World Class Manufacturing System Research Articles

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE WORLD CLASS MANUFACTURING ADOPTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The prevailing global competitive environment requires continuous improvement approaches that integrate the entire organisation, from strategic management to operational performance. World class manufacturing (WCM) is a continuous improvement strategy that defines the logic, rigour, and detail of how organisations can achieve sustainable operational performance and customer satisfaction improvements. The paper investigates the factors influencing the successful implementation and sustaining of WCM in the South African manufacturing industry. A qualitative descriptive approach is employed to probe the views and opinions of WCM practitioners in a global manufacturing company with a footprint in South Africa and in other African countries, who were enrolled via purposeful sampling. The findings revealed that management commitment significantly influences achieving a successful WCM system. Furthermore, running WCM as a system could mitigate noticeable barriers identified in this study. The study could substantially enhance industrial engineering practice by revealing aspects to consider when implementing and running a WCM system.

Combining World Class Manufacturing system and Industry 4.0 technologies to design ergonomic manufacturing equipment

In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, human has still a central role. Manufacturing industries have to deal with human sustainability in order to guarantee workers’ health and well-being. Several studies have proved the importance of ergonomics in workplace design and the benefits related to the adoption of the human-centered approach. The enabling technologies of Industry 4.0 are changing the role of the operator and can support him from a physical and cognitive point of view. On the other hand, companies are increasingly implementing lean philosophies, such as World Class Manufacturing, to maintain their competitiveness by reducing wastes and costs. However, the need arises for a comprehensive methodology to support the design of manufacturing equipment considering human factors by integrating Industry 4.0 technologies and World Class Manufacturing elements. It aims at improving both ergonomic and efficiency aspects of the workstation. The proposed methodology allows identifying and in-depth analyzing the problem, thus finding and implementing a solution that complies with all the requirements and constraints defined. Each step of the methodology can be strengthened by Industry 4.0 technologies. The methodology has been experimented in a real case study with a global company of agriculture and industrial vehicles, leading to the design and implementation of a new equipment. Relevant benefits in terms of ergonomics, efficiency, and process standardization have been achieved.

World Class Manufacturing performance measurement using a maturity model and the FlowSort method

The World Class Manufacturing (WCM) system is a set of best management practices that can provide organisations with significant performance results. At the same time, since organisations are in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, it is important that they continually assess this environment and, thereby, gain situational understanding to perceive and seize opportunities and threats, and consequently apply management practices strategically. Therefore, this paper proposes and empirically validates a model for evaluating the maturity of organisations when applying the WCM system. The authors combined the insights they had from the literature with opinions of WCM experts to develop the model. To support the problem of classifying organisations into the maturity levels defined, the FlowSort multicriteria method was used. The proposed model was applied in four companies and received a good evaluation and acceptance by those involved. This corroborated with the feasibility and usability of this instrument, in addition to which this method by proposing a new tool for evaluating the performance of production systems of companies that use WCM, in a VUCA environment, is intended as a contribution to the literature.

The evolution of world class manufacturing toward Industry 4.0: A case study in the automotive industry

In order to increase the level of global competitiveness and improve the performance of production system, a large number of manufacturing companies have implemented world class manufacturing (WCM) approach, which has developed based on the third industrial revolution and the need for mass production. The evolution in production equipment and communication technologies, and the demand of markets for personalized mass production, have forced manufacturing companies to transform their production systems and prepare for a revolution. This revolution, known as Industry 4.0 (I4.0), or the digital transformation, has been introduced as a new type of organization of manufacturing systems that is more flexible and agile, and is based on using large amounts of information and data in the decision-making process. One of the main characteristics of this concept is decentralization, which allows different subsystems to make decisions autonomously in order to have self-organization systems. There are some important differences between the principles of WCM and I4.0. World class manufacturing is mainly based on continuous improvement and cost reduction, without a global vision for profit optimization. Industry 4.0 is mainly based on using all accessible information and data of systems and making decentralized decisions, but it also involves a global vision and a systemic approach to global profit optimization. However, achieving these objectives takes a very long time, and the challenges are numerous. As with all projects, for a transformation project to succeed, it is very important to define the transition phase and the way to change and introduce these new principles. This paper presents part of our research project, in collaboration with the Fiat Powertrain Technologies company, concerning the transformation of their production system toward the factory of the future. We highlight the design principles of I4.0 and the potential of the WCM system for transformation and achieving development of the characteristics of I4.0. We focus on five of the principal technical pillars of WCM and the steps in their development, and present some modifications in adoption of the design principles of I4.0. An example of change in the professional maintenance pillar of WCM is also presented.

