Process layout planning and optimised product range selection in manufacture of wooden construction sets

Mieczyslaw S Siemiatkowski,Mária Vargovská

doi:10.4067/s0718-221x2019005000205

Abstract

This paper introduces a systematic deterministic framework for planning and the analysis of facility layouts aimed at manufacturing a variety of parts, being components of specific end products. The essence of the proposed approach lies in the decomposition of a traditional job-shop into layout modules of generic material flow patterns, that inherently yields improved efficiency of the entire system. It entails the use of a relevant reasoning scheme based on production flow analysis and the method of hierarchical clustering of specified process routings for parts. The approach has been studied in the aspect of its application in an actual woodworking facility, dealing with fabrication of wooden toy sets. The respective workflows were subjected to the analysis in order to identify production bottlenecks using data derived from the real case study. As a result, the designated process layout alternatives have been evaluated in terms of assumed measures of the operational performance. An inseparable part of the research was exploring the capability for the optimum selection of a multi-part product mix , to be fabricated in defined time frames. In this regard, the usability as well as the computational efficacy of the integer linear programming modelling have been fully confirmed. The results gained show in particular that the suggested methodical scheme could be a useful tool in planning optimised manufacture of customised wood products of modular construction.

Highlights

Contemporary manufacturing is realised in dynamically changing environment with increased demand on customised high quality products, to be fabricated at the right time and in required quantities
Material flow analysis (MFA), intended to its rationalization, has been for long among those measures, which inherently might be contributive to minimizing losses in the production process and the improvement of manufacturing system operation, lowering overall production cost
Formulated research problem involves an extensive use of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) that is aimed at the evaluation and rationalisation of material flow in production (Gould and Colwill, 2015)

Summary

Introduction

Contemporary manufacturing is realised in dynamically changing environment with increased demand on customised high quality products, to be fabricated at the right time and in required quantities. Under the circumstance, manufacturing enterprises have to constantly adapt their structures and industrial practices to sustain the ability to cope with changes in product demand and variety (Nakkiew and Poolperm 2016) and reduced environmental impact (Esmaeilian et al 2016). Material flow analysis (MFA), intended to its rationalization, has been for long among those measures, which inherently might be contributive to minimizing losses in the production process and the improvement of manufacturing system operation, lowering overall production cost. The analysis plays a crucial role in detecting potential bottlenecks in production and in searching for a more efficient process layout, characterized by the reduced negative impact of these bottlenecks on system performance (Thoews et al 2008)

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Conclusion