2.lean Production and Agile Manufacturing PDF
2.lean Production and Agile Manufacturing PDF
2.lean Production and Agile Manufacturing PDF
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A number of market forces can be identified that are driving the evolution
of agility and agile manufacturing in business. These forces include:
Intensifying competitionSigns of intensifying competition include
(1) global competition, (2) decreasing cost of information, (3) growth in
communication technologies, (4) pressure to reduce time-to-market, (5)
shorter product lives, and (6) increasing pressures on costs and profits.
Fragmentation of mass marketsMass production was justified by
the existence of very large markets for mass-produced products. The
signs of the trend toward fragmented markets include: (1) emergence of
niche markets, for example, different sneakers for different sports and
nonsports applications; (2) high rate of model changes; (3) declining
barriers to market entry from global competition; and (4) shrinking windows of market opportunity. Producers must develop new product styles
in shorter development periods.
Cooperative business relationshipsThere is more cooperation
occurring among corporations in the United States. The cooperation takes
many forms, including: (1) increasing inter-enterprise cooperation, (2)
increased outsourcing, (3) global sourc-ing, (4) improved labor
management relationships, and (5) the formation of virtual enterprises
among companies. One might view the increased rate of corporate
mergers that are occurring at time of writing as an extension of these
cooperative relationships.
Changing customer expectationsMarket demands are changing.
Customers are becoming more sophisticated and individualistic in their
purchases. Rapid delivery of the product, support throughout the product
life, and high quality are attributes expected by the customer of the
product and of the company that manufactured the product. Quality is no
longer the basis of competition that it was in the 1970s and 1980s.
Today's products are likely to have increased information content.
Increasing Social PressuresModern companies are expected to be
responsive to social issues, including workforce training and education,
legal pressures, environmental impact issues, gender issues, and civil
rights issues.
Modern firms are dealing with these market forces by becoming agile.
Agility is a strategy for profiting from rapidly changing and continually
fragmenting global markets for customized products and services.
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Becoming agile is certainly not the only objective of the firm. There are
important other objectives, such as making a profit and surviving into the
future. However, becoming more agile is entirely compatible with these
other objectives. Indeed, becoming agile represents a working strategy for
company survival and future profitability.
How does a company become more agile? Two important approaches are:
(1) to reorganize the company's production systems to make them more
agile and (2) to manage relationships differently and value the knowledge
that exists in the organization. Let us examine each of these approaches in
a company's operations as it seeks to become an agile manufacturing
firm.
11. Reorganizing the Production System for Agility
Companies seeking to be agile must organize their production operations
differently than the traditional organization. Let us discuss the changes in
three basic areas: (1) product design, (2) marketing, and (3) production
operations.
Product Design. Reorganizing production for agility includes issues
related to product design. As we have noted previously, decisions made
in product design determine approximately 70% of the manufacturing
cost of a product. For a company to be more agile, the design engineering
department must develop products that can be characterized as follows:
Customizable. Products can be customized for individual niche
markets. In some cases, the product must be customizable for individual
customers.
Upgradeable. It should be possible for customers who purchased the
base model to subsequently buy additional options to upgrade the
product.
Reconfigurable. Through modest changes in design, the product can be
altered to provide it with unique features. A new model can be developed
from the previous model without drastic and time-consuming redesign
effort.
Design modularity. The product should be designed so that it consists
of several modules (e.g., subassemblies) that can be readily assembled to
create the finished item. In this way, if a module needs to be redesigned,
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the entire product does not require redesign. The other modules can
remain the same.
Frequent model changes within stable market families. Even for
products that succeed in the marketplace, the company should
nevertheless introduce new versions of the product to remain competitive.
Platforms for information and services
For more explanation see chapter 27 in " Mikell P. Groover,
Automation, production systems, and computer integrated manufacturing,
2nd edition, prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-089546-6".
adds a markup to determine the price (Example 2.8). But some customers
are willing and able to pay more. The product may be more valuable to
them, especially if it is customized for them. The marketplace allows
different pricing structures for different customers. Instead of standard
prices for everyone, different prices are used, according to the value to
the customer. The airline industry is a good example of multi-level
pricing structure. Tourists who fly and stay over Saturday night pay
sometimes one third the airfare of business travelers who travel round trip
during the same week. Automobiles produced in the same final assembly
plant on the same body frame can vary in price by two-to-one depending
on options and nameplate. In the higher education industry, we have
different tuition rates for different students. We use a different lexicon for
the lower rates than other industries use: We give a discount on the
tuition price and call it a scholarship.
13. Comparison of Lean and Agile
Lean production and agile manufacturing are sometimes compared, and
in this final section we attempt such a comparison. Are lean and agile
really different? They certainly use different statements of principles. The
four principles of lean production are compared with the four principles
of agility in Table 27.5. We also compare the main features of the two
systems in Table 27.6. The emphasis in lean seems to be more on
technical and operational issues, whereas agility emphasizes organization
and people issues. Lean applies mainly to the factory. Agility is broader
in scope, applicable to the enterprise level and even beyond to the
formation of virtual enterprises. One might argue that agility represents
an evolutionary next phase of lean production. Certainly the two systems
do not compete. If anything, agility complements lean. It extends lean
thinking to the entire organization. Agility is to lean as manufacturing
resource planning is to material requirements planning.
If there is a difference between these two production paradigms, it
is in the area of change and change management. Lean tries to minimize
change, at least external change. It attempts to smooth out the ups and
downs in the production schedule. It attempts to reduce the impact of
changeovers on factory operations so that smaller batch sizes and lower
inventories are feasible. It uses flexible production technology to
minimize disruptions caused by design changes. By contrast, the
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Agile Manufacturing
1. Minimize waste
4. Continuous improvement
4. Emphasis on supplier
management
5. Emphasis on efficient use of
resources
5. Emphasis on thriving in
environment marked by continuous
unpredictable change
6. Acknowledges and attempts to be
responsive to change