Operations research - contemporary role in managerial decision making

As the global environment becomes most competitive, Operations Research has gained significance in applications like world - class Manufacturing systems (WCM), Lean production, six - sigma quality management, Benchmarking, Just – in - Time (JIT) inventory techniques. The growth of global markets and the resulting increase in competition have highlighted the need for Operation Research. To survive and lead the today‘s highly competitive and demand drivenmarket, pressure is on management to make economic decisions. One of the essential managerial skills is ability to allocate and utilize resources appropriately in the efforts of achieving the optimal performance efficiently. In some cases such as small - scale low complexity environment, decision based on intuition with minimal quantitative basis may be reasonably acceptable and practical in achieving the goal of the organization. However, for a large - scale system, both quantitative and qualitative (i.e. intuition, experience, common sense) analyses are required to make the most economical decisions. Using Operations Research techniques including Linear Programming, Discrete Event Simulation and Queuing Theory, organization leaders can make high quality decisions. Operations managers are not expected to be experts in any decision science tools; however, he or she must have fundamental knowledge of such tools to acquire right resources and to make the most economically sounding decisions for the company as a whole. Present paper is an attempt to study the importance of Operations research and various techniques used to improve the operational efficiency of the organization.

Enhancement of OEE by using TPM and TQM Concept in Automotive Industry

In the present scenario to support in the worldwide market, manufacturers need to produce high quality of the products. From a practical point of view, the conventional production method is hard to produce expected number and competence of the product on time at the customer end. Two concepts have moved towards forwarding, which Total Quality Management (TQM) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and along with other concepts attain World Class Manufacturing system (WCM). In the production line, grinding machine is one of the critical devices in process line which performs below the desired level. The present paper is to distinguish the relationships among TQM, TPM program and execution as a conceptual model. These concepts are using a tool for determining the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) rate is an essential factor of any serious commitment to reducing tools and process related desecrate. This model will help the industry have a better appreciative of the relationship between the practices. Then set the improvement target goal, design and implement the TQM principle and TPM concept. In the TQM, the Deming PDSA cycle used for problem-solving, process improvement plan. TPM concept is used to analyse the current situation and develop the development plan. Implementing the both TQM and TPM concept on Grinding machine to enhance the OEE value. After effective implementation of this model, the present organisation achieves OEE of the grinding machine is from the 45.66% to 83.5%. As a result grinding machine performs 83.5% OEE.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Implementation in a Machine Shop: A Case Study

Quality and Maintenance of manufacturing systems are closely related functions of any organization. Over a period of time two concepts have emerged which are Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Total Quality Management (TQM) along with other concepts to achieve World Class Manufacturing system. In this paper experience of implementing Total Productive Maintenance is shared and investigated for a company manufacturing automotive component. Concept is implemented in the machine shop having CNC turning centers of different capacity. Overall Equipment Effectiveness is used as the measure of success of TPM implementation. The losses associated with equipment effectiveness are identified. All the pillars of TPM are implemented in a phased manner eliminating the losses and thus improving the utilization of CNC machines.

Evaluation of world-class manufacturing systems: a case of Indian automotive industries

Many industries are implementing World-Class Manufacturing (WCM) systems to compete in the global market. However, the researchers in the area of WCM have not paid much attention to the techniques/methodologies for the evaluation of WCM systems. This paper presents a set of validated critical success factors and their performance variables for WCM industries. The reliability and validity analyses were carried out by using the SPSS? 11.5 statistical tool on the data obtained from the Indian automotive industries. A multiattribute decision model, i.e., Performance Value Analysis (PVA), was developed for the evaluation of WCM systems. The usefulness of the model is demonstrated using a case situation of the Indian automotive industry. By utilising this model, it is expected that managers/decision makers will acquire sufficient confidence in evaluating world-class automotive industries.

