° eS crema ae SHOP FLOOR CONTROL 4.1 INTRODUCTION Shop floor control deals with managing the work-in-process. This consists of the release of Production orders to the factory controlling the progress of the orders through the various work- Stations, and getting the current information of the status of the orders. This can be shown in the form of a factory information system (Figure 4.1). The input to the shop floor control system is the collection of production plans. These can be in the form of master schedule, manufacturing capacity planning, and MRP data. Master Schedule Mfg. Database ‘Mfg. MRP Data Capacity Planning. Figure 4.1 Factory information system. The factory production operations are the processes to be controlled. A typical shop floor control system consists of three phases. In a computer integrated manufacturing system, these Phases are managed by computer software. These three phases connected with the production management are shown in Figure 4.2. In today’s implementation of shop floor control, these are executed by a combination of computers and human resources. The following sections describe the important activities connected with this task.Shop Floor Control 69 ofits Tee Shop Floor Control module provides the tracking mechanism that allows reporting of actual zvents from the production environment. By comparing planned (standard) events to actual nts, variances can be identified. This variance reporting delineates inefficiencies and cost =verruns in a timely manner, which allows corrective action to be taken immediately. The system ovides management control over the material, capacity, costs, and productivity functions, nich are critical to any manufacturing operation. 4.2 SHOP FLOOR CONTROL FEATURES The Shop Floor Control module features comprehensive production management information on ne. The information includes: + Current status + Material cost details + Labour cost/time details * Work centre cost, time and step details + Miscellaneous cost details The system maintains the materials ledger by lot (if desired) and provides for the reporting of partial of full completion of production, the reporting of work centre movement, the capture of work centre costs, the transfer of costs, the transfer of parts job-to-job, optional kitting of material to jobs or automated back flushing, the creation of pick of value-added costs. The Shop Floor Control module is fully integrated with the General Ledger, Production Planning, Work Centres, Routings, Inventory Management, Purchasing, Payroll, and the Bill of Materials modules. s, and the direct management 4.3 MAJOR DISPLAYS + Job Status Summary + Pegging for this Job + Material Ledger + Work Centre Loading and Utilization Percentages + Labour Cost and Time Ledger + Workcentre Cost Ledger + Miscellaneous Cost Ledger + Schedule and Routing Display + Production Schedulers by Product Class 4.4 MAJOR REPORTS + Production + Traveller70 Computer Integrated Manufacturing + Pick List + Detailed Job Cost Report + Status Reports by Workcentre, Job, or Part + Production Variance Reports (Detail or Summary) + Pick List adjusted by Potency Factor 4.5 PHASES OF SFC A typical shop floor control system consists of three phases. In a computer integrated manufacturing system, these phases are managed by computer software. These three phases connected with the production management are shown in Figure 4.2. Parts List ‘Move Tickets Authorization To Produce ‘Material Sette Ta ead Rak Capacity Mfg. Data Release cee Base Conte oni Dispatch = ~— ist Exception Reports Progress Reports Factory Dats] reas Work Collection rogress = Status i Reports Shop Floor ane, Control Operators Figure 4.2 Phases in shop floor control. 4.5.1 Order Release The order release in shop floor control provides the documentation needed to process a production order. The documents in the shop floor order may consist of the following documents: 1. Route sheet 2. Material requisition to draw necessary materials from the stores 3. Job cards or other means to report direct labour time given to the orderShop Floor Control 71 4. Instructions to materials handling personnel to transport parts between the work centres in the factory 5. Parts list for assembly, in the case of assembly operations. Ina typical factory which works on manual processing of data, these documents move with production order and are used to track the progress through the shop. In a CIM factory, more automated methods are used to track the progress of the production orders. The order release is connected with two inputs. Authorization proceeds through the various slanning functions (MRP, capacity planning). These provide timing and scheduling information. ‘The engineering and manufacturing database provides the product structure and process planning information needed to prepare the various documents that accompany the order through the shop. 4.5.2 Order Scheduling This module assigns the production orders to various work centres, machine tools, welding stations, moulding machines, etc. in the plant. It follows directly from the order release module. Order scheduling executes the dispatch function in production planning and control. The order scheduling module prepares a dispatch list that indicates which production order should be accomplished at the various work centres. It provides the information on the relative priorities of the various jobs by showing the due dates for each job. By following the dispatch list in making work assignments and allocating resources to different jobs, the master schedule can be best achieved. The order schedule module addresses two important activities in shop floor production control. + Machine loading + Job sequencing Allocating the orders to the work centres is termed as machine loading or shop loading, which refers to the loading of all machines in the plant. In most cases, each work centre will have a queue of orders waiting to be processed. This queue problem can be solved by job sequencing which involves determining the order in which the jobs will be processed through a given work centre. To determine this sequence, priorities are given to jobs in the queue and the jobs are processed according to the priorities. Several queuing models are available in operations management to solve this problem. Such control of priorities is an important input to the order scheduling module. Rules to establish the priorities are: 1. Earliest due date: These are given high priority. 