Production Activity in Engineering Positions

Planning Production Activity

• The aim is to understand typical production activities and decisions related to engineering positions.

Engineering Positions in Production

• Plant Manager: Overall plant manager overseeing all activities.
• Plant Engineer: Responsible for support services, not product-specific. This includes:
  • Design Engineer: Designs and implements small plant and equipment changes, and specifications for larger changes.
  • Maintenance Engineer: Designs and specifies maintenance criteria.
• Plant Production Manager: Manages activities directly related to the product, including production equipment. Their staff handles maintenance.
• Utilities: Manages all utility needs of the plant.
• Housekeeping: Manages general housekeeping and associated support activities.
• Security: Manages all security aspects.
• Industrial Engineer: Manages plant layout, time-motion analysis, and standards.
• Quality Manager: Handles quality issues.
• Quality Control: Analyzes and prevents quality problems.
• Inspection: Determines if products meet specifications.

Planning Manufacturing Facilities

• Objective: To determine how the manufacturing facility best supports production.
• Involves:
  • Location Determination: Determining the optimal location considering transportation costs, manpower availability, costs, utilities, taxes, tariffs, and supplier location.
  • Component Determination:
    • Structure: The building and support services (utilities, transportation).
    • Layout: Production areas, support services, personnel areas.
    • Handling Systems: Managing materials, personnel, information, and equipment.
    • Facility Layout: Determining the layout required for each need.

Facility Location

• The process of choosing a suitable location for a facility.
• Steps:
  • Establish the need for a new facility.
  • Determine the best geographical location based on factors like transportation costs, manpower availability, costs, utilities, taxes, tariffs, and supplier location.
  • Establish requirements(products, equipment, building needs, utilities).
  • Screen potential locations.
  • Select the best location.
  • Build the plant.

Plant Design

• Decisions on plant design (single-story vs. multi-story, concrete vs. steel construction) depend on the product and its production methods.

Plant Layout

• Four main types:
  • Product Layout: Arranges machines/personnel in sequence of production for efficient product flow.
  • Process Layout: Groups similar machines/activities together for versatile production of different products.
  • Group Technology Layout: Groups products with similar processing for efficient use of equipment.
  • Fixed-Position Layout: Product remains fixed, and processes are brought to it.

Types of Inventory

• Raw Materials: Materials requiring processing.
• Purchased Parts: Components not needing processing.
• Supplies: Consumable materials.
• Work in Process: Unfinished products.
• Finished Goods: Completed products.

Economic Order Quantity (EOQ)

• The optimal reorder amount to minimize inventory costs.
• Formula given, with variables representing annual inventory need, storage cost per unit, setup cost for ordering, and other relevant factors.

Break-Even Charts

• The point where costs equal total revenues.
• Fixed Costs: Independent of production level (Lease, insurance).
• Variable Costs: Vary directly with production level (Direct labor, material).

Production Planning & Control (PPC)

• Balancing idle resources and idle inventory. Key is to maintain enough inventory for worker productivity and prevent overly large idle inventories.
• Steps in planning production:
  • Process Planning: Determining steps in production.
  • Loading: Time on each machine to process parts.
  • Scheduling: Setting specific time for tasks.
  • Dispatching: Authorizing task commencement.
  • Production Control: Monitoring and adjusting the plan.

Planning and Control Systems

• Materials Requirements Planning (MRP): Schedules raw materials and parts, and production operations for on-time product delivery.
• Master Production Schedule (MPS): Defines the production plan.
• Bill of Materials: Lists necessary materials.
• Order Schedules: Determines material order timing to maintain availability.
• Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II): Extends MRP to include scheduling machinery and personnel.