Justification of World-Class Manufacturing Systems using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

In recent years, quite a few industries claim that they are "world-class" and many other industries have embarked on their journey to attain the "world-class" status. But there is a general challenge offered by World-Class Manufacturing Systems (WCMS) to the field of engineering economics, when it becomes necessary to justify its adoption or implementation. The traditional justification approaches do not account for the significant intangible benefits offered by WCMS. Hence, this paper attempts to demonstrate the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to overcome the above-mentioned problem. From an extensive analysis of the results, it is evident that implementation of WCMS would result in overall improvement in the performance of an organisation in comparison with the alternatives.

Development of a knowledge-based system for justification of world-class manufacturing systems

Since the introduction of the concept ‘world-class manufacturing (WCM)’, world-class manufacturing systems (WCMSs) have attracted the attention of industries all over the world. This is evident from the fact that, in recent years, quite a few industries claim they are of ‘world class’ and many other industries have embarked on their journey to attain ‘world-class’ status. The perceptible impact of WCMSs lies in attaining the far-reaching world-class standards, but there is a general challenge offered by WCM to the field of engineering economics, when it is necessary to justify adopting or implementing such new philosophies or systems. Typically, the traditional approaches do not account for the significant intangible benefits offered by systems such as WCM. The present work describes the development of a knowledge-based system for justification of WCMSs, to overcome the above-mentioned deficiency.

PERFORMANCE VALUE ANALYSIS FOR THE JUSTIFICATION OF WORLD-CLASS MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

World-class manufacturing systems (WCMS) has attracted the attention of industries all over the world. The perceptible impact of WCMS lies in attaining the far reaching world-class standards. Attempts have been made to examine WCMS for the feasibility in Indian industries. The present work describes a performance value analysis for the justification of WCMS for Indian industries.

Advanced manufacturing for the disc drive industry

The disc drive industry has evolved over the last decade from the garage shop start-up environment of Silicon Valley to a sophisticated, high-volume, worldwide, world class manufacturing system. Advances in all aspects of the disc drive industry have been enormous. Although many other aspects of disc drive manufacturing have had significant changes and improvements, this paper will address only the mechanical assembly process. Advances in tooling, processes, automation, Information Technology, and Statistical Process Control, and their effects on Disc Drive production are discussed.

Scheduling factories of the future

The trend toward factories of the future, indicates that world class manufacturing systems will have no more than 20 highly productive machines with an automated material handling system. These factories will operate in Just-In-Time mode under computer control. The machines, in general, will be more versatile. It is also expected that by the year 2000, cutting speed will be up to 10 times faster than today's standards. Reduced lot sizes will dramatically increase the demand on material handling; cooperative workstations will have to be close to each other. The numerical control code will not be generated until the specific routing for a certain order is known. A typical factory order will require only a few units up to less than a hundred. Every order will be produced in exact quantity Just-In-Time for shipping, hence with no inventory. We strongly believe that the virtual cell concept, extensively documented by McLean, etc., and others, will meet the requirement for the factory of the future. This concept has the potential for making flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) even more efficient, because of its inherent capability for sharing resources. Contrary to the group technology cell configuration, a virtual cell is not identifiable as a fixed physical grouping of workstations, but as data files and processes in a controller. Upon selection of a job order, a virtual cell controller is created. The controller takes over the control of a set of workstations capable of processing the job for which they have been selected. This temporary grouping of workstations is called a virtual cell. Once all resources have been requested and awarded, processing can begin. Parts are moved from workstation to workstation similar to a flow line sequence. We have extended the virtual cell concept proposed by McLean and we have developed a scheduling algorithm that permits the creation of virtual cells and schedule them under workstations and tools availability constraints. Equally important, the algorithm is characterized by its polynomial time complexity. The size of the model grows quickly, but linearly, and remains reasonable for a typical size factory. It is efficient enough to be executed in real time for scheduling any virtual cell based system within hundred of seconds with current computer technology. The scheduling model has many advantages that makes it suitable for scheduling factories of the future. Firstly, it permits consideration of critical tools. Secondly, it provides a quick reaction to unexpected events. Finally, it enables a coherent planning of resource utilization, potentially reducing possibilities of delays and deadlock, which are very common in fast pace manufacturing systems.