Adjustments to Manufacturing Operations

Within a manufacturing process, there are six basic parameters that can be adjusted, which are: orders, labour, machinery, materials, organisation, and safety. Any variation or change to one or more of these parameters can cause an effect on the quality, cost, and output of the production process. It must be crucial to remember that these changes don’t have to be positive changes, they can be negative changes, thus it’s essential to consider, understand, and thoroughly discuss any change.

Ultimately, the decision as to where and what adjustments are required will be influenced by whether the increased output is sustainable or if it’s just a temporary change. For instance, with any new investment in machinery, the potential payback will be a huge factor, on deciding whether or not the company requires to invest in it, or potentially look at other avenues.

Other issues that may be considered when developing suggestions to solve an issue include, changes to machinery settings, increased individual training, or an adjustment to the materials being used, though the materials should always suit the product specification and quality. Moreover, let’s not forget, organisational parameters, which include production scheduling, payment systems, and workplace organisation. 

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), is a key performance indicator (KPI), to compare performance among similar or identical production plants; essentially, it’s a metric that portrays how efficiently a plant operates. This metric combines the measurement of plant availability, performance efficiency, quality, equipment, and process. 

Availability = operating time / planned production time
Performance = (ideal cycle time * total pieces) / operating time
Quality = good pieces / total pieces
OEE = availability * performance * quality OR (Good pieces * ideal cycle time) / planned production time

These formulas can be used to see how adjustments to parameters have an effect on overall equipment effectiveness. With each parameter, there should be a procedure to follow when one requires adjusting, thus it’s important to maintain a workflow, and don’t forget, document everything accurately and legibly, as errors in documentation may cause errors in production.  

Learning Objectives:
•Identify the six basic parameters in a manufacturing process
•Assess how variables have an effect on OEE
•Distinguish and analyse the attributes that make up OEE and the equation for each attribute