Production Managemnt Set1 Taha

1

DINA BUSINESS SCHOOL DINA INSTITUTE OF HOTEL AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT PUNE – 411 028 CENTRE CODE – 02758

ASSIGNMENT – SET 1 / SET 2

NAME

: TAHA MOHAMMED DHILAWALA

ROLL.NO.

: 520850852

PAPER / SUBJECT

: PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS

MANAGEMENT

CODE

: MB0028

SEMESTER

:

I / II / III / IV

SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY

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1. EXPLAIN WHAT IS MENT BY CAPITAL PRODUCTIVITY? ANS. CAPITAL PRODUCTVITY Capital deployed in plant, machinery, buildings and the distribution system as well as working capital are components of the cost of manufacture and need to be productive. Demand fluctuation, uncertainties of productivity down. Therefore, strategies are needed to maximize the utilization of the funds allotted towards capital. Adapting to new technologies, outsourcing and balancing of the workstations to reduce the proportion of idle times on equipment are the focus of this section. OUTSOURCING STRATEGIES When capacity requirement are determined it will be easy to determine whether some goods or services can be outsourced so that the capital and manpower requirement can be reduced and the available capacities are used to augment core competencies thus reducing the cost of the product or services to the customer. However, the following factors may restricts outsourcing. I. Lack of expertise – the outsourcing firm may not have the requisite expertise to do the job required II. Quality considerations- loss of control over operations may result in lower quality. This is risk that the firm gets exposed to. III. Nature of demand- when the load is uniform and steady, it may not be worthwhile to outsourcing. Absence of supervisions and control may be a hindrance to meet any urgent requirements of the customer. This affects the business especially if no production facilities bare built in the organization IV. Cost- when the fixed costs that go along with making the product does not get reduced considerably MATHODS IMPROVEMENT Methods improvement start with methods analysis. The focus of this process is to find out how a job is done breaking it down to elemental tasks so that they are amenable for analysis. This is done for both running jobs and new jobs. SET -1 MB0028

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For the new job, the description becomes the inputs for analysis. For current jobs, the analyst depends on observation, records and suggestions of the persons involved in the job. When improved methods are suggested, they are implemented and records created for assessing the consequences of the methods improvement procedures. The analyst should involve all concerned persons in the process so that acceptance becomes possible and opportunities open up for further improvements. Moreover, the people actually involved would be interested in improving their productivity and will help the analyst in the process. BALANCING OF WORKSSATIONS Assembly lines necessitate out stringing together workstations which carry out operations in a sequence so that the product gets completed in stages. Since the workflows has to be uniform and operation may require different periods for completion the necessity of line balancing is felt. Capacities at workstation and the workforce to man so adjusted that a products in the process of assembly almost approximately the same amount of time. RATIONALIZATION OF PACKAGING METHODS With logistics becoming an important function of the supply chain And outsourcing becoming the norm, packaging has become an important aspect, packaging has become important. Space is at a premium and therefore stacking and storing have to more scientific. Movement inside the premise from one location to another location are being done with automated systems and they need that the packaging system are designed for safe transit, continuous monitoring-both for quantities and operations. In case of outsourcing product the material used and their design should facilitate reuse of the same, which brings in economy. QUALITY CIRCLES Kaoru is generally considered to have promoted the concept of quality circles. It is well known that he is the originator of fishbone diagrams to identify the root cause of any problem. The causes for the existence of a problem are classified as pertaining to the material, processes or method or any factor that goes into production. The matter is further investigated and pursued till the exact is determined. Quality circles use these principal in solving problems. The teams select project selected on the above basis and implement action to achieve improvement in the process with a view to improve quality. Since these activities are carried out without affecting the regular day to day work and involve SET -1 MB0028