2. Shortest processing time: Shorter processing time orders are given high priority. 3. Least slack time: Orders with least slack time are given high priority. Fluctuations in market demand, equipment breakdown, cancellation of the order by customer, and defective raw material or delay in the receipt of materials affect the priority. The priority control plan reviews the relative priorities of the orders and adjusts the dispatch list accordingly.72__Computer Integrated Manufacturing 4.5.3 Order Progress The order progress module in the shop floor control system monitors the status of the various orders in the plant work-in-process (WIP) and other characteristics that indicate the progress and performance of production. The function of the order progress module is to provide the information that is useful in managing the factory, based on the data collected from the factory. The order progress report includes: 1. Work order status reports: These reports indicate the status of the production orders. Typical information in the report includes the current work centre where each order is located, processing hours remaining before completion of each order, whether the job is on-time or behind schedule, and the priority level. 2. Progress report: A progress report records the performance of the shop during the period of master schedule and reports the number of operations completed and not completed during the time period. 3. Exception reports: These reports bring out the deviations from the production schedule (e.g. overdue jobs). The above reports are useful to production management in making the decisions about allocation of resources, authorization of the overtime hours, and other capacity issues, and in identifying areas of problems in the plant that adversely affect the implementation of the master production schedule 4.6 MANUFACTURING CONTROL Manufacturing control provides information to efficiently manage flow of materials, effectively utilize human resource and equipment, coordinate internal activities with those of suppliers, and communicate with customers about market requirements. Another key use of CIM in the manufacturing enterprise is in Manufacturing Control. This includes all aspects of communication within the enterprise, which are necessary to control the manufacturing Processes: * Planning and supervizing activities at the upper (management) levels of the organization * Process monitoring and control and the lowest (production) levels of the organization Communication at and between these levels require different hardware, software and communication protocols to operate effectively. What they have in common is the requirement for open communication standards, generic hardware that is easily interconnected and scaled, user interaction and intervention, data collection, and system failure protection. At the factory management level, communication typically consists of exchanging files and packets of information within relatively close proximity. Communication standards such as Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP) and Technical Office Protocol (TOP), and token Protocols (such as CSMA/CD), to name the most common, operate over a variety of Local Area Network (LAN) configurations. While this does not need to be real-time data exchange, it does operate under heavy and continuous traffic and must be fast and reliable.: Shop Floor Control 73 C ~~ Shop Floor Control LS Shop Floor Shop Floor Shop Floor Computer Computer Computer Fieldbus Fieldbus Fieldbus I Controt_ ] [Control] [Control] [~Controt_|{ Control] [Control Computer || Computer | | Computer || Computer | | Computer Figure 4.3 The structure of a fully integrated computerized manufacturing enterprise. At the lowest level of manufacturing control is the shop floor. Shop floor control requires time communication that is fast, reliable, and can handle a wide variety of hardware and ‘software. There are a variety of proprietary communications standards for shop floor, but the ion ones including Profibus, InterBUS-S, and Manufacturing Message Service (MMS). Figure 4.4 Functional architecture for shop floor control.74 Computer Integrated Manufacturing Communication will be between microcomputers, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), smart sensors. The backbone of a shop floor system is typically a Fieldbus, a closed-loo twisted-paired wire backbone interconnecting the control/sensor hardware components allo information to be received, processed and downloaded. The aim of the project is the development of a generic concept for Shop Floor Control (Si in part manufacturing and assembly. SFC is an essential part of the overall production pl: and control task of a company responsible for the operational control of the manufac related activities. The manufacturing activities involve production activities, auxiliary resource managemes quality assurance, and technological planning (generation of technical information, required manufacture the products). The development of the SFC concept started in 1986 and is directe to both scientific research and the industrial application of the results. The project has a la interaction with the Workstation Control project. 