Various Manufacturing Systems

Analysis of single station systems (continued)

Number of workstations required (continued)
• If the workload includes multiple parts or product styles that can all be produced on the same type of
workstation, then the following summation can be used:
WL = Σ Qj Tcj
where Qj = quantity of part or product style j produced during the period (pc), Tcj = cycle time of part
or product style j (hr / pc), and the summation includes all of the parts or products to be made during
the period.
• In step (2), the workload is divided by hours available on one station; that is
n = WL / AT
where n = number of workstations, and AT = available time on one station in the period (hr / period).
• There are several factors present in real life manufacturing systems that complicate the computation
of the number of workstations.
• These factors include:
•Setup time in batch production. During setup, the workstation is not producing.
•Availability. This is a reliability factor that reduces the available production time.
•Utilization. Workstations may not be fully utilized due to scheduling problems, lack of work for a
given machine type, workload imbalance among workstations, and other reasons.
•Worker efficiency. This occurs when the work is highly manual, and the worker performs either
below or above standard performance for the given task.
•Defect rate. The output of the manufacturing system may not be 100% good quality. Defective
units are produced at a certain fraction defect rate. This must be accounted for by increasing the
total number of units produced.
 Various Manufacturing Systems
Analysis of single station systems (continued)
Number of workstations required (continued)
• These factors affect how many workstations or workers are required to accomplish a given
workload.
• They influence either the workload or the amount of time available at the workstation during the
period of interest.
• Setup time in batch production occurs between batches because the tooling and fixturing must be
changed over from the current part style to the next part style, and the equipment controller must be
reprogrammed.
• Time is lost when no parts are produced (except perhaps trial parts to check out the new setup and
the program).
• Yet it consumes available time at a workstation.
• Availability and utilization tend to reduce the available time on the workstation.
• The available time becomes the actual clock time in the period multiplied by availability and
utilization.
• In equation form,
AT = T A U
where AT = available time (hr), T = actual clock time during the period (hr), A = availability, and U =
utilization.
• A and U are expressed as decimal fractions.
 Various Manufacturing Systems
Analysis of single station systems (continued)
Number of workstations required (continued)
• Worker efficiency is defined as the number of work units actually completed by the worker in a given
period divided by the number of units that would be produced at standard performance.
• If standard performance is 40 pieces per 8 hr shift, and the worker actually produces 48 pieces
during the shift, then the worker’s efficiency is 48/40 = 1.20 or 120%.
• An efficiency greater than 1.00 reduces the workload, while an efficiency less than 1.00 increases
the workload.
• Worker efficiency is a factor in manned systems but can be neglected in automated systems.
• Defect rate is the fraction of parts produced that are defective.
• A defect rate greater than 0 increases the quantity of workunits that must be processed in order to
yield the desired quantity.
• If a process is known to produce parts at a certain average scrap rate, then the starting batch size is
increased by a scrap allowance to compensate for the defective parts that will be made.
• The relationship between the starting quantity and the quantity produced is the following:
Q = Q0 (1 – q)
where Q = quantity of good units made in the process, Q0 = original or starting quantity, and q =
fraction defect rate.
• Thus if we want to produce Q good units, we must process a total of Q0 starting units, which is
Q0 = Q / (1-q)
• The combined effect of worker efficiency and fraction defect rate is given in the following equation,
which amends the workload formula:
WL = Q Tc / {Ew (1-q)}
where Ew = worker efficiency, expressed as a fraction, and q = fraction defect rate.
 Various Manufacturing Systems
Analysis of single station systems (continued)
Machine clusters
• When the machine in a single workstation does not require the continuous attention of a worker
during its semi-automatic machine cycle, an opportunity exists to assign more than one machine to
the worker.
• The workstation is still classified as type I M because operator attention is required every work cycle.
• However, manning level of the workstation is reduced from M = 1 to M = 1/n where n = machines
assigned to the worker.
• This kind of machine organization is referred to as the machine cluster.
• A machine cluster is defined here as a collection of two or more machines producing parts or
products with identical cycle times and is serviced (usually loaded and unloaded) by one worker.
• Machine clusters are classified as type I systems, whereas machine cells are classified as type II.
• Several conditions must be satisfied to organize a collection of machines into a machine cluster:
(1) the semi-automatic machine cycle is long relative to the service portion of the cycle that requires
the worker’s attention
(2) the semi-automatic machine cycle time is the same for all the machines
(3) the machines that the worker would service are located in close enough proximity to allow time to
walk between them
(4) the work rules of the plant permit a worker to service more than one machine.
 Various Manufacturing Systems
Analysis of single station systems (continued)
Machine clusters (continued)
• Consider a collection of single workstations, all producing the same parts and operating on the
same semi-automatic machine cycle time.
• Each machine operates for a certain portion of the total cycle under its own control Tm (machine
cycle), and then it requires servicing by the worker which takes time Ts.
• Thus assuming the worker is always available when servicing is needed, so that the machine is
never idle, the total cycle time of a machine is Tc = Tm + Ts.
• If more than one machine is assigned to the worker, a certain amount of time will be lost because of
walking from one machine to the next, referred to here as the repositioning time Tr.
• The time required for the operator to service one machine is therefore Ts + Tr and the time to service
n machines is n(Ts + Tr).
• For the system to be perfectly balanced in terms of worker time and machine cycle time,
n(Ts + Tr) = (Tm + Ts)
• We can determine from this the number of machines that should be assigned to one worker by
solving for n:
n = (Tm + Ts) / (Ts + Tr)
where n = number of machines, Tm = machine semi-automatic cycle time (min), Ts = worker service
time per machine (min), and Tr = worker repositioning time between machines (min).
• It is likely that the calculated value of n will not be an integer, which means that the worker time in
the cycle, that is n(Ts + Tr) cannot be perfectly balanced with the cycle time Tc of the machines.
 Various Manufacturing Systems
Analysis of single station systems (continued)
Machine clusters (continued)
• However, actual number of machines in the manufacturing system must be an integer, so either the
worker or the machine will experience some idle time.
• The number of machines will either be the integer that is greater than n or it will be an integer that is
less than n.
• We can determine which of the alternatives is preferable by introducing cost factors into the
analysis.
• Let CL = labour cost rate and Cm = machine cost rate (certain overheads may be applicable to these
rates).
• The decision will be based on the cost per work unit produced by the system.
 Various Manufacturing Systems
Analysis of single station systems (continued)
Machine clusters (continued)

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