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little continuous improvement in methods and quality. The capital deployed is minimal, if at all, and therefore productivity is enhanced. 2. WRITE A DETAILED NOTE ON SPLIT-CASE ORDER FULFILLMENT METHODS AND MECHANIZATION. ANS. This system looks at situations when bulk supplies in full cases to one or more destination are not done. Fulfilment of order which need different merchandise in different quantities requires that ‘cases’ will have to be split, and pieces picked, repacked in cartons and ship to the customer. Mechanisation helps in improving identification, pick-up and repacking the material in addition to relieving monotony of the workers. A few strategies of achieving this objective optimally are discussed here. ORDER PICKING METHODS Items as per customer requirement have to be picked and packed in a logical manner and assigned to personnel so that their productivity is maximized. Accuracy of fulfilment of order is ensured by basic factors: I. Order extent- it is defined as the number of order to be picked simultaneously by a picker in an assignment. This is categorized as discrete order picking in which case a single order is selected at a time; and batch order picking in which case the merchandise requirements of many orders are put together and selected for pick up in the geographical area which is covered in single pass. II. Coverage extent – it is the physical area to be traversed by the picker in selecting merchandise for an assignment within the picking system. The personnel pick up the merchandise from a zone, the being a contiguous area with different picking location. The boundaries may be fixed or dynamically adjusted to accommodate either personnel or customers. This zone is identified within the picking area is considered for picking merchandise. Either of strategies is adopted to meet the constraints or opportunities which maximize employee productivity and the customers’ needs. SORTING AND ROUTING Sorting is done for the purpose of easing the operation of matching orders, merchandise and the customers for whom they done. This activity can be done as when order are picked i.e. sort immediate or by merging a number of order and batches are made to consolidate the priorities for execution. This methods is called merge and SET -1 MB0028

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sort. The strategy used depends on the total area of the zone, the number of order, and the type of merchandise. And the economics of balancing all the above. When order are routed among those zones where picks are required, we call them routing the picks. When order are routed from zone to zone, in a particular order, whether any picks are there or not, we call them chaining. When multiple zones are covered simultaneously in different zones we call them parallel routing. As can be discerned, no one single method is suitable for actual situations on site. They are formulated as a strategy for optimization of resources in view of the constraints. ORDER PACKING METHODS Order fulfilling methodology cover one more aspects i.e. the order pacing methods. When split-case is executed it becomes necessary that the merchandise is repackaged for shipment to meet the requirement of the customers. In the first method they merchandise is usable by the customer directly and when the tools and packaging materials are available with the picker and he can pack throughout the picking area. CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES In this section you will come to know about the coding of various methods of splits picking and packing. The letters will uniquely identify the method intended to be used and all personnel in the process will know disposition status of the merchandise. Discrete order picking or batch order picking- letter D or B is used zone picking or tour picking Pack immediate assemble and pack BS – BATCH ORDER PICKING – SORT IMMEDIATE BM –BATCH ORDER PICKING - MERGE& SORT ZR – ZONE PICKING WITH ROUTING ZP – ZONE PICKING IN PARALLEL For example, BSDZCA means – batch order picking, sort immediatediscrete order packing, zone picking with chaining and assemble. With this type of coding 24 ways representing the type of split order picking and packing are identifiable.

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CHOICE OF OPTIMAL FULFILLMENT STRATEGIES The choice of order fulfilment strategy depends upon the predominant order characteristics and category of distribution. They are determined by general order characteristics such asa) Number of line- items; b) Quality of pieces per line – item General order categories are a) Wholesale distribution – usually large number of pieces of a few items; b) Retail distribution-order for large quantities for a large number of items; c) Direct marketing – order for a small quality; d) Consumer distribution – small quantities of different items – for purposes of evaluation promotion and consumption The performance measures to be satisfied by the choice of strategy are to minimize the costs involved and maximize desirable characteristics… They are a) Minimize the cost of pick and pack for every order; b) Minimize the cost of shipping per order; c) Reduce the time required per cycle; d) To increase the fill rate; e) Improve accuracy of the elements of the process; f) Traceability and accountability of all transaction…. Advance technology involving bar coding, feeding on line data ,high speed processing an distribution of information across all nodes of the supply chain help in improving efficiency, reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction.

