Process Design

The concept of process

 The conversions of inputs (human

resources, raw materials, etc.) into desired
outputs (products and services) requires a
set of operations in successive stages.
 The technology, equipment, and work
methods used for the necessary
operations make up the production
process of the system.
 Classification of production
processes

Production process

Type of
Services Products
output

Type of
Projects Job shop Flow shop Continuous process
flow

Type of Standardized
Customized
output
specifications
Process types by flow
pattern

 Flow shop: A flow shop is a conversion

process in which successive units of
output undergo the same sequence of
operations with specialized equipment,
usually positioned along a production line.
 Example: TV factory, automobile factory, etc.
 Continuous process: It is an extreme
form of a flow shop in which there is a
constant flow of materials.
 Example: Power company, chemical plant, etc.
Process types by flow
pattern
 Job shop: A job shop is a conversion
process in which units for different orders
follow different sequences through the
resource centers grouped by function to
satisfy special customer needs for products
or services.
 Example: Machine shop, furniture shop, etc.
 Project: A project refers to the process of
creating a rather complex one-of-a-kind
product or service with a set of well-defined
tasks in terms of resource requirements and
time phasing.
 Play, bridge, dam, etc.
Methodology for process
design
Stage 1: Determination of production stages
Stage 2: Determination of alternative
production methods for each stage
Stage 3: Preliminary selection of alternative
production methods
Stage 4: Detailed analysis of alternative
production processes
Stage 5: Evaluation and final selection of
production process
Evaluation and final
selection of production
process
 Evaluation of physical and economic
characteristics

Figure: Economic evaluation of alternatives based on total cost

Evaluation and final
selection of production
process

Figure: Capital-intensive versus labor-intensive processes

Evaluation and final
selection of production
process
 Evaluation of qualitative factors

Alternative Criterion

Purchase Unit Safety Flexibility Reliability

and production
installation cost
cost
(millions)
a1 $8 $ 17 7 8 6

a2 12 14 8 7 8

a3 15 12 9 5 9
Evaluation and final
selection of production
process
 Final process selection
 Before making the final choice each one of the
candidate solutions should be examined for
feasibility in a general sense.
 If an alternative does not satisfy certain
financial, legal, environmental, or other
restrictions not examined before, it must be
rejected at this point.
 Any alternatives should be eliminated that are
inferior on all counts to some dominant one, so
that the number of candidates can be limited
further.
Graphic aids for process
design
 The description of a process during the phase of
analysis and after the final selection is greatly
assisted by using certain graphic aids.
 The simplest of these are used in the preliminary
phases, and the more complex are reserved for
the detailed analysis.
 The most widely used graphic aids in order of
increasing detail are:
1. A process block diagram
2. An operations chart
3. An operations (or route) sheet
4. A process flow diagram
5. A process chart
 Process block diagram
 A block diagram displays the structure of
the process in the broadest possible
terms.

Sender Recipient
Encoding Transmission Reception Decoding
Message Message

Stages in a one-way communications process

Lumber Furniture
Measurement Cutting Polishing Assembly

Supplies

Stages in a simplified furniture manufacturing process

Operations chart
 An operations chart provides a comprehensive
picture of the production process by including
the following information:
1. The required raw materials and supplies (horizontal
arrows)
2. The necessary operations on each component or piece
of raw material (a circle on a vertical line)
3. The various parts needed at their point of use
(horizontal arrows)
4. The assembly operations for items 1 and 3 to prepare
the final product or its main components (circles)
5. The inspections to be performed at different points of
the production process (squares)
6. Combined tasks, e.g. a concurrent assembly and
inspection of a component (circles in squares)
Operations chart
Part C
541-X3
(plastic
)

Figure: Operations chart for a

simple product
 Operations (or route)
sheet
For each component of the final product corresponding
to a branch of an operations chart, a route sheet is
prepared which includes:
1. Identifying information
a. Product name and code number
b. Part name and code number
c. Order number
d. Quantity desired, date wanted, etc.
2. For each operation or inspection
a. Code number
b. Description of operation or inspection
c. Equipment with output rates and tools to be used
d. Requirements by type and quantity of raw material, parts,
and supplies
Process flow diagram
 In addition to the essential productive
tasks and inspections, a process may
include activities for the transportation
and storage of materials and components,
as well as some delays.
 The latter increase the cost of the
processing, sometimes significantly,
without usually adding anything new to
the characteristics of the final product. For
this purpose, in a new process we strive to
keep them to a minimum.
Process flow diagram
Process flow diagram

Fifth floor

Ground floor
Energy considerations
 Energy is defined as the capacity to do
work.
 Various forms of energy such as; electricity,
coal, oil, etc. probably represents the most
critical input of a production process.
 It affects material-transformation processes
from the extraction of raw materials to their
processing for manufacturing and their use
and disposal.
Energy considerations
 Energy is highly considered for two
reasons:
1. A process input energy affects the cost of
products and services and its availability
determines the effectiveness and reliability of
individual organizations as well as the
economy.
2. The production and use of energy itself is
associated with some of the most critical
environmental problems of our times.
Energy as a process
input
 In 1970 industrially developed countries,
with 20% of the population, consumed
63% of the total energy, whereas
developing countries, with 48% of the
population, used only 8.3% of the total
energy.
 Converting these figures to a per capita
basis suggests that a person living in a
developed country consumes 18 times
more energy than one of a developing
country.
Energy as a process
input

Type of society Daily energy consumption

per capita, kcal
Primitive 2,000
Hunter-gatherer 5,000
Early agricultural 12,000
Advanced agricultural 26,000
Early industrial 70,000
Advanced industrial 230,000

Daily energy consumption per capita for different

stages of technological development
Different approaches to
energy utilization
1. The development of processes with reduced
energy-transfer chains, i.e. fewer energy-
conversion stages that limit the amount of
dissipated or wasted energy.
2. The use of Industrial Secondary Energy (ISE), i.e.
energy emitted as a by-product of an industrial
process.

