Master of Business Administration – MBA Semester 2

MB0044 – Production & operations Management - 4 Credits

(Book ID: B1133)
Assignment Set- 1
60 Marks
Note: Each question carries 10 Marks. Answer all the questions.

1. What are the components of systems productivity? Explain how CAD and CIM help
in improving productivity

Production management encompasses all activities which go into conversion of a sate of

inputs into outputs which are useful to meet human needs. It involves the identification of
the perquisite materials, knowledge of the processes, and installation of equipments
necessary to convert or transform the materials to products. System productivity is
generally expressed as the ratio of outputs to inputs. Productivity can be calculated for a
single operation, a functional unit, a department division or a plant. It is a measure of the
efficiency of the system and looks at the economies achieved during the processes. Every
process will have number of contributors-people machines, facilitating goods, ancillary
equipments, technology, etc. Which help in achieving maximum productivity - each element
attempting to enhance the contribution of other elements? Enhancement of productivity is
achieved by either reducing the inputs for the same output or increasing the output by
using the same input. Opportunities exist at al stages of the workflow. The entire system of
introduce measures for increasing productivity. However in actual manufacturing situations,
the inefficiencies will have cascading effect in hampering productivity. Communication,
effective review processes and innovative methods will ensure optimization of resources.
Capital productivity: Capital deployed in plant, machinery, buildings and the distribution
system as well as working capital are components of the oust of manufacture and need to
be productive. Demand fluctuations, uncertainties of production owing to breakdowns and
inventories being crated drag the productivity down. Therefore, strategies are needed to
maximize the utilization of the funds allotted towards capital. Adapting to new technologies,
outsourcing and balancing of the workstations to reduce the proportion of idle times on
equipments are the focus of this section.

computers in design and manufacturing applications makes it possible to remove much of

the tedium and manual labor involved. For example, the many design specifications,
blueprints, material lists, and other documents needed to build complex machines can
require thousands of highly technical and accurate drawings and charts. If the engineers
decide structural components need to be changed, all of these plans and drawings must be
changed. Prior to CAD/CAM, human designers and draftspersons had to change them
manually, a time consuming and error-prone process. When a CAD system is used, the
computer can automatically evaluate and change all corresponding documents instantly. In
addition, by using interactive graphics workstations, designers, engineers, and architects
can create models or drawings, increase or decrease sizes, rotate or change them at will,
and see results instantly on screen.

CAD is particularly valuable in space programs, where many unknown design variables are
involved. Previously, engineers depended upon trial-and-error testing and modification, a
time consuming and possibly life-threatening process. However, when aided by computer
simulation

and testing, a great deal of time, money, and possibly lives can be saved. Besides its use
in the military, CAD is also used in civil aeronautics, automotive, and data processing
industries.

CAM, commonly utilized in conjunction with CAD, uses computers to communicate

instructions to automated machinery. CAM techniques are especially suited for
manufacturing plants, where tasks are repetitive, tedious, or dangerous for human workers.

Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), a term popularized by Joseph Harrington in

1975, is also known as autofacturing. CIM is a programmable manufacturing method
designed to link CAD, CAM, industrial robotics, and machine manufacturing using
unattended processing workstations. CIM offers uninterrupted operation from raw materials
to finished product, with the added benefits of quality assurance and automated assembly.

Three-dimensional velocity models for the basins along the coast of Washington and in
Puget Lowland provide a means for better understanding the lateral variations in strong
ground motions recorded there. We have compiled 16 sonic and 18 density logs from 22 oil
test wells to help us determine the geometry and physical properties of the Cenozoic
basins along coastal Washington. The depth ranges sampled by the test-well logs fall
between 0.3 and 2.1 km. These well logs sample Quaternary to middle Eocene
sedimentary rocks of the Quinault Formation, Montesano Formation, and Hoh rock
assemblage. Most (18 or 82%) of the wells are from Grays Harbor County, and many of
these are from the Ocean City area. These Grays Harbor County wells sample the Quinault
Formation, Montesano Formation, and frequently bottom in the Hoh rock assemblage.
These wells show that the sonic velocity and density normally increase significantly across
the contacts between the Quinault or the Montesano Formations and the Hoh rock
assemblage. Reflection coefficients calculated for vertically traveling compressional waves
from the average velocities and densities for these units suggest that the top of the Hoh
rock assemblage is a strong reflector of downward-propagating seismic waves: these
reflection coefficients lie between 11 and 20%. Thus, this boundary may reflect seismic
energy upward and trap a substantial portion of the seismic energy generated by future
earthquakes within the Miocene and younger sedimentary basins found along the
Washington coast.

