The design team has developed a value stream map for the production line that you have selected as your company’s first effort to automate manufacturing. (See “Start Your Approach to Automated Manufacturing”) The value stream map lays out all the details of each work station on the production line. This data includes the cycle time, the number of employees, the number of shifts and the number of machines that are currently being utilized at each work station on the line. Also described in the layout are the buffer locations that are being used between the existing work stations. Details of each buffer include how many parts that the buffer will hold, how much of the factory floor space is occupied by the buffer, and how much of the following work station’s throughput can be contained in the buffer, expressed in processing time.
The current output for this production line is 800 parts. Management has decided to set 1,500 parts as a target for the automated manufacturing The design team will need to create a second value stream map for the same production line. The assumption for this second map is that the current methods of production will remain the same. Using the first value stream map as a base, the design team will need to decide what will be the resources needed on the production line in this second value stream map in order to produce the required number of 1,500 parts.
After the second value stream map is created the design team will be able to use the resource allocations of this second map to decide what part of the production line should be automated. This decision should be based on how the resources are allocated to get to the target production of 1,500 units. A part of the production line that will yield the highest return for the most practical investment should be considered for automation first. Currently the addition of more capacity for producing additional units of production is the only target that is required to be met. The only way that the target can be met is to increase the number of units produced from raw materials at the cutting work station. Then resources must be placed in other areas of the production line to support the attainment of that production target. If the target for automation had been to increase the quality of the polish on tubes being put into the sub-assemblies, then the focus of automation would have been at the polishing work station. One of the objectives in this process is to minimize the allocation of as many resources and their associated costs as possible, while increasing the production level.
Figure 1 shows the value stream map up through the buffer for the polish work station. The resources that were increased on the
production line are now indicated in red. There is an increase in the number of raw tubing units that must be delivered from the supplier from 10,000 to 20,000 per week to hit the production target. This is important information to gather early in the process of increasing production. The increase in the number of units expected from a supplier is also important for the supplier to know in advance. There is a possibility that the current supplier does not have the capacity to deliver the expected increase in raw materials. Either the supplier will need to increase output capacity or an additional supplier will need to be contracted to deliver the additional raw material for production.
The cutting work station continues with the same cycle time of 3 minutes. The work station was already running on all 3 shifts during production, so in order for there to be an increase in production another machine must be added to the work station. This will required that 2 additional employees be added to run the equipment. The buffer area has to be increased from 200 square feet to 300 square feet to hold the additional parts coming from the cutting work station. The polishing work station has to increase resources as well. Two new employees will have to be added to the staff to work on a third shift to meet the production target. The buffer area is increased from 100 square feet to 200 square feet of area. These increases in resources will allow for an increase in production to 1,500 units as required.
This value stream map indicates the significant amount of increase in the cost of production that is required to meet the new production requirements. This scenario will require an increase in production staff of 4 new employees. The cost to add new staff to production is a very high priced item to be included in total production cost. The item will include all the benefits that go along with new staff. The addition of a new machine on the production line will cost in excess of $40,000. This will have to be factored into the production cost. There are additional requirements in floor space in the factory area that are required to hold the parts that are in production. There is a cost associated with each of these added areas. Floor space requirements will increase by 200 square feet. This may impact the efficiency of other work processes that are using areas near the production line. There may be a need to rearrange other equipment in the factory to accommodate the new increase in production.
See the final step for the automation design team in “Lower Cost and an Increase in Production Results from Automation Design“.
Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your business or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your business. If you have questions about automating your business or you would like to request a quote for the automation of your business, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.
