Shop floor management system in the context of smart manufacturing: a case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 837-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diamantino Torres ◽  
Carina Pimentel ◽  
Susana Duarte
Keyword(s):  
Cyber Security ◽  
Performance Indicator ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Smart Manufacturing ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Security Technology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Smart Technologies ◽  
Manufacturing Technologies

Purpose The purpose of this study intends to make a characterization of a shop floor management (SFM) system in the context of smart manufacturing, through smart technologies and digital shop floor (DSF) features. Design/methodology/approach To attain the paper objective, a mixed method methodology was used. In the first stage, a theoretical background was carried out, to provide a comprehensive understanding on SFM system in a smart manufacturing perspective. Next, a case study within a survey was developed. The case study was introduced to characterize a SFM system, while the survey was made to understand the level of influence of smart manufacturing technologies and of DSF features on SFM. In total, 17 experts responded to the survey. Findings Data analytics is the smart manufacturing technology that influences more the SFM system and its components and the cyber security technology does not influence it at all. The problem solving (PS) is the SFM component more influenced by the smart manufacturing technologies. Also, the use of real-time digital visualization tools is considered the most influential DSF feature for the SFM components and the data security protocols is the least influential one. The four SFM components more influenced by the DSF features are key performance indicator tracking, PS, work standardization and continuous improvement. Research limitations/implications The study was applied in one multinational company from the automotive sector. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is one of the first to try to characterize the SFM system on smart manufacturing considering smart technologies and DSF features.

scholarly journals The interplay between smart manufacturing technologies and work organization

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (6/7/8) ◽  
pp. 913-934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaella Cagliano ◽  
Filomena Canterino ◽  
Annachiara Longoni ◽  
Emilio Bartezzaghi
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Smart Manufacturing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Technological Complexity ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Manufacturing Technologies ◽  
Different Characteristics ◽  
Academic Debate

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on how smart manufacturing (SM) affects work organization at both micro-level – i.e. work design, described in terms of operator job breadth and autonomy, cognitive demand and social interaction – and at macro-level – i.e. organizational structure, described in terms of centralization of decision making and number of hierarchical levels in the plant. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports on a multiple-case study of 19 companies implementing SM. Findings Results present four main configurations differing in terms of technological complexity, and micro and macro work organization. Research limitations/implications The paper contributes to the academic debate about the interplay between technology and work organization in the context of SM, specifically the authors find that the level of technology complexity relates to different characteristics of micro and macro work organization in the plant. Practical implications Findings offer valuable insights for practice, with implications for the design of operator jobs, skills and plant organizational structure, in light of the challenges generated by the implementation of SM technology. Guidelines on how policymakers can foster the implementation of SM technology to enhance social sustainability are proposed. Originality/value This study advances a novel focus in studying SM, i.e. work organization implications of this new manufacturing paradigm instead of its mere technological implications.

Towards Chinese smart manufacturing ecosystem in the context of the one belt one road initiative

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafif Al-Sayed ◽  
Jianhua Yang
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Industrial Clusters ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Smart Manufacturing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Regional Collaboration

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically China’s determined thrust to attain a high level of technological innovation and the factors affecting moving towards a smart and sophisticated manufacturing ecosystem in conjunction with the Belt and Road Initiative (OBOR). Design/methodology/approach This research provides empirical determination of the factors affecting moving towards smart manufacturing ecosystems in China. The method is based on combining two approaches: semi-structured interview and questionnaire-based with academics, experts and managers in various Chinese industrial sectors. The results are based on the multivariate analysis of the collected data. A case study of the current manufacturing ecosystem was also analyzed, in order to understand the present state as well as the potential for China’s competitive edge in the developed OBOR countries. Findings The results illustrate the importance of the infrastructure dimension comprising variables related to ecosystems, industrial clusters and Internet of Things IoT and other advanced technologies. A case study of the city of Shenzhen’s transformation into a smart cluster for innovative manufacturing points out how China’s OBOR initiative for regional collaboration will further transform the regional smart clusters into an ultra-large innovation based smart ecosystem. Originality/value This research is the first to study China’ policies towards playing a prominent role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution 4IR in the context of the OBOR initiative, through empirically defining the factors affecting moving towards a knowledge-intensive smart manufacturing ecosystem where the added value is mostly innovation based.