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3. EXPLAIN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING IN DETAIL. ANS. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROCESS Most of organization process depend upon the structure of the organisation, the hierarchical level, decision arrival mechanisms, communication system, authorization process, implementation procedures, feedback and monitoring devices to formulate and implement strategies. It is necessary to ensure that the process is effective and efficient and avoid loss of control. In essence, the purpose of strategies is to leverage the company’s advantages, prepare of strategies is to leverage the company’s advantages, prepare for the eventualities of uncertain external happening and maximize the chances of success in its endeavours. Organizational goals necessitate the adoption of certain strategies, which are converted to function goals in the areas of finance, marketing and operations. These goals are achieved by adopting strategies arrived at using organizational processes mentioned above. When these long term strategies are being implemented tactics may have to be employed to meet short term challenges depending upon situations. The actual activities which result in out comes are called operations. A business strategy is the result of a decision taken at the highest level. They are specific programme of action which outline hoe the resources are deployed to achieve goals in an environment. A general framework to guide and activate think-tanks in the organization to come up with proposals. Action plans with time frames, authority hierarchies and feedback mechanisms are formulated and designed. At this stage detailed scenarios as to the likely consequences are considered and contingency plans worked out for implementation, if situations call for the same. Being in readiness with alternatives is a good way assuring the success of any plan. For example the production of a model of motor cycle is to be increased by 25% and possibly reduce the price by 10%. This decision would have been taken as strategy to meet the increasing demand which are e real - to enter a niche market of the competitor - to augment marketing department’s claim after a vigorous sales campaign - or any other reason. The strategy for the marketing function would be many like promising freebies, make the commission attractive for the dealer, to open more service outlets. The operations strategy would consider the following SET -1 MB0028

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additional machinery or sub-contracting methods to improve productivity revamping assembly lines measures to improve motivation promoting existing employees new suppliers look for opportunities to reduce costs as scaling up provides scope. The above measures will be under consideration at all times. When a change is considered, identification of areas of cooperation and collaboration become visible. Opportunities arise for understanding and resolution of problems. Setting up visible targets to meet deadlines encourages application of constancy of purpose’ as per Deming. This in itself would be strategy for improvement quality and productivity.

STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING Decision making is the most crucial management function. Decision commit the organisation and its member to activities which have financial repercussions and affect the functioning of other who are connected with those. Therefore decisions are taken after lot of deliberation which involve data gathering, analysis and the predicting outcome. Accuracy of data, their relevance for the matter under consideration are matter which affect the quality of decision. In addition, the following also form the basis of decision making: a) environmental scanning – the business environment in which the firm exists and has to compete continually exhibits potential for opportunities and threats. Becoming aware of those and their impact on the firm by a process of scanning is called environmental scanning. The environment include the industry, the marketplace, the governmental agencies, society, ecology, technology, etc. competitors may be gaining edge by diversification, making forays into the firm’s niche market making by new and better products; supplier could be forming cartel and preparing to drive hard bargains; the government could be passing laws and issuing order which could affect the supply of materials or restrictions on import and export or even employment conditions. adaptation to these dynamic factors by environment scanning and basic strategy decisions is vital. b) Core competencies – each organisation is started by an entrepreneur or a small group of them who believed in some unique strengths which would give them a place in market. Utilizing those strengths the venture would have succeeded and SET -1 MB0028

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development and expansion take place either laterally or vertically or in both ways. However, additional strengths or competences would have been acquires to augment of the workforce an d additional facilities created, would be continuously demanding and satisfying new needs. investor and suppliers would be wiling to back an enterprise, who, they have, seen grow in strength. the developments and improvement both in knowledge and skills make the core strengths better. This tends to make these an advantage over the competencies. Using these advantages would from a part of the decision strategy of the firm. Core process of an organisation are determined by core competencies. Four main core process are – customer relationship, new product/services development, supplier relationship and order fulfilment. The emphasis on these process depends on the order of industry, the length of its existence and the consequent strengths built up in certain areas, the way earlier successes have been achieved and the reinforcement they have given to the organisation. One should remember that the environment is always dynamic and the strategy formulation needs to be constantly updated for making implementation effective. Ultimately every organisation depends on the core compete cities which gives it an advantage over the competitors.

