Chapter 3: Operation Analysis

Human Factors
Prof. Hayes

If Methods Engineering Focuses Primarily

on improving productivity though (re)design of:
Organizational
structure

Motivation:
Incentives/rewards

Work
Process
Work operations

Tools
(Products)

Work
environment

Then Operations Analysis Focuses

Primarily on improving productivity though
(re)design of:
Organizational
structure

Motivation:
Incentives/rewards

Work
Process
Work operations

Tools
(Products)

Work
environment

The 9 Primary Approaches to

Operation Analysis
1. Operation Purpose

6. Setup and Tools

2. Part Design

7. Material Handling

3. Tolerances and Specs 8. Plant Layout

4. Material

9. Work Design

5. Manufacturing

Sequence and
Process
Also consider: management and reward changes

Simultaneously consider
many ways
of making improvements!

1. Operation Purpose
Ask:
Does this operation serve a useful purpose?
Is this operation really needed?
Try to:
Eliminate operations
Combine operations
As many as 25% of operations in American
Industry can be eliminated.

Example 1: Operation Elimination

Many stores have dropped the requirement

that customers sign their credit slip for
small totals: less than $15 - $50.
This makes the payment transaction very
fast!
E.g. in coffee shop study,

Average payment transaction time: 27 sec

Example 2: Operation Elimination

Outsource operations
Ask: Can a supplier an operation more
economically than we can in-house?
Operation: pack ball bearings in grease
Modification: purchase sealed bearings
from supplier.

Example 3: Operation Elimination

Eliminate re-work
Coffee shop worker:
1. Worker pours milk into stainless steel beaker,
2. Steams milk, pours into cup.
3. Runs out of milk must pour and steam more
while customer waits impatiently.
Solution:
Add measuring lines to inside of beaker so worker
does not have to estimate how much milk to pour.

2. Part Design
Design for manufacturing
and life-cycle
Reduce parts simplify designs
Reduce processing operations
Utilize better material
Loosen tolerances where possible
Design for manufacturing: choose an easy
to manufacture shape over a difficult one.

Minimum cost design

It helps designers if they understand processes

such as: casting, molding and punching, bending,
etc.
Example: instead of:
Four bends in sheet metal to make part,
Make lower cost extrusion with 4 bends already in it.

This type of thinking is called Design for

Manufacturing

3. Tolerances and specifications

Designers tend to incorporate tolerances that are

more rigid than necessary
Why? To be extra sure that product will function
in all situations.
It is perceived to reduce risk, but it can add much
unnecessary cost,
Need to consider risk/cost trade-off.
Taguchi (86) methods develop quality products
and reduce cost.

4. Material

Incorporate better, more economical

material in designs:

Less expensive
Easier to process
Use materials more economically
Use supplies and tools more economically,
Standardize materials
Find best vendor: price, stock. Can achieve
10% to 15% reductions by shopping around,
sometimes every year.

Example: New material

Substitute glass tubing for Micarta spacer bar in

transformer. (Micarta is a glass cloth, epoxy resin laminate
material)
less expensive and better cooling

Replace stamped gear with plastic gear in

assembly.
saved $0.13 per unit, $10,000 per year.

Keiretsu: (Japanese term) interlocking relationship

between manufacturers and suppliers.

5. Manufacturing Sequence
and Tools

Re-sequence operations
Group operations that can share common fixturing
Mechanize manual operations where economically
feasible (see section on setup)
Use more efficient facilities (see section on
layout) Example, substitute Super automatic
cappuccino machines for old style.
Manufacture near-net shape.
Use Robots (where economically feasible
usually for long product runs, small product
variability)

Example: re-sequencing
Original sequence:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Paint part 1
Paint part 2
Paint part 3
Paint part 4
Rivet parts together

New sequence:
1.
2.

Rivet parts together

Paint one assembly

6. Setup, Tools and Fixtures

Carefully consider economic trade-offs:

Will the setup, fixtures, or tools be used enough

to justify their expense?

Prevalent mistake of tool makers and

planners:
Too much specialized tooling and fixturing

Example: Tooling

Good choice: Tooling that saves 10% on

each job and is used frequently.

Poor choice: Tooling that saves 90% on

each job but is used only twice a year.
(Will not recover expense of tooling).

7. Material Handling
The best way to handle material is NOT
to handle it.

Moving, storing, positioning, tracking.

Insuring that materials get where they need
to be when they are needed.
Material Handling Institute survey says 35
to 85% of the cost of getting a product to
market is associated with material handling.

Better material handling:

Reduces cost, time

Increases safety, health and well being of
workers:
40% of plant accidents happen during material

handling
25% are caused by lifting and shifting material

Approach to reducing material

handling time

Reduce time spent picking up material

Use mechanized of automated equipment
(where economically feasible)
Make better use of existing handling
facilities
Handle material with greater care
Consider bar coding

8. Plant Layout

Poor layout can result in major costs through

increased travel time, increased material handling,
etc.
Two types of layouts for plants:
Product layout: machines placed in the order used in

the manufacturing process.

Advantage: reduces travel time
Process layout: machines grouped by type: e.g. all
lathes together, all drill presses together, etc.
Advantage: makes training easier.

Later we will discuss Muthers Systematic Layout

Process (SLP).

9. Work Design

Eliminate operations,
Re-sequence, re-design operations
Many of our remaining chapters focus on
many different types of work design!

Muthers (1973)
Systematic Layout Process (SLP)
Goal: identify how to rearrange space to make it more effective for a task.

1.

2.

3.

Chart out
relationships
between areas based
on magnitude of
material handling,
Establish space
requirements,
Make activity
relationship
diagrams

Space relationship
layout
5. Evaluate alternative
layouts
6. Select best layout,
plan installation.
4.

1.a Chart out travel relationships between areas

Travel chart is also

called a from-to
chart,
Shows magnitude of
material handling
between areas,
Could be measured
in terms of
no. parts moved,
total weight of

material moved,
Total volume
Number of trips,
Time of trips, etc.
Figure 3-19 Travel Chart number of items moved

1.b. Identify the

strength or
importance of
connections between
each area, based on
both travel, logical
relationships, etc.
A = 4 = Absolutely nec.
E = 3 = Especially import.
I = 2 = Important
O = 1 = Ordinary
U = 0 = Unimportant
N = -1 = Not Desirable

2. Establish
Space Requirements
for each area.
Figure 3-20 Relationship chart

3. Create: Activity Relationships Diagram

Create a graphic
representation
of the
relationships,
Put important
links close,
Avoid having
lines cross (if
possible)
Not-desirable is
shown as a
squiggly link
Figure 3-21 Activity Relationship Diagram

4.a Include actual spatial relationships

Draw each
area actual
size,

Figure 3-22 Space Relationship Layout

4.b Convert into a Floor Plan

Consider constraints of the building

Consider material handling and sequencing requirements.

Figure 3-23 Floor Plan.

5. Consider alternative floor plans

Identify performance
parameters to measure
how good each
layout is,
Renovation cost
Full use of space

Aesthetics
Etc.

Create a decision
matrix for each
alternative.

Decision Matrices
A performance parameter is whatever is important to the decision maker in the
situation,
Goodness score for each option i is (importance weight j * performance score i j)

Performance Parameters
Renovation
Cost

Material
handling
cost

importance
(1 least,
10 most)

10

Option 1

88

Option 2

89

Option 3

92

Use of Space

Aesthetics

Goodness
Score

Performance score, where 4 = best, -1 = unacceptable

6. Select the best layout for your purposes

Choose the Layout

with the highest
score from your
decision matrices