Family businesses: fertile environments for conflict

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Großmann ◽  
Arist Von Schlippe
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Business Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative study with a twofold focus: on highly escalated family business (FB) conflicts and on the interactions between conflicts and the failure of the company as FB. The authors devoted this paper to the question of how family-related conflicts are connected with the demise of FB. Conflicts constitute an essential part of every FB and may definitely have the power to superimpose the performance of the FB as well as the family life in a destructive way. Especially, highly escalated so called relationship conflicts can be seen as one reason for the failure of FB. Design/methodology/approach – The research aims at analysing the meaning of conflict in FB with respect to the failure of the FB. Therefore, the authors use an explorative case study approach. The study is based on a total of five case studies. As the authors use theory of social systems as a theoretical background, the authors focused in the analysis in all cases on patterns rather than on individual characteristics. Findings – As an essential part of the study the authors formulated eight hypotheses describing specific patterns of the conflict process as a communicative system. These hypotheses convey a comprehensible impression of the effects conflicts may have within FB and present a number of new facets of conflict dynamics and patterns of escalation in FB. Originality/value – In particular, the authors provide new insights into the dynamics of highly destructive forms of conflicts in FB and the relationship between family-related conflicts and the failure of FB. The authors also pave the way for future research that aim to develop a more holistic understanding about when and why the outcomes from family and business systems will conflict or be harmonious.

The managerial issues related to transferring shop floor knowledge in manufacturing relocation

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (11) ◽  
pp. 1389-1416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Praest Knudsen ◽  
Erik Skov Madsen
Keyword(s):  
Shop Floor ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Manufacturing Facility ◽  
Managerial Practices ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
International Production ◽  
Time Gap ◽  
Manufacturing Facilities ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the specific practices of management in the dispatching unit and to identify mechanisms for supporting transfer of shop floor knowledge embedded in operating manufacturing equipment. Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies an inductive and a case study approach for exploring three empirical cases that represent different manufacturing facility relocation processes and differences in the applied managerial practices. Findings – The paper identifies two important gaps in international production literature when firms relocate equipment to other sites; a time gap (from dismantling to re-assembly of production facilities) and a space gap (from the current to the new site abroad). These gaps are important for understanding why relocation processes are difficult and what management can do to facilitate such processes. Practical implications – The paper identifies four issues that management faces in the dispatching context when relocating manufacturing facilities. Originality/value – The paper gives new insights to a limited literature of shop floor knowledge transfer when relocating manufacturing facilities.

An application of 5S concept to organize the workplace at a scientific instruments manufacturing company

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaman Gupta ◽  
Sanjiv Kumar Jain
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Audit Score ◽  
Manufacturing Organization ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Cause And Effect Diagram ◽  
Collection Methods

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use the 5S tool to assist a small-scale manufacturing organization to become more productive and more efficient. Design/methodology/approach – A simple approach has been adopted to create the teams for implementing 5S. Cause-and-effect diagram has been studied for shop floor analysis. Later, four data collection methods have been used to ensure right implementation of the 5S. Findings – In the frames of this case study, it has been analyzed that implementation of “5S” resulted in overall improvement of the organization. With the implementation of “5S”, major benefits in the form of tool searching time have been achieved. Tool searching time from shop floor has been reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. “5S” audit has been conducted in the organization. “5S” audit score has been increased from 7 (Week 1) to 55 (Week 20). Practical implications – 5S is a powerful tool and can be implemented in various industries whether micro, small, medium or large. Implementation of 5S has large horizontal development and can be implemented in all the workstations of an organization. Originality/value – The publications and case study presented in this paper will be useful to researchers, professionals and others concerned with this subject to understand the significance of 5S.