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4. WHAT IS TQM? EXPLAIN QULITY APPROACHES OF DEMING WHEEL AND JURANS QUALITY TRIOLOGY. ANS. INTRODUCTION TO TQM TQM is viewed from many angels – as a philosophy as an approach and journey toward excellence. The main thrust is to achieve customer satisfaction by involving every body in the organisation, across all functions with continuous improvement driving all activities. TQM systems are designed to prevent poor quality from occurring. The following steps are implemented to achieve total quality. a) Take all measures to know what the customer wants – voice of the customer. Develop methods that generate facts which can be used for decision making. do not ignore the internal customer – the next person in the process. b) Convert the wants in to design specification, that meet or exceed customer expectation. c) Process are to be designed so that they facilitate doing the job right the first time. Incorporate elements that make it impossible to make mistake. It is called fail – sating or fool proofing. The Japanese call it POKAYOKE. d) Keeping record of all occurrences, procedures followed and consequences. They help in validating the processes so that continuous improvement becomes possible. More importantly any gaps can be seen and rectified immediately. One of the basic tenets of TQM is – just because something is working well improvement is not necessary. The search must be continuous to find ways and means to improve every aspects of the business process finance, operation and management. Complacency should never be allowed to creep in at any time. In this aspects, culture plays an important role. All these require top management commitment APPROACHES TO TQM: Being practiced worldwide by different organisation, TQM has different approaches towards its achievement. The basic thrust of each of these is realising excellence. All the approaches have a lot in common, but the emphasis shifts from one other. Needless to say, each organisation will use any of these or even a combination to suit its structure, culture and need. Some emphasise on the philosophy of TQM and the role of management and employees in being aware, committed and act. Some expect us to use statistics more intensely. Some give us an ‘integrated approach’. SET -1 MB0028

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DEMING WHEEL: Deming’s approach is summarised in his 15 points. 1. constancy of purpose for continuous improvement 2. adopt the TQM philosophy for economic purposes 3. do not depend on inspection to deliver quality 4. do not award any business based on price alone 5. improve the system of production and service constantly 6. conduct meaningful training on the job 7. adopt modern method of supervision and leadership 8. remove fear from the mind of everyone connected with the organisation 9. remove barriers between department and people 10.do not exhort, repeat slogan and put up poster. 11.do not set up numerical quotas and work standards 12.give pride of workmanship to the workmen 13.education and training to be given vigorously 14. sate and exhibit top management’s commitment for quality and productivity 15.using the above principles, Deming gave a four step approach to ensure a purposeful journey of TQM. The slope is shown to indicate that if efforts are let up the programme will roll back.

ACT A

CHECK C

PLAN P

DO D

DEMING CYCLE –PLAN – DO - CHECK –ACT PLAN – means that a problem is identified, process are determined and relevant theories are checked out. SET -1 MB0028

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DO – means that the plan is implemented on a trial basis. All inputs are correctly measured and recorded. CHECK – means that he trial taken according to the are in accordance with the expected results. ACT – when all the above steps are satisfactory regular production is started so that quality outcomes are assured JURAN’S QUALITY TRIOLOGY - JURAN’S uses his famous breakthrough sequence to implement quality programmes. They are  Proof of need – there should be compelling need to make changes  Project identification – here what is to be changed is identified. Specific project with time frames and the resource allocation are decided.  Organisation with top management’s commitment is made in terms of assignment of persons, responsibilities fixed  Diagnostic journey – each team will determine the problem result from systemic causes or random or deliberately caused. Root causes are ascertained with utmost certainty.  Remedial action – this is the stage when changes are introduced. Inspection, testing and validation are also included at this point  Holding on to the gains – the above steps results in beneficiary results. Having records or all action and consequences will help in further improvements. The action that resulted in the benefits derived should be the norm for establishing standards. JURAN has categorized cost of quality into four categories 1) Failure costs – internal – these are costs of rejection, repairs etc in terms of materials, labour, machine time and loss of morale; 2) Failure costs – external – these are costs of replacement, on site rework including spare parts and expenses of the personnel, warranty costs and loss of goodwill; 3) Appraisal costs – costs of inspection, including maintenance of records, certification, segregation costs, etc. 4) Prevention costs – the sequence of three sets of activities – quality planning, quality control SET -1 MB0028

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and quality improvement from the triology to achieve total quality management. His arguments are that 1. Quality is the results of goods planning considering the needs of both internal and external customers and develops processes to meet them. The processes are also planned to meet them. 2. Quality is built in to the system of manufacture, inputs and processes that are on stream like raw material, spare parts, labour, machine maintenance, training, warehousing, inspection procedures, packaging, etc . They have to be made to follow standards and control exercised to make sure that mistake does not occur often and if they are corrected at the source. 3. Quality improvement measures are essential to keep the quality culture alive. Newer methods will be founds, some operations can be eliminated, improved technology available. In short as experience is gained things can always be done better. It is for the management to take the initiative and encourage the employees to be on the look out for opportunities for improvement.