4.7, METHODOLOGY Production planning and control in part manufacturing and assembly is mainly based on d hierarchical control principle. Four levels are distinguished in production planning and contra each characterized by a different time horizon and a specific task. On the highest control the Company Level, the client order entrance function and master production planning are carr out. The next lowest level, Factory Level, deals, amongst others, with capacity planning on ti basis of the available manufacturing resources. The following two levels are Cell and Stati Levels, which concern the operational planning and execution of all manufacturing activities. deals with Cell and Station Levels. Since these are the lowest levels in the hierarchy, importance of SFC in the overall performance of production control is obvious. The SFC concept is used to determine both how the manufacturing activities (which performed by human beings and equipment) have to be organized and how SFC systems, whic support the organization in the execution of the tasks, should be developed. An essential featu of the concept is that it addresses both the main and auxiliary tasks which have to be performe for the execution of the production jobs. The main tasks concer the actual manufacturing of the products. The auxiliary tasks deal with the preparation and the management of the auxili resources and the control of inspection tasks. The SFC concept is described by both a functional architecture and an information struct The functional architecture describes which functions have to be performed by SFC, wit specifying how these functions have to be realized, The realization of the functions depends on characteristics of the application environment. The functional architecture contains six modules distributed over 200 levels. The modules describe the planning, control and monitori functions required for an efficient, in time execution of the production jobs contained in a capacity plan. The Scheduling, Dispatching, Monitoring and Diagnostics Modules are allocated on Cell Level These modules control and monitor the job flow on the shop floor. The control of the execution of the production and auxiliary jobs on Station Level is carried out by the Workstatio Control and Auxiliary Station Control (ASC) Modules, respectively. The ASC module can be used for the control of the inspection tasks and the preparation, storage, and location management of tools, fixtures and measurement devices. The Virtual Station Concept of the Workstation Contra and Auxiliary Station Control Modules enables the development of SFC systems which can be applied independently of the level of automation of the manufacturing equipment.Shop Floor Control 75 4.8 APPLICATION A prototype SFC system, named FACT, has been implemented as an example of how such a system can be realized, The prototype has been installed in a machine shop for the evaluation of the functioning of the SFC concept, i.e. the control and monitoring of manufacturing activities based on a work plan. The evaluation has shown that the SFC system fulfils the requirements and criteria which are required for SFC in small batch part manufacturing. ‘The SFC system provides an information infrastructure on the shop floor which enables the time delivery of all the logistic and technical information required for the execution of the different manufacturing tasks. The SFC system provides both the adaptability to interface equipment controllers of different makes, and offers transparency to the users as regards the work that has to be carried out and the coordination between the different manufacturing activities. The installation of the SFC system in the machine shop has led to a significant reduction of the throughput times and the work-in-progress, without a decrease in the utilization of the machine tools. In addition, it has been shown that the due date reliability has been improved and a significant reduction of the manufacturing costs can be achieved. It has been proven that the functional architecture provides a structure which enables both an effective control of the manufacturing activities and an efficient use of the main and auxiliary resources, The real-world application of the SFC system has confirmed that SFC plays a crucial role in production planning and control in small batch part manufacturing. SFC enables companies to stay competitive in a market which has high demands as regards due date reliability, delivery times and prices. Further developments are directed towards the extension of the functionality of the SFC concept, the integration with higher level production planning and control functions, the interaction. with technological planning, and the application of the concept to other manufacturing types. 