Three wells from Jefferson County provide data for the Hoh rock assemblage for the entire
length of the logs. One well (Eastern Petroleum Sniffer Forks #1), from the Forks area in
Clallam County, also exclusively samples the Hoh rock assemblage. This report presents
the locations, elevations, depths, stratigraphic, and other information for all the oil test
wells, and provides plots showing the density and sonic velocities as a function of depth for
each well log. We also present two-way traveltimes for 15 of the wells calculated from the
sonic velocities. Average velocities and densities for the wells having both logs can be
reasonably well related using a modified Gardner’s rule, with p=1825v(1/4), where p is the
density (in kg/m3) and v is the sonic velocity (in km/s). Finally, we present laboratory
measurements of compressional-wave velocity, shear-wave velocity, and density for 11
greywackes and 29 mafic rocks from the Olympic Peninsula and Puget Lowland. These
units have significance for earthquake-hazard investigations in Puget Lowland as they dip
eastward beneath the Lowland, forming the “bedrock” beneath much of the lowland.
Average Vp/Vs ratios for the mafic rocks, mainly Crescent Formation volcanics, lie between
1.81 and 1.86. Average Vp/Vs ratios for the greywackes from the accretionary core
complex in the Olympic Peninsula show greater scatter but lie between 1.77 and 1.88. Both
the Olympic Peninsula mafic rocks and greywackes have lower shear-wave velocities than
would be expected for a Poisson solid (Vp/Vs=1.732). Although the P-wave velocities and
densities in the greywackes can be related by a Gardner’s rule of p=1720v(1/4), close to
the p=1740v(1/4) proposed by Gardner et al. (1974), the velocities and densities of the
mafic rocks are best related by a Gardner’s rule of p=1840v(1/4). Thus, the density/velocity
relations are similar for the Puget Lowland well logs and greywackes from the Olympic
Peninsula. Density/velocity relations are similar for the Washington coastal well logs and
mafic rocks from the Olympic Peninsula, but differ from those of the Puget Lowland well
logs and greywackes from the Olympic Peninsula
2. What do you understand by ‘industry best practice’? Briefly explain different types of
Benchmarking.
Industry Best Practices : Each industry would have developed over years or decades.
During this development materials would have changed and processes would have
changed. As all products or services are meant to serve needs of the customers, they
undergo continuous changes both in shapes and features.
Materials and methods go on improving incessantly because of the research that is
conducted. The companies that were at the front innovate to stay in business as new
entrants would be adopting the latest techniques that the pioneers had taken decades to
establish. So, the various firms in any industry would end up adopting almost similar
methods of getting an output required. Such practices would get refined to a great extent
giving rise to what we call industry best practices. These tend to get stabilised or changed
owing to the development of new equipments which are designed.
A manufacturer, with an eye on growing markets, demands for higher quality and reduced
prices. Competition benefits those who can use all these to their advantage. Industry best
practices open up the field for benchmarking by companies which need to improve their
performance.

The following are the types of benchmarking considered by various firms.

• Process Benchmarking – Business Process
• Financial Benchmarking
• Performance Benchmarking
• Product Benchmarking
• Strategic Benchmarking
• Functional Benchmarking

Tools like Pareto Analysis (an example is shown in figure) are used to make the choice or
choices from among many aspects in any one of the above categories.

Tools like Pareto Analysis (an example is shown in figure) are used to make the choice or
choices from among many aspects in any one of the above categories.
Example of Pareto Analysis

1. Planning: Planning determines the process, service or the product to be benchmarked

on which metrics are assigned for collection of data.

2. Analysis: Analysed data gives inputs for comparison with the target company’s
performance on the parameter benchmark on which data was collected. Measuring gaps
helps in identifying the process which should be improved for reaching the benchmark.

3. Integration: Resources are required across all functions to achieve the target needs.
Integration involves putting together resources like people, equipments, and
communication, so that, progress is unhindered and all activities reach their logical
conclusions without loss of initiative or time.

4. Action: When changes are needed, actions have to be planned according to the steps
earlier stated. Teams are provided with necessary leadership, authority, and supporting
facilities to enable them to complete all activities within the time frame set for the purpose.
Since benchmarking is done in specific areas, it is necessary to maintain the focus, and
implement actions without losing initiative, so that, results become demonstrable.
3. List out the various automated systems for transfer of materials in the production plant.
What do you understand by Line Balancing? Explain with an example.

Basically, automation system comes to reduce labour power and time in the production.
Here we can see the evolution systems with some examples. The goods requited by
society were produces in small quantities by craftsman who would know the need of the
community and produced them by their own hands with simple tools. The apprentices or by
another craftsman, who would make them to meet the requests made.

The parts and components used to make these machines had to be replaced when they
wore making parts so that interchangeability was achieved made setting up standards and
specifications important for meeting

The craftsmen gave way to engineers, workers, superiors and inspectors. Division of
labour became necessary to achieve efficiencies and the jabs that became specialized.
Competition has necessitated improved quality, reduced sates and better services to the
customer.

Automation systems cost huge sums of money and therefore a deep analysis of the
various factors has to be done. For services, automation usually means labour saving
devices in education, long distance learning technology helps in supplementing class room
instruction. The facilitating goods that are used are web site and videos.

Automation in the banking sector has resulted in ATMs which same the banks a huge
amount customer satisfaction. Automation is ideas when the service provided or the
product manufactured is highly standardized.

Some extent of automation can be designed even with customization i. e. product or

service a meant to produce or deliver low volume specific to a requirement. The
advantages of automation is it has low variability and will be more consistent on a repetitive
basis.

The machines have sensing and control devices that enable them to operate automobile.
The simplest of them called machine attachments replace human effort. They guide,
locate, move and achieve revise position by means of came, optical sensing. Load sensing
mechanisms and activate the controls to remove human intention.

Robots are higher in the order of automation as they perform a variety of tasks. They are
designed to move movements according to programmers written into the computer that
inside them.

With the help of automation, inspection of component can be done 100% ensures highest
quality identification and movement of materials are helped by bar codes which are read
and fed into the system far monitoring quantity, location, movement etc. They help the
automated systems to start information and provide information for effecting any changes
necessary. To make effective use of automated machines, we need to have the movement
of materials from and to different time as stores, automated, Automated storage and
Retrieval systems- ASRS- receive orders for materials from anywhere in the production
area, collect materials in the works times. Computers and information systems are used for
placing orders for matters, give commands adjust inventory records which show the
location and quantity of materials needed.

Automated guided vehicle systems- AGVS – are pallet trucks and unit load carriers follow
embedded guide wires or paint strips to destinations as programmed.

In an automobile showroom we can see all the work automatically with latest machine.
4. Explain the different types of Quality Control Tools with examples? How do Crosby’s
absolutes of quality differ from Deming’s principles?