To implement the second approach, the energy-optimized

industrial park concept was generated in which different
types of manufacturing plants are located in the same
area so that some can make optimum use of waste
energy from others as regulated by an energy control
center.
Different approaches to
energy utilization

Aluminum plant
Energy control
23000F center

Glass melting
plant
15000F

4000F 4000F
Paper
Paint finishing Bakery
manufacture

Figure: An energy-optimized industrial park

Process design and
environmental pollution
 An operations system generates unwanted
wastes or conditions that often pollute the
environment.
 Pollution is further aggravated by what
remains of a product after consumption.
 The enforcement of laws has slowed down
programs for plant moderation because of
the severe demands on capital budgets for
pollution-related equipment.
Types of pollutants
 A process generates a pollutant as a waste
material or as a set of conditions that disrupt
normal environmental conditions.
 How much of a pollutant can be tolerated
depends on the type of organisms affected, the
phase in their life cycle, and the type of pollutant.
 Non-threshold agents – are dangerous even in small
amounts. e.g. Some heavy metals: mercury, lead, &
cadmium; and various types of radiations.
 Threshold agents – are substances that pollute when
present above a certain level. e.g. chemical compounds:
pesticides, sulfates; organic wastes and certain plant
nutrients: phosphorus, carbon, nitrogen.
Types of pollutants
Types of pollutants
 Sometimes the combined damage of two
pollutants is greater than if they were acting
individually and their effects added. In such
cases we say that the pollutants are
synergistic.
 Different pollutants are antagonistic in that
the effect of one neutralizes that of other.
Water pollution
 Water pollution can be caused by several types
of effluents. According to Environmental
Pollution agency (EPA), they can be grouped in
the following eight categories:
1. Oxygen-demanding wastes
2. Disease-causing agents
3. Synthetic organic compounds
4. Plant nutrients
5. Inorganic chemical and mineral substances
6. Sediment
7. Radioactive substances
8. Thermal discharges
Water pollution

Figure: Variation
in dissolved
oxygen
Measurement of water
pollution
1. Physical method: This is used to determine the
level of dissolved salts in the water by inserting a
meter that measures electrical conductivity.
2. Biochemical method: This is the measurement
of the amount of molecular oxygen required to
decompose an organic material through aerobic
biochemical action. The BOD 5-day test
represents the most common approach today.
3. Biological method: This may involve putting a
number of fish in various dilutions of an effluent
to determine what percentage will die and how
fast.
Treatment of water
pollution
Air pollution
 The air and water pollution have certain
similarities. Both result because the
impurities discharged are not absorbed
adequately and rapidly enough.
 But the difference is that water is self-
purifying while air is not.
 Air pollution in the form of disruptive
elements, exhaust gases, and particulates
can be cleaned either by being blown
away to another area or by the
particulates settling out, thus polluting the
ground.
Treatment of air
pollution
 The main approaches for treatment of air
pollution are:

1. Improving the combustion process

2. Filtering
3. Scrubbing
4. Chemical treatment of the emissions.
Solid waste
Operations management decisions that can
reduce solid waste:
 By recycling we can reduce solid waste by
making ecologically sound decisions with
regard to the selection of raw materials,
modular-component design, and packaging
materials.
 The decisions to switch to throwaway
bottles, cans, and other containers has
contributed immensely to the increase of
solid waste.
Noise pollution
Control methods:
1. Reduction of the noise at the source.
2. Creating barriers between noise source
and people.
3. Providing protective devices, such as ear
muffs or ear plugs.
Recycling
 Recycling is the recovery of material from
wastes created in manufacturing and
consumption, for reuse in the production
of new items.
 It is important because it can accomplish
two things at the same time:
1. By removing reusable materials from wastes
it reduces environmental pollution due to
solid waste, and
2. By utilizing recoverable materials as a
production input it helps conserve both
nonrenewable resources and energy.
 Types of recycling
1. In plant recycling
2. Recycling (or secondary-materials) industry

Recycle

Recycle
Benefits of recycling
1. Recycling can retrieve valuable material
from wastes, thus reducing the need for
primary materials.
2. Recycling can reduce manufacturing
energy requirements.
3. Recycling can considerably reduce the
problems associated with solid waste.
Limitations of recycling
1. The technology for recycling is not
sufficiently developed to allow this
approach to be used competitively.
2. With current economic criteria sometimes
it is cheaper to use primary materials
than recycled ones.
3. Sometimes the product specifications
restrict the use of recycled materials.
Thank You