48.1 Simplified Manufacturing Planning and Control System Resource Production Demand Planning, Planning | Management} Waster Production Scheduling, Detailed Detailed Capacity +——} Material Planning Planning, q ‘Material and Capacity Plans ae ‘Shop floor Vendor Systems Systems ee Figure 4.5 Manufacturing planning and control system.76 Computer Integrated Manufacturing 4.8.2 I << 4.8.3 4.8.4 Inputs Manufacturing Planning and Control System Product description + Engineering drawings & specifications * Bill of Materials — Components used to make product — Sub-assemblies at various stages of manufacture Process specifications * Operations to make product + Sequence of those operations + Equipment & accessories required * Standard labour and machine time required for each operation Manufacturing operations + Time normally exceeds standards Available facilities Quantities required Manufacturing Planning Software CIRP Annals: articles on planning and planning software PART: Computer Aided Process Planning software created by Tecnomatix Machining Automation CIMx Home page: CAPP software Intergraph/CAPP: CAPP software from Sun Microsystems EASE CAPP Module: CAPP software from EASE Inc. Production Planning/CAP/Fine Planning: SAP's System R/3 software AMICS Shop Floor Control: AMICS manufacturing planning software Manufacturing Control Software Control Engineering On-line: on-line magazine with links to manufacturing control articles and software Hewlett-Packard CNC Controller: discussion on Hewlett-Packard’s latest “Open” CNC controller using Ethernet protocol and open architecture Sisco Communications: provides real-time communications solutions for MMS/Ethernet, Profibus, Foundation Fieldbus, UCA and ICCP Standards Organizations: pointers to standards organizations relating to Open Systems Interconnection technology as specified and supported by ISO, IEEE, MMS, and many others HART Protocol Home page: home page for HART protocol used for smart digital instruments and can be linked with fieldbus Shop Floor Control System: variety of links to articles and technical informationShop Floor Contro!_77 4.8.5 Cost of Inadequate MPC + Poor customer service + Excessive inventories * Inappropriate equipment or labour utilization * High rates of part obsolescence + Large numbers of expediters dedicated to “fighting fires” 4.8.6 MPC System Activities * Create the overall manufacturing plan. + Perform detailed planning for material and capacity requirements. + Execute those plans. + MPC systems should support strategy and tactics. * Different manufacturing processes often dictate the need for different MPC system designs. + Effective MPC system can contribute to competitive performance by lowering costs and improving market responsiveness. Framework for MPC is general, but all three phases must be performed by manufacturing. * MPC system's design will vary, depending on distinctive needs of firm and the state of its MPC system. 4.9 SHOP FLOOR DATA COLLECTION A number of data collection techniques are available to collect data from the shop floor. These techniques require the employees to gather the data and-later the data is compiled on a fully automated system that requires no human participation. These methods are identified by the term DP Floor Data Collection Systems. These data collection systems consist of various paper documents, terminals and automated devices located through the plant. The shop floor data collection system serves as an input to the order progress module in shop floor. Examples of the data collection in shop floor are: 1. Supplying data to the order progress module in the shop floor control system. 2. Providing up to date information to the production supervisors and production control personnel. 3. Enabling the management to monitor implementation of master schedule. To carry out these activities, the factory data collection system inputs the data to the computer system in the plant. 4.10 TYPES OF DATA COLLECTION SYSTEMS The shop floor data collection systems can be classified into two groups: + On-line data collection systems, * Off-line data collection systems.78 Computer integrated Manufacturing 4.10.1 On-line Data Collection Systems In an on-line system, the data are directly entered to the computer and are available to the order progress module. The advantage lies in the fact that the data file representing the status of the shop is always at the current state. As and when the changes in the order progress module are reported, they can be fed to computer and in turn to the status file. In this way, the production personnel are provided with most up to date information. 4.10.2 Off-line (batch) Data Collection Systems In this the data are collected temporarily in a storage device or a stand-alone computer system to be entered and processed by plant computer in a batch mode. In this mode, there is delay in the entry and processing of the data. The delay may vary depending upon the situation. So this system cannot provide real-time information of shop floor status. The advantage of this system is that it is easier to install and implement. 4.11 DATA INPUT TECHNIQUES As stated earlier, the data collection techniques include manual procedures and computer terminals located on the shop floor. The manual data collection methods require the production workers to fill out paper forms indicating the order progress data. These forms are compiled using a combination of clerical and computerization methods. ‘The manual data collection methods rely on the cooperation and accuracy of the employees to record a data properly on a paper. Errors may creep in this type of methods. The common form of errors that can be checked and rectified are wrong dates, incorrect numbers and incorrect operation numbers. These can be detected and corrected. There are, however, other errors which are difficult to identify. ‘Another problem is that there may be a delay in submitting the order progress for compiling. The reason is that there will be always a time between the time of occurrence of events and the recording of events. These problems necessitate the location of the data collection equipment in the factory itself. The various input techniques include manual input by push-button pads or keyboards. Error checking routines can be incorporated to detect the syntax errors in the input. The data entry methods also include more automated technologies, such as bar code reader, and magnetic card readers. ‘An important type of equipment used in shop floor data entry is keyboard based system. There are various types of such systems. They are discussed in the following sections. 