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5. COMPARE WORKFLOW WITH BPM. EXPLAIN IN DETAIL THE PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS CYCLES? ANS. WORKFLOW VS. BPM Workflow contains a number of entities in a unidirectional path with nodes. each of these nodes may contain a number of elements – material, data, attributes, value. They come together for integration or even for division and will have transformation going on. The activities that make these transformations are the sub – process. So, there changes taking place along the path and at the end we have a completed process. Every detail has been worked out, the outcomes verified and correct brought into the flow so that nothing outward cocker. The only thing lacking is flexibility that business situation demand all the time and because the enterprise has to perform and excel in conditions of uncertainty, improvement and competition. Fortunately these are exceptions. While majority of the humdrum goes on smoothly, we need to manage exceptions. Notably, exceptions create new process, opportunities and help us get new insight in to the processes. It has been found that 80% of process cost arise out of managing exceptions. These happen at many points in the value chain. Managing these is business process management. Workflow does not offer option in the way processes are conducted. They have fixed routes, activities and schedules. Actually, there is not much ‘management’. BPM goes ahead not on a fixed track, but on bumpy roads, swerving sharply to avoid collisions and overtaking the vehicles that re ahead. It calls for all management skills. THE PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS CYCLE EVERY COMPANY WOULD BE INTERESTED TO IMPROVE THEIR PERFORMANCE OVER THE THEIR PERVIOUS PERFORMANCE IN PROJECTS. IN ORDER TO IMPROVE PROJECT PERFORMANCE, THE COMPANY MUST ASSURE QUALITY CONTROL AT EVERY STAGE OF THE PROJECT THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE. The various steps which may be considered in the development of the process cycle in any project are listed below: I. Planning for review: - in this step the main focus is on collection of data. Data is the main input requirement of any successful project information system and therefore the project. Once the data has SET -1 MB0028

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been gathered prepare a suitable plan for its analysis. Obtain necessary commitment from management and team member to participate actively and take action on findings. It is necessary that every project member gives his or her commitment to participate and deliver the service/product in the project. Reviews are necessary for every stage of the project. Prepare schedule for each project for each project review. II. Conducting the review: - before the review prepare an agenda. The agenda should be well structured in terms of time and content. Make necessary arrangement to gather in puts to the review. The review leader is the project manager. Incorporate points, which are external to the project. These external points have to be well structured to be reviewed. A reporter must be designated to document key points of the meeting. An automated checklist must be formulated for the session. The use of flipcharts may be helpful to collect data from participants. III. Take action on findings: - during the meeting, determine the points which are critical to the project and its performance. The member may have brain storming session to discuss critical points. Make a list of all such items discussed and items suggested and group the data into categories and then prioritize, either by group discussion or voting. Identify action items and assign a project member or a team the task pertaining to the action planned. For all such action and recommendations, prioritize the items depending upon the task for execution. After reaching consensus on results, summarize project success factor, recommendation for further study and action items with responsibilities and due dates. Set expectations of scope, investment, time, etc., for each item and send a copy the team. Follow up all the actions. Place review reports in the project documents file, in the quality/productivity department and in the library. Make reports available to manager of the life process for similar projects. IV. Do continuous improvement: - continual improvement is one of the management mantras. Every organization wants to improve continuously. It is not possible to achieve improvement unless sufficient measures are adapted to measure improvement. Encourage the quality manager to take for quality themes that emerge from review meetings. The quality manager should highlight trends and de – escalate chronic problems. Reviews re a check process in the ‘PLAN – DO – CHECK – ACT’ (PDCA) cycle of quality cycle. They are not just a one- time events. In this context, act on recommendation from pervious project; plan to capture data about project; do continuous. Improvement; check on SET -1 MB0028

