INSTITUTION: KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL: ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

UNIT CODE: EMM 508

UNIT NAME: FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM

LECTURER: ENG TIROP

ASSIGNMENT

GROUP 3 MEMBERS:

CYNTHIA ANYANGO J79/5663/2016

INNOCENT OICHOE J79/3789/2016

PATRICK KIBET J79/5665/2016

ISMAIL KHAMIS J79/5634/2016

SAMSON OWITI J79/5624/2015

KIPKOECH BWALEI J79/5648/2016

QUESTION 1

Design modes of manufacturing systems

(i) Unit/ Job type production

This type of production concentrates on a single unit of production. For example tailoring. It
deals with customization of products.It is also used by premium companies for example Dell. It
depends mostly on the skills of the workers/operators. Customer satisfaction is very vital.

(ii) Batch type production

Used commonly in consumer durables e.g; LG. It has many different types of appliances in its
portfolio. It manufactures variants of different types of products. The production is done in
batches and the total number of units is required before the production is started. Once the
production starts it doesn't stop because if it does the costs of production would increase.

(iii) Mass production

Mostly used in automobile industries. It focuses on specialization and has multiple installed work
stations. It does not depend on demand and it is only used for standardized parts. It requires a
huge initial capital and commitment.

(iv) Continuous production

In this type of production the products are produced 24/7 until the machine breaks down. In mass
production, both machines and humans work together whereas in continuous production the
production is continuous 24/7 all days of the year non-stop. For example; a brewing company.

QUESTION 2

Analysis of performance of manufacturing system.

In the design and operation of an FMS that involves numerous concurrent interactions,
performance modelling and evaluation/analysis play an important role. It involves computing
performance measures such as machine utilization, production rate of parts and waiting times
using a performance model. Some of the prominent tools used in performance analysis are;

i. Markov models

ii. Discrete event simulation

iii. Queeing networks

iv. Petrinets. These include;

 a. Deterministic timed petrinets

b. Generalised stochastic petrinets.

QUESTION 3

1. Explain your understanding of preventive maintenance.

Preventive maintenance is the regular and routine maintenance of equipment and assets in order
to keep them running and prevent any costly unplanned downtime from unexpected equipment
failure. A successful maintenance strategy requires planning and scheduling maintenance of
equipment before a problem occurs. It also involves keeping records of past inspections and the
servicing of the equipment. There are two types i.e time based and usage based maintenance
strategies.

2. Elements/Features of preventive maintenance

i. Inspection. This is very important to periodically inspect the total state of assets to
determine their availability.

ii. Servicing. This includes cleaning, lubricating, charging, etc.

iii. Calibration. It involves periodically determining the value of characteristics of an asset.

iv. Testing. It involves checking to ascertain serviceability, and also to detect the
components characteristics degradation.

v. Alignment. This include making some changes of an asset's specified variable elements.

vi. Adjustment. This refers to the periodically tweaking of specified variable.

vii. Installation. Involves replacing the broken down parts.

3. Importance of preventive maintenance

i. Enhances capital assets productive.

ii. Minimizes machine failure.

iii. Promotes total health and safety of maintenance.

4. Preventive maintenance Schedule

Effective preventive maintenance schedule requires taking inventory, careful planning, research
and establishing a maintenance routine that is easy to understand and facilitate. The steps to
create a preventive maintenance schedule are;

i. Prioritize assets by maintenance needs. Make a list of the company's most critical
equipment and start the schedule with them.

ii. Collect historical data about each asset. Gather data about all the work orders and
unplanned downtime that each asset went through.

iii. Make projections about assets maintenance needs.

iv. Put together the initial preventive maintenance plan.

v. Verify progress and adjust as needed.

vi. Expand your preventive maintenance program.