4.11.1 Centralized Terminal A single terminal is located centrally in the shop floor. This requires the employees to go to the terminal and input the data. So employee's time will be wasted and in a big shop, this becomes inconvenient.Shop Floor Control_ 79 4.11.2 Satellite Terminals These are multiple data collection centres located throughout the shop floor. In this arrangement a balance is to be struck between the minimization of the investment cost and maximization of the convenience of the employees in the plant. 4.11.3 Work Centre Terminals ‘The most convenient arrangement to the employees is to have a data collection terminal at each work centre. This reduces the time to go to me central terminal. This is possible when the amount of data to be collected is very large. 4.12 AUTOMATIC DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM The recent trend in industry towards use of more automation necessitates automated data collection methods. Although the term automation is used, in many techniques the human participation is unavoidable. The advantages of the automatic data collection methods are: + The accuracy of data collected increases, + The time required by the workers to make the data entry can be reduced. The basic elements in a data collection systems are: + Machine readable media + Terminal configuration * Software for data collection. Machine readable media * Typical machine readable media include + Bar Code Technology + Optical Character Recognition (OCR) + Magnetic Ink Character + Voice Recognition (VR) + Magnetic Strip Technology Smart Cards 4.12.1 Bar Code Technology Bar code technology is primarily an automatic identification technique. The data is simply reduced to a printed form, which consists of a symbol made of successive line segments. A bar code reader is used to illuminate the bar code symbol and examine successive segments of the symbol. ‘The detected area may be a highly reflected area (space) or a non-reflective (bar) area. As the reader moves the reader over the bar code symbol, due to reflectivity and non-reflectivity, alternate transitions from light to dark and dark to light occur. These are detected and the time80 Computer Integrated Manufacturing it will take will be converted to a digital representations of ones and zeros of the bar code message. Most commonly used bar codes are fixed beam reader and moving beam reader which are now described. 4.12.2 Fixed Beam Reader Bar code readers are either fixture mounted or hand-held. The simplest form of bar code reader is a light pen. The tip of the light pen is moved in contact with the symbol and moves the tip from leading zone through trailing quiet in a smooth sweeping motion. The fixed beam light pen nearly or actually touches the symbol. In fixture mounted reader the beam reader is fixed and the symbol moves. The reader is mounted on a conveyor or a transport system, observing a symbol while it passes through @ reader beam. The fixed beam reader reads the symbol only once. In hand-held fixed beam reader, the symbol can be rescanned easily. In the fixture mounted bar code reader, some mechanism which moves the symbol towards the symbol is necessary; in other words, an intervention by an operator is needed. In fixed beam reader, the contact with the symbol may erase the symbol and so it is less readable in subsequent attempts to read the symbol. Contact scanning of the symbol requires @ smooth surface. So it is not suitable to read all the surfaces on which the symbols are printed. Light pens interpret a narrow section of the symbol printed on a surface. This may cause the distortion of the image. Fixed beam reader takes more time to read the symbol. The speed of fixed beam readers is a function of conveyor speed and height of the bar code symbol. Faster scanners are required for shorter symbols and slower scanners are required for larger symbols. 4.12.3 Moving Beam Reader Moving beam readers minimize limitations of the fixed beam readers, i.e. the intervention problem and contact with the symbol. The moving beam reader, as the name indicates, scans the symbol by a line of light emitted from the reader. This is actually a spot which moves at faster rates appearing as a straight line. A moving beam reader takes less time to scan the symbol depending on the type of equipment. The light emitted from the moving beam reader can be drawn through the symbol in both the configurations, i.e. hand-held and conveyor configurations. Multiple viewing of the symbol provides a quick and correct transformation to convert the image to computer data, REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the need and importance of shop floor data collection systems. ‘What are their functions? 2. List the major types of data collection systems. 3. What are the devices used for shop floor data collection? 4. How does a bar code reader work? 5. Define SFC.Shop Floor Control 81 ee oe 10. i. 12. 13. 14, 15. 16. 17. 18. Enumerate the benefits of SFC. Name any three control features of SFC. List the major display involved in SFC. What are the phases of SFC? Discuss the importance of order scheduling. What do you mean by manufacturing control? Compare MMS and SMS. Briefly explain the methodology of SFC cell. What are the types of data collections? List the salient features of bar code technology. Discuss the advantages of a moving beam reader. Enumerate the to advantages of an integrated manufacturing planning and control system. Describe the following elements of a manufacturing planning and control system. (a) Order release (b) Capacity planning 1710