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hoe you are doing write a retrospective analysis. Do periodic project review that will trigger mid – project corrections. Conduct immediate, informal retrospective after solving unexpected obstacles. Understand any impact on the reminder of the project. Recognize people for extra efforts and noteworthy contributions. Be open to attend review for other project. Learn from similar ventures, warranty failures, customer survey and experience of other division and companies. Be a part of continuous organizational learning program that includes experimentation, evaluation and documentation with easy access and retrieval. V. Critical success factors:- it is necessary that a company identifies factor in a project. These factor may slacken the project if not focused. Routines tasks may be assigned to lower level team members as this may relive the project team from wasting their skill set on routine matters. In terms of project delivery, the project office can relieve project managers of takes, like filling forms and templates, getting these forms signed off, mailing, receiving and checking items etc. regarding project management skills the project office can help the project manager in the project scope definition, project kick off preparation and planning tasks, trough mentoring and coaching services. These are the combining strengths that make the project manager to move forward and achieve the project success. Regarding project quality reviews, the project management office adds value providing processes, tools and project management experience but any quality review process can be implemented by the team without sponsorship from the management level. It is necessary to identify the entire critical success factor. One of the critical successes factor for the project quality review process implementation is to convince and sell the benefits to the management team of the organization. The team should show exhibit better control of their project portfolio and then demonstrate better control about business profitability. VI. Results and benefits of the project quality reviews:- the main benefits of the project quality review are the project status is formally visible to the whole organization. It creates awareness and room for improvement. Only reviewing, in a detailed manner, every project we can have a clear idea about the lack of knowledge mistakes, errors, deviations, and their reasons. The project quality reviews helps the project manager and his/her manager to enable the necessary and taking the action needed to achieve the project goals finishing the project on time, scope and budget. SET -1 MB0028

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The team can find benefits the project manager, for the customer and for the sponsor. For the project manager because that process helps in terma of discipline and control for the customer because, in the way that process is anticipating results, also create some kind of proactive behaviour in the project manager anticipating potential problem to the customer and finally for the sponsor because this process helps him to know project details and then to ask the customer upper management level for clarifications. Management expectations are crucial for the project success but project reviews add value to such expectations. The above steps can be represented in the from a diagram to show various process items in a project. These diagrams will help in the review process es to pin point facts and figures of concern post delivery. Every flow and process can be studied and reviewed for enhancement in the product or service deliverable in future.

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As an example consider packaging of a tonic bottle in a box;

BOTTEL

TONIC

CAP

OUTLER BOX

PRINTED LABEL

STICK LABEL ON BOX

ASSEMBLE

CHECK THE FUTMENT OF CAP ON BOTTLE

CHECK THE ALIGMENT AND POSITION OF LABEL

ASSEMBLE

PACKED TONIC

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6. WHAT IS JIT? EXPLAIN VALUE ENGINEERING WITH EXAMPLES. ANS. INTRODUCTION TO JIT JIT can be considered to be philosophy of manufacturing founded on the principal of elimination of all waste and thereby increasing productivity. When the philosophy is applied at workplace, the approach results in providing parts in just right quantities at the right time, thus lowering the costs and increasing productivity. Since no extra parts are available, production of only good parts is forced on the system. JIT has been extended to mean continuous improvement. These principal are being applied to engineering, purchasing, accounting and data processing also. We will see how JIT helps in implementing lean production systems. In these days when technology is able to provide us with highly accurate equipment which have high capacities and the business has become global meaning that both suppliers and customers are widely accessible. To remain competitive, cost efficiencies have become compulsory. JIT helps in this process. It is extended to the shop floor and inventory systems of the vendors also. One of the main challenges for JIT is frequent changes in production schedules owing to the changes in demand. This causes the procurements plans to changes. In the present day scenario where most manufacturing concerns depends upon a number of suppliers, who in turn may outsource parts and services, disruptions have a cascading effect. However, there is a limit to the agility that a company can build into the system. Communication right through the supply chain helps in reducing inventories and keep the flow lines smooth. Success of JIT depends upon a lot of preparation and committed implementation. VALUE ENGINEERING/ VALUE ANALYSIS – Basically it is a methodology by which we try to find substitutes for a product or an operation. It can be conducted both internally and externally. The concept took shape during the Second World War. The thinking process calls for a deep study of a product and the purpose for which it is used, the raw materials used, the processes of transformation, the equipment need etc. and question whether what is being used is the most appropriate and economical. This applies to all aspects of the product. For examples, let us consider a component needs a round brass rod as raw material in size 21.5 mm. diameter. It has seven operations: cutting, drilling, chamfering boring. Milling, a different size, a different tool, a different machine, a different cot sequence, a different tool for an SET -1 MB0028

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operation, a different chemical, a different concentration, a different voltage, shorter time or processing. Studies can be conducted to verify whether any operation can be eliminated. Simplification of processes reduces the cost of manufacture. Every piece of material and the process should add value to of the product so as to render the best performance. Thus there is an opportunity at every stage of the manufacturing and delivery process to find alternatives which will increase the functionality or reduce cost in terms of material, process and time. It should be remembered that we are not seeking a cost reduction sacrificing quality. It has been found that there will be an improvement in quality when systematic value engineering principles are employed.

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