Classification and relationships between risks that affect lean production implementation

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliano Almeida Marodin ◽  
Tarcísio Abreu Saurin
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Lean Production ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Management Support ◽  
The South ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
South Of Brazil

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: to classify the risks that affect the lean production implementation (LPI) process, and to demonstrate how that classification can help to identify the relationships between the risks. Design/methodology/approach – Initially, a survey was conducted to identify the probability and impact of 14 risks in LPI, which had been identified based on a literature review. The sample comprised 57 respondents, from companies in the south of Brazil. An exploratory factor analysis was carried out to analyze the results of the survey, allowing the identification of three groups of risks in LPI. Then, a case study was conducted in one of the companies represented in the survey, in order to identify examples of relationships between the risks. Multiple sources of evidence were used in the case study, such as interviews, observations and documents analysis. Findings – The risks that affect LPI were grouped into three categories: management of the process of LPI, top and middle management support and shop floor involvement. A number of examples of relationships between the risks were identified. Research limitations/implications – The survey was limited to companies from the south of Brazil and therefore its results cannot be completelly generalized to other companies. Moreover, the results of the survey were not subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis. Originality/value – This study helps to improve the understanding of LPI, as: it re-interprets the factors, barriers and difficulties for LPI from the perspective of risk management, which had not been used for that purpose so far; it presents a classification of the risks that affect LPI, which can support the understanding of the relationships between the risks and, as a result, it can support the development of more effective methods for LPI.

Implementing the Transformation of Discrete Part Manufacturing Systems Into Smart Manufacturing Platforms

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhaskar Botcha ◽  
Zimo Wang ◽  
Sudarshan Rajan ◽  
Natarajan Gautam ◽  
Satish T. S. Bukkapatnam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Manufacturing Systems ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Smart Manufacturing ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Workflow System ◽  
Manufacturing Technologies ◽  
Discrete Part

Prior R&D efforts point to substantial performance enhancements and energy savings from adopting the Smart Manufacturing (SM) paradigm for process optimization and real-time quality assurance. Significant barriers and risks disincentivize the industry from investing in the adoption and training of SM component suites for discrete manufacturing applications. A diverse discrete part manufacturing enterprises, SM tools and platform vendors are yearning for a testbed reconfigurable to achieve three objectives of performance benchmarking, demonstration, and workforce training for a spectrum of their industrial scenarios and workflows. This paper presents the key ingredients towards the successful transformation of present machine tool and manufacturing environments into SM platform-integrated environments. The present implementation focuses on demonstration of the use of the Smart Manufacturing (SM) platform towards qualification of advanced materials and manufacturing technologies to meet an industry-specified functionality. This initial implementation uses Kepler workflow system residing as part of an Amazon Web Services environment to allow flexible workflows on multiple machines, each of which is integrated with an innovative sensor wrapper that integrates Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) components from National Instruments (NI) to connect a legacy equipment to the SM platform. Here, an advanced analytics engine with modules customizable for both high-performance computing and shop floor environments was integrated into the commercial web service (from Amazon) to provide real-time monitoring and anomaly detection capability. This implementation indicates the potential of SM platform to achieve drastic reductions in the time and effort taken towards qualification of advanced materials and manufacturing technologies.

IoT-based production logistics and supply chain system – Part 2

2018 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengru Tu ◽  
Ming K. Lim ◽  
Ming-Fang Yang
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Labor Cost ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Prototype System ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Supply Chain System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Architecture Framework

Purpose The purpose of this paper is threefold: to present internet of things (IoT)-based cyber-physical system (CPS) architecture framework to facilitate the integration of IoT and CPS; to implement an IoT-based CPS prototype based on the architecture framework for a PL application scenario of in a case study; and to devise evaluation methods and conduct experimental evaluations on an IoT-based CPS prototype. Design/methodology/approach The design research method, case study, emulation experiment method, and cost-benefit analysis are applied in this research. An IoT-based CPS architecture framework is proposed, and followed by the development of prototype system and testbed platform. Then, the emulation and experimental evaluation of IoT-based CPS are conducted on the testbed, and the experimental results are analyzed. Findings The emulation experiment results show that the proposed IoT-based CPS outperforms current barcode-based system regarding labor cost, efficiency, and operational adaptiveness. The evaluation of the IoT-based CPS prototype indicates significant improvements in PL tasks and reduced part inventory under a dynamic changing shop-floor environment. Practical implications The case study shows that the proposed architecture framework and prototype system can be applied to many discrete manufacturing industries, such as automobile, airplane, bicycle, home appliance, and electronics. Originality/value The proposed IoT-based CPS is among the first to address the need to integrate IoT and CPS for PL applications, and to conduct experimental evaluations and cost-benefit analysis of adopting IoT-based CPS for PL. This paper also contributes to the IoT research by using diverse research methods to offer broader insights into understanding IoT and CPS.

