof. Giulia Bruno

Department of Management and

Production Engineering

giulia.bruno@polito.it
Working sequence

Given two work centers (resources), such that one will receive parts to be
processed from the other, the following situations could occur:

➢ the part is obtained by removing material or by deformation of its own shape,

that means trough a Manufacturing Operation

➢ the part is obtained by connecting two or more, trough some devices (e.g.
bolts) or other material (e.g. glue), thus obtaining a new part, that means trough
an Assembling Operation

In the first case, a Manufacturing Operation will correspond to a single connection

between two work centers, thus the Manufacturing Operation can be associated to
an Elementary Operation

In the second case, an Assembling Operation is represented as set of links, thus, it

can be associated to a set of Elementary Operations
Working sequence

A working sequence is a chronological sequence of production

operations

It is implicitly contained in the product tree, because its edge is

connected with a work phase

From the Map of Operations, it is possible to recognize the precedence

between the operations: this is used to define the Working sequence

After being defined, the working sequence can be represented on a time

chart (Gantt chart)
Working sequence

From the graph representation, the first step it’s to assign an index
n=1,2,… to every elementary operation, i.e., the oriented pair (i,j)

The graph edges are progressively numbered and every operation

correspond to a component pair (i,j).

A
CA A
5 CA

1
B
B 4
PF 6
CC PF
CC 3
C
7
C
2

CB
CB
Working sequence

The Map of Operations is rewritten including the number of the operations

instead of “1”  every number correspond to a different operation

A 5 To
CA

1
B 4 PF CA CB CC A B C
6 PF
PF
CC 3
CA 1
7
C
2 CB 2
MO = From CC 3 4
CB A 5
B 6
C 7

In the following, the further steps to derive the Working sequence are
described
Working sequence

Step 1: Starting from each leaf (raw material), list the sequence of nodes till the root
node (final product): this form the Map of path (MP)

To
A
5 CA

1 PF CA CB CC A B C
B 4 PF
6
3 PF CA 1
CC
CB 2
7
C
2 From CC 3 4
MO = A 5
B 6
CB
C 7

A CA PF A CA PF The position of a
given operation (i.e.,
B CC CA PF
MP = B CC CA PF pair of elements) in
C CC CA PF C CC CA PF its path is denoted as
CB PF CB PF Work phase

Work Work
phase 1 Work phase 3
phase 2
Working sequence

Step 2: List all links between pairs of components together with the operation
numbers and the corresponding work phase (position inside the path): this form the
S: paths
Table of (TP)without any downstream node (see node A in Figure)
root nodes,

I: intermediate nodes, i.e. with both upstream nodes and downstream ones

A CA PF
A 5 CA B CC CA PF
1 C CC CA PF
B 4 CB PF
6
PF
CC 3
Work Work
7 phase 1 Work
C
2 phase 2
phase 3

Elementary
CB operation Work phase
1 CA,PF 3
2 CC,PF 3
3 CB,PF 3
TP = 4 CC,CA 2
5 A,CA 2
6 B,CC 1
7 C,CC 1
Working sequence

Step 3: Represent the list of operations and the corresponding work phase in a table
as a Gantt chart: this is the Working sequence of the Elementary Operations
S: root nodes, without any downstream node (see node A in Figure)

I: intermediate nodes, i.e. with both upstream nodes and downstream ones

Elementary Work Elementary Work phase

operation phase operation 1 2 3
1 CA,PF 3 1 CA,PF
2 CC,PF 3 2 CC,PF
3 CB,PF 3 3 CB,PF
4 CC,CA 2 4 CC,CA
5 A,CA 2 5 A,CA
6 B,CC 1 6 B,CC
7 C,CC 1 7 C,CC
Working sequence

The obtained table is NOT the final result, because it represents only sequences of
Elementary Operations
In the enterprise, only the Production operations are defined, i.e., the operations
performed by working machines and controlled by operators
Working sequence

Step 4: derive the Working Sequence of the Production Operations by computing the
Correspondences Matrix (CM) among Production Operations and Elementary
Operations

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
PO1 1 1 CM(i,j)= 1 if PO(i)
CM = PO2 1 1 includes OE(j)
PO3 1 1 1
Working sequence

The Correspondence matrix can be represented as the Graph of Production

operations, in which each node is a Production Operation and each edge is a Product
Component

PO2 AC
B
PO3
CC
PO1

BC
Working sequence

Step 5: Finally, using the Graph of Production Operations, it is possible to represent

the Table of Production Operations versus Work Phases, that is the Professional Work
Sequence of Production Operations

