Manufacturing Systems

Running head: MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
Manufacturing Systems
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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Table of Contents
Part A...............................................................................................................................................2
i) Review of Manufacturing Systems and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)..........................2
ii) Approach for Establishing Performance Measures at Shop Floor Level Production.............3
iii) Product Flow Analysis (PFA) and Value Stream Mapping (VSM).......................................5
iv) Description of Plant Layouts..................................................................................................7
v) Critical Review and Comparison of Various Tools and Techniques......................................8
vi) Definitions of Terms............................................................................................................10
Part B.............................................................................................................................................11
Case Study: Performance Assessment of Manufacturing Plant................................................11
Part C.............................................................................................................................................15
Question 3..................................................................................................................................15
Question 7..................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17

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Part A
i) Review of Manufacturing Systems and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) could be defined as the strategic and quantifiable
measurements that would be able to reflect the critical success factors of an enterprise. The
international standard ISO 22400 has been able to define a set of KPIs for the purpose of
evaluation of the kind of performance within the manufacturing operation systems (May et al.
2015). The rapid expansion within the modern manufacturing industry have led the production
enterprises to maintain a sufficient level of flexibility, higher standards of quality, sustainability
and productivity. Hence, in the recent times, the manufacturing systems mainly implement
performance measurement system in order to evaluate the state of operation within the activities
of manufacturing (Parmenter 2015). The modern kind of tools that have been implemented with
the help of IT systems have been able to provide opportunities for gathering a larger set of
necessary data and estimation. Hence, the KPIs that have been used for the evaluation of
performance of manufacturing systems have been put under major focus in the recent years. One
of the most critical issue based on evaluation of manufacturing operations is not only based on
defining of KPIs, but also to identify and select the most useful form of KPIs. The proper form of
selection and improved understanding of KPIs would prove to be helpful for the manufacturing
systems to help in fulfilling the desired objectives of business.
Based on the standards, the KPIs would be primarily described within their means of
formula, measuring unit timings and certain other characteristics. In spite of the efforts for
making the standards to be generally applicable to each of the manufacturing systems, the KPIs
would be primarily designed for the evaluation of performance based within discrete industry

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(Feiz et al. 2015). In some cases, the standards of ISO 22400 would be able to explicitly indicate
that the indicators would be unsuitable for continuous form of processes.
In the recent years, there have been several kinds of developments in the Manufacturing
systems. As the different trends play a major factor in the manufacturing systems, large
executives should be much proactive on roles that would lead to consolidation and concentration.
Due to various competitive pressures, different manufacturers should experience increasing form
of pressure for focusing on one particular role. The most likely result of such kind of
developments within the manufacturing systems is based on significant restructuring. The list of
recommendations based on competitive issues have emerged with the recent kind of
developments. Creation of a competitive advantage would require the determination of several
factors that would put the manufacturing firm in such a better position based in relation with the
competitors present within the marketplace (Kylili Fokaides and Jimenez 2016). With the
massive form of developments, there have been a massive change in the manufacturing systems.
Different kinds of new invention in technology have been able to address the issues based on
competitiveness.
ii) Approach for Establishing Performance Measures at Shop Floor Level Production
Performance measurement is necessary within an organisation in order to determine the
proper functioning of the manufacturing systems. Performance measurement could be applied to
the overall organisation and also to subgroups within the organisation. Indirect form of measures
based on performance that would include costing of operations could be useful for the
identification of problems (Paolucci and Sacile 2016). Numerous kinds of planning and methods
of scheduling have been developed based on discrete form of manufacturing systems. The
continuous processes within manufacturing systems would require different forms of modelling

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approaches. In the current scenario, the approach that is used by plant management mostly
prioritize the product quality in which the switchover of the project is minimized.
One of the approach that could be used for establishing performance measures within the
shop floor level (Product/batch) is known as Simple Heuristic approach. This kind of approach is
able to define the optimal sequencing of products with respect to their due data within a single
machine system. In this approach, linear programming models were mostly developed. This kind
of approach was also applied for the purpose of solving large-scale constraint satisfaction and
problems based on scheduling (Rahmani and Heydari 2014). This kind of measure based on
simple heuristic approach could be implemented within manufacturing companies in order to
achieve the corporate objectives. An efficient use of this approach would be helpful for the
scheduling operations based on exploiting the critical path within a network.
Another approach that could be used within the manufacturing systems is known as linear
programming model. This would be dependent on the simultaneous planning of production and
scheduling based on multi-product batch manufacturing systems. This kind of model of approach
would involve a simplistic representation of the problem of scheduling in which different
possible constraints would not be considered (Gunasekaran et al. 2015). There are also certain
aspects of scheduling problems that includes operational pre-conditions, which would be
important for avoiding compromising of the final product. Different other forms of research
within the scheduling of activities within the manufacturing systems also included the
development of certain models based on scheduling of faster consumer good manufacturing
processes. The main objectives of this study was based on scheduling of production within the
manufacturing systems. The main purpose of this study was meant for inventory, production and
planning of horizon costs that would be greatly minimized.

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A proper use of the above mentioned approaches would help in determining the problems
arising within the manufacturing systems. Based on following such kind of strategy, these
manufacturing companies would mostly be benefited as they would be able to invest proper
resources within the business. A well-defined and well-executed strategy and action plan would
help the manufacturing company to move forward in order to achieve their corporate objectives,
capture more share within the present market, improve their products and also increase
satisfaction of customers (Guo et al. 2015). Effective strategic planning within the manufacturing
business would also require a methodical and dynamical process that would help the organisation
to focus on the right issues and take necessary actions.
iii) Product Flow Analysis (PFA) and Value Stream Mapping (VSM)
Product Flow Analysis (PFA) could be defined as a well-established methodology that is
primarily used for transforming the traditional functional layout into a different product-oriented
layout. The method employed in PFA makes uses of part routings for finding natural clusters
within workstations that would form production cells (Nakatani and Moriguchi 2014). They
would thus be able to complete parts and form components in a swift manner with the help of
simplified form of flow of material. Once the PFA would be implemented, the scheduling system
would be based on control of period batch. It would aim for establishing fixed planning,
production and final delivery cycles based on the entire unit of production. PFA is traditionally
been applied within functional layouts. This kind of methodology helps in the reduction of lead
times, improvement of quality and providing of motivation among the personnel (Rubio-
Martinez et al. 2014). The impact of PFA would help in the reduction of non-value adding
operations and diminishes the variability of process. These impacts made by PFA helps in
contributing towards efficient management of operations.