Mechanical Engineering 101

University of California, Berkeley

Lecture #39

ME 101: High Mix/Low Volume Manufacturing 1

 Today’s lecture
 Cell formation
 Lean, high mix, low volume philosophy

ME 101: High Mix/Low Volume Manufacturing 2

Cellular layout

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 Forming cells
 Part-machine incidence matrix
• treat each row/column as binary number
• alternately sort rows, columns
Part type
Machine type 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A 1 1 1 1
B 1 1 1
C 1 1 1 1
D 1 1 1 1
E 1 1 1 1
F 1 1 1
G 1 1 1
H 1 1
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 Binary ordering heuristic
 after first row sort, next is column sort
• which column is first (reading top to bottom)?
1 1 Part type 1
Machine type 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C 1 1 1 1
B 1 1 1
F 1 1 1
A 1 1 1 1
D 1 1 1 1
E 1 1 1 1
H 1 1
G 1 1 1
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 Binary ordering heuristic
 continuing the column sort
• which column is next?
6 4 6
1 5 6 1 Part type 9 10 1
Machine type 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C 1 1 1 1
B 1 1 1
F 1 1 1
A 1 1 1 1
D 1 1 1 1
E 1 1 1 1
H 1 1
G 1 1 1
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 Binary ordering heuristic
 after 1st row and column sorts
• next, do another row sort
Part type
Machine type 1 4 10 6 2 3 5 7 9 8
C 1 1 1 1
B 1 1 1
F 1 1 1
A 1 1 1 1
D 1 1 1 1
E 1 1 1 1
H 1 1
G 1 1 1
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 Binary ordering heuristic
 after 1st row and column, 2nd row sorts
• next, do a column sort
Part type
Machine type 1 4 10 6 2 3 5 7 9 8
C 1 1 1 1
B 1 1 1
F 1 1 1
D 1 1 1 1
E 1 1 1 1
A 1 1 1 1
H 1 1
G 1 1 1
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 Binary ordering heuristic
 after 1st & 2nd row and column sorts
• next, another row sort
Part type
Machine type 1 4 10 6 2 9 8 3 5 7
C 1 1 1 1
B 1 1 1
F 1 1 1
D 1 1 1 1
E 1 1 1 1
A 1 1 1 1
H 1 1
G 1 1 1
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 Binary ordering heuristic
 after 1st 3 row and column sorts
• converges after 3rd row sort
Part type
Machine type 1 4 10 6 2 9 8 3 5 7
C 1 1 1 1
B 1 1 1
F 1 1 1
D 1 1 1 1
E 1 1 1 1
H 1 1
A 1 1 1 1
G 1 1 1
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 Binary ordering heuristic
 end order not necessarily unique
 cells may not be clearly separable
 doesn’t consider
• duplication cost
• capacity balancing
• alternate process plans

ME 101: High Mix/Low Volume Manufacturing 11

 Announcements
 Field trip to Jatco injection molders this
Friday
• sign up on clipboard if you haven’t done so
• pick up copy of directions
 Review session vote
1. Mon. 12/13 3-5pm
2. Mon. 12/13 5-7pm
3. Tues. 12/14 3-5pm
4. Tues.12/14 5-7pm
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 Announcements
 Project oral reports
• Monday: groups 2&3
• Wednesday: groups 1&4
 Project written reports
• 5pm Friday Dec. 10
• office hours in lieu of lecture and section
for last minute questions
 See handout on oral and written reports

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 Today’s lecture
 Cell formation
 Lean, high mix, low volume philosophy

ME 101: High Mix/Low Volume Manufacturing 14

 Taiichi Ohno
 Father of JIT philosophy, kanbans, etc.
 Toyota engineer, post WWII
• Germans 3X as productive as Japanese?
• and US 3X as productive as Germans?
 Waste must be problem!
• eliminate waste as guiding philosophy

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 Waste
 reduce, eliminate all non-value-adding activity
• overproduction
 hare
• wait time
 working ahead
• transport
• overprocessing
• inventory
• movement
• defective products

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 Toyota Production System
 2 pillars
• JIT
• autonomation

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 JIT
 kanban is tool for managing, assuring JIT
 flow vital to kanban
• re-arranged shop: cellular layout
 reduced setup times also needed

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 Kanbans
 introduced gradually
• took 12 years to get kanban working
 expanded company-wide
• then expanded outside company
 20 years

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 Autonomation
 autonomous + automation
• “automation with a human touch”
 “the industrial mind extracts knowledge from manufacturing
people, gives the knowledge to the machines working as
extensions of the workers’ hands and feet”
• machines w/ intelligence
 automatic stopping devices
 run unattended
• stops if a problem
 then gets worker attention
• make everyone aware of problem
 so actually fixed

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 Stopping the line
 set up line so workers can stop it
• to prevent making defective products
• to make improvements w/ help of other workers
 baton passing zone
 andon
• visual indicators for line stoppage
• often an indicator board
• lights
 green: ok
 yellow: making adjustments, call for help
 red: stop

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Respect for individual workers
 analogy w/ body’s nervous system
• reflexes don’t rely on relay through brain
• workers should be able to “prevent burns”
 do not make “isolated islands”
• isolated workers can’t help each other
• lay out work so avoided
 continuous improvement “kaizen”
• day-to-day operating strategy
• input from all levels

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 Ask why 5 times
 5 whys = 1 how
• why did the machine go down?
• why did the component break?
• why was the axel worn?
• why wasn’t it sufficiently lubricated?
• why was the pump clogged?

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 Production leveling
 eliminate need for excess capacity
 reduce safety stocks
 demand based management

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 Study greatness
 Ohno studied Ford, GM
• read founders, chairs, presidents’
autobiographies
• read not for methods
 for thinking behind methods
 e.g. assembly line
– instead of bringing parts to WIP, bring WIP to parts
– backwards thinking

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 Capitalism and TPS
 old system: automatic parts forwarding
• parts piled up
• wasted time
 looking for storage
 finding right part
 centralized, planned economies = bad
 market driven (pull) = good

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 Recommended Books
 The Toyota Production System
• Taiichi Ohno, 1988 (English translation)
 Cheaper by the Dozen
• Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, 1948
 Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line
• Ben Hamper, 1991
 The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
• E.M. Goldratt and J. Cox, 2nd revised edition, 1992

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