Production Work phase

operation 1 2 3
PO3
PO2
PO1
Graph of resources

By using
- the Graph of Production Operations
- the Working Sequence
- the matrices describing the Product Tree
- the list of Resources, each Resource able to execute one or more Production
Operations
the Graph of Production Operations has to be transformed into the Graph
of Resources

The graph is denoted as the Preliminary Layout

Graph of resources

List of Resources
Graph of production operations
Production
Resource Description operation
R1 Assembly CC PO1
Assembly
R2 CA, PF PO2, PO3

PO1 PO2 PO3

R1 1
R2 1 1
Matrix Resources/Production
operations

Work phase
Resource 1 2 3
R1
Graph of resources R2

Final Gantt (working sequence for

resources)
Preliminary layout

Graph of resources with buffers for collecting waiting items

before the resources

AC
A

R2 PF
B
CC
R1

BC
Example

Starting from the following information of the “Barbeque” product, define

the Elementary Operation graph, the Map of Paths, the corresponding
Table of Paths, the MC matrix, the Graph of production operations, the
working sequence, the graph of resources and the final Gantt
Column Description New code
PF Final assembly PO6
PA Plate bearing PO5
assembly
GV Side panel painting PO4
GC Leg painting PO3
SF Sheet cutting PO2
G Steel bar cutting PO1

Resource Description Production

operations
R1 Steel cutting PO1
R2 Sheet cutting PO2
R3 Painting PO3, PO4
R4 Assembly PO5, PO6
Example

Graph of Elementary operations, Map of paths, Table of paths

and Working sequence of the elementary operations
Example

Correspondence matrix, graph of production operations and

final Working sequence

PO1 PO3

PO5 PO6

PO2 PO4
Example

Matrix Resources/Production operations, Graph of resources

and Gantt with resources
Work phase
PO1 PO2 PO3 PO4 PO5 PO6
Resource 1 2 3 4
R1 1
R1
R2 1
R2
R3 1 1
R3
R4 1 1
R4

PA
P AG GV
R1 PF
R3 R4

L CG
R2
SF
Exercise

Repeat the previous example for the Shelf product

Column Description New code

ARM Final assembly PO1
PANLAT Cut side panel PO2
PANA Cut rear panel PO3
PROFIL Cut profile PO4
ETA Assembly rack PO5
PLET Cut rack PO6

Resource Description Production

operations
R1 Cutting rack PO6
R2 Cutting profile PO4
R3 Cutting panel PO2, PO3
R4 Assembly PO5, PO1
B0IS003 (0.25)
Recap example

Product Description & Product Tree

Final Product
(PF)

Abat-jour without
electrical circuit (BCF)

Lamp post Electric circuit

(BC) (AD)

Base Stem
(C) (B)

Lamp Wire (D) Lamp

Switch Rough base Wood rod shade Holder (A)
(E) (RB) (WR) (F)
Recap example

List of operation functions and of resources

n Operation Functions Resource Task to be executed

F1 Base cutting and turning

R1 Base cutting and turning

F2 Stem cutting and turning

R2 Stem cutting and turning

F3 Lamp post assembling R3 Lamp post assembling

Electric circuit
F4 R4 Electric circuit assembling
assembling

F5 Product assembling R5 Product assembling

Recap example

Map of elementary operations with indication of production operations

PF E BCF AD BC F C B RB WR D A
PF
E F5/b
BCF F5/b
AD F5/b
BC F5/a
F F5/a
C F3
B F3
RB F1
WR F2
D F4
A F4

F5 Function it’s composed by two Elementary Operations (F5/a and

F5/b) because there are two product assembly in the product tree
Recap example

Graph of production operations

C
RB F1
BC
F3
B
WR BCF PF
F2 F 5/a F 5/b
F

D
AD
F4
A

E
Recap example

Map pf elementary operations with resource information

PF E BCF AD BC F C B RB WR D A
PF
E R5
BCF R5
AD R5
BC R5
F R5
C R3
B R3
RB R1
WR R2
D R4
A R4
Recap example

Graph of resources = Preliminary functional layout scheme

RB
C
R1
BC
R3
B
WR PF
R2
Operative BCF
R5 R5
F

D
AD
R4
A

26
Recap example

Preliminary functional layout scheme with buffer

RB
C
R1
BC
R3
B
WR
R5/a PF
R2
R5/b
F

D BCF
AD
R4
A