Implementation of hybrid Kanban-CONWIP system: a case study

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 714-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dênis Gustavo Leonardo ◽  
Bruno Sereno ◽  
Daniel Sant Anna da Silva ◽  
Mauro Sampaio ◽  
Alexandre Augusto Massote ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Hybrid System ◽  
Production Control ◽  
Job Shop ◽  
Lean Production ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Floor Control ◽  
Low Volume

Purpose Shop floor control systems are generally major points of discussion in production planning and control literature. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how lean production control principles can be used in a make-to-order (MTO) job shop, where the volume is typically low and there is high variety. This paper examines the procedures involved in implementing a constant work-in-process (CONWIP)/Kanban hybrid system in the shop floor environment and also provides insights and guidelines on the implementation of a hybrid system in a high-variety/low-volume environment. Design/methodology/approach The authors review literature on Kanban, CONWIP, and CONWIP/Kanban hybrid systems to analyze how lean production control principles can be used in a MTO job shop. The second part focuses on the process of implementation. Using a case study of a manufacturer of electromechanical components for valve monitoring and controls, the paper describes how the operation is transformed by for more efficient shop floor control systems. Real experiments are used to compare pre- and post-improvement performance. Findings The study shows that the proposed hybrid Kanban-CONWIP system reduced the cycle time and achieved an increase of 38 percent in inventory turnover. The empirical results from this pilot study provide useful managerial insights for a benchmarking analysis of the actions to be taken into consideration by companies that have similar manufacturing systems. Research limitations/implications The statistic generalization of the results is impossible due to the use of a single case method of study. Originality/value This paper provides insights and guidelines on the implementation of a hybrid system in a high-variety/low-volume environment. The literature on real applications of hybrid CONWIP/Kanban by case study is limited.

Overall Task Effectiveness: a new Lean performance indicator in engineer-to-order environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcello Braglia ◽  
Roberto Gabbrielli ◽  
Leonardo Marrazzini
Keyword(s):  
Performance Indicator ◽  
Assembly Lines ◽  
Manual Assembly ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Time Standards ◽  
Corrective Actions ◽  
Engineer To Order ◽  
Classification Structure

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a new Lean metric named Overall Task Effectiveness (OTE), which can help analyst to define target task times and to identify the hidden losses that account for most of the recorded time of manual assembly activities. Design/methodology/approach An alternative classification structure of the losses is developed to divide them in two classes. In the first one the losses that are external to the project order are included, and in the other one those due to inefficiencies directly ascribable to the project order are considered. Starting from this classification structure of the losses, a novel Lean metric, inspired from the well-known Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), is developed to evaluate the effectiveness of a manual assembly task. A case study, which briefly explains the methodology and illustrates the capability of the corresponding metric, is provided. Findings This tool can be considered a suitable method to achieve simultaneously a dual purpose to establish time standards and to identify the hidden losses that account for most of the recorded time of manual assembly activities, estimating the impacts of potential corrective actions in terms of both efficiency and effectiveness. Practical implications OTE provides practitioners with an operative tool useful to highlight the points where the major inefficiencies take place in industries producing large complex items via manual assembly lines. Its practical application is demonstrated using a case study concerning a manufacturer of train wagons. Originality/value One distinctive, and contemporarily appealing, feature of OTE with respect to other analogous KPIs is that it provides a breakdown structure for process losses that simplifies the task of evaluating the current performances and, at the same time, individuates both the source of losses and the corresponding corrective actions.

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