Operations Management - Process Analysis
What is a process?
How to improve process efficiently
Repetitive operations that turn input -> output
Understand
Worker-paced
Machine-paced
Each step has its own pace
Steps need to be syncronized
Measure
Improve
Increase capacity of the process
Capacity
Throughput rate (flow rate, output rate)
Utilization
Process cycle time (throughput time, flow time)
Process time
Max # of units a process can output in a period of time
A rate
Single step
Multi step
Time to process a unit at an activity
= 1 / Process time
= Min {Input rate, Capacity}
% of time station is busy
= Output rate / capacity
time for a unit to go through the entire system
Shortest time between two outputs
Multi-step production line
Bottleneck
Station with lowest capacity or longest process time
Process time
It is the process time of bottle neck
Time btwn 2 consecutive outputs if process is at full speed
Process cycle time
Add all process times
Input rate
= 1 / time btwm 2 consecutive arrivals
Output rate
= 1 / time btwn 2 consecutive outputs
Add more resources to station
Parallel resources
click to edit
Process time is cut by half (If process time of an activity is 8 for each the time is 4)
Capacity is doubled
over/under capacity
Too much capacity -> wasted capacity
Too little capacity -> loss of demand