In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Meaning of Agile Manufacturing 2. Key Enablers of Agile Manufacturing 3. Production Planning and Control (PPC) 4. Product Design 5. Virtual Enterprise 6. Automation and Information Technology 7. Lean Production 8. Robust Manufacturing Company.
Meaning of Agile Manufacturing:
Agility refers to the capability to adapt. Agile manufacturing is adopted where a company having processes, tools and trained personnel is required to quickly respond to changing customer needs and market changes, without compromising quality and reducing costs, thus delivering value to the customer.
The technology has emerged as a follow up from lean production. Agility addresses new ways of running companies integrating flexible and nimble organisation, trained people and technology into a meaningful utility.
It thus attempts to do with less and less human effort, less equipment, less time and less space, while coming closer and closer to providing customers what they want. The products are customised in agile manufacturing against standardised products in huge volumes in mass production.
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Agile manufacturing is enterprise level manufacturing strategy of introducing new products for rapidly changing markets, and having organisational ability to thrive in a competitive environment characterised by continuous/ unforeseen changes by rapidly reconfiguring the human and physical resources to changing environment and market opportunities. Such organisation values knowledge and rewards the innovation. It has entrepreneurial spirit, and there is a climate of mutual responsibility for joint success.
The top priority of agile companies is to cooperate internally and with other companies even if it involves partnering with them (competitors) by forming virtual enterprises. Pricing of product is based on the value of solution to customer rather than on manufacturing cost.
Key Enablers of Agile Manufacturing:
The key enablers of agile manufacturing are:
(i) Virtual enterprise formation,
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(ii) Physically distributed manufacturing architecture and teams,
(iii) Rapid partnership formation,
(iv) Concurrent engineering,
(v) Integrated product/ business information systems,
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(vi) Rapid prototyping,
(vii) Electronic, information technology and communication technology utilisation, etc.
A lean, agile, and global company results in a virtual organisation consisting of several sub-production units geographically dispersed in the world as branches, joint ventures, subcontractors, etc. It focuses on strategic planning, product design, virtual enterprise, automation and information technology.
Strategic planning is concerned with virtual enterprise, rapid-partnership formation, rapid prototyping, and temporary alliances based on core competencies. Agile manufacturing can be achieved through customer -integrated multidisciplinary teams, supply chain partners, flexible manufacturing, computer-integrated manufacturing systems, and modular production facilities.
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In agile manufacturing, usually the functions, knowledge and operations are geographically distributed and these have to be integrated by networks. It is, therefore, necessary that such manufacturing enterprise must establish co-operation with suppliers, customers, partners, etc.
Further it must be possible to allow different organisation structures and the changing relationships between then dynamically, in order to adapt to the volatility of the global markets. The system must react to the occurrence of disturbances in order to minimise their impacts on the system.
Fig. 42.1 shows elements of agile manufacturing (AM) and Fig. 42.2 the elements of AM Strategies and Technologies.
Production Planning and Control (PPC) in Agile Manufacturing (AM):
Operation management of virtual companies in AM requires:
(i) Flexible or dynamic company control structure to cope with uncertainties in the market,
(ii) Adaptive production scheduling structure and algorithms to cope with uncertainties of the production state,
(iii) Modeling of production states and control systems,
(iv) Modeling of concurrent product development and production under continuous customer’s influence,
(v) Real-Time monitoring and control of the production progress.
For achieving agility in manufacturing, radical changes are needed in line with productive reengineering business process.
Agile manufacturing has evolved a new architecture of production systems, i.e. responsibility-based manufacturing (RBM) which enables close alignment between system behaviour and business process requirements. RBM allows most adjustments for process and product variety without system reconfiguration.
Active resources take the responsibility for production of individual parts, implementing the relation of individual customer to individual producer. An integrated supply chain acts as a global network used to deliver products and services from raw materials to end-customers through an engineered flow of information and physical distribution.
Product Design in Agile Manufacturing (AM):
Agile manufacturing demands a change around the formation of product development teams to include representation of design, manufacturing, marketing, quality, purchasing groups. It requires a rapid product design system with objective of switching over to new products as quickly as possible.
Non-value adding activities need to be reduced by grouping various resources and products so that right products reach market at the right time. Virtual Design Environment is information architecture to support design – manufacturing – supplies – planning decisions in a distributed heterogeneous environment for systematic selection of planning alternatives that reduce cost and increase output.
Virtual Enterprise in Agile Manufacturing (AM):
A virtual enterprise results from the integration of complementary core competencies distributed among a number of carefully chosen real organisations, all with similar supply chains focussing on speed to the market, cost reduction and quality.
Since virtual enterprises are temporary, these must be carefully assembled and disassembled, and careful attention be given to security, focus being on cost-reduction. Supply chain management also needs a different set of frameworks, strategies, techniques, and performance measurement criteria.
Automation and Information Technology in Agile Manufacturing:
AM requires intelligent sensing (like vision systems) and decision making systems capable of automatically performing tasks without human involvement. Agile enabling technologies like virtual machine tools, flexible fixturing, agile design alternatives are required. Physically distributed facilities demand high-level communication systems to exchange information at various levels of manufacturing organisations.
Lean Production:
Mass production was feasible with huge quantities, building inventory buffers and concerned with acceptable quality, high efficiency and go on producing till stopped by faulty condition. Thus a certain level of fraction defects was satisfactory in mass production.
However with customer demand and need changing fast, companies had to shift to lean production. It utilises concept of just in time delivery, minimum inventory, and minimum waste. It works on zero defect level and follows philosophy of perfect first-time delivery.
It utilises flexible production systems for small batch sizes and shorter set up change overs and utilises expertise of workers fully to solve technical problems. It believes in continuous improvement with dynamically changing market environment. It constantly searches for and implements ways to low cost, improve quality, and increase productivity and also make improvements in design. It is accomplished by doing one project at a time.
The emphasis in lean production is more on technical and operational issues whereas agile manufacturing emphasises on organisation and personnel. Lean production is associated with a factor whereas agility is applicable to the enterprise level and formation of virtual enterprise. However lean and agile technologies do not compete.
Lean manufacturing tries to minimise change (particularly, external change). It attempts to reduce the impact of change-overs on factory operations so that smaller batch sizes and lower inventories are feasible. It uses flexible production technology to minimise disruption caused by design changes. However agile manufacturing embraces and is responsive to change. For a company to be agile, it must be lean also.
Robust Manufacturing Company:
Robust manufacturing company must be agile, adaptive, efficient, knowledgeable, innovative and well managed so as to be able to increase productivity and competitiveness. It must have capabilities to handle high value-addition, low volume products that are in demand.
It must possess ability to maximise leverage from strong and sustainable partnerships through local and global supply chains, and seek markets in emerging growth economies. It must have ability to adapt quickly to meet challenges and capture emerging opportunities.
It must be able to secure supply of resource inputs and skills by direct acquisition, partnering or engaging in global supply chains. Manufacturing processes adopted should be more energy and resource efficient.