Process Design I and II Flashcards
What are the two primary elements that must govern the design of any process?
Volume and variety.
What indicates the position of processes on the volume-variety spectrum?
The process type.
What are project processes?
Those that deal with discrete, usually highly customised products. Activities involved may be ill-defined and uncertain, sometimes changing. Ex.: advertising agencies, shipbuilding, construction, movie production, etc.
- Customised, unique products/services
- Managed as a totality
- Critical path analysis is key to success
- Complex collection of specialised activities
- High cost
What are jobbing processes?
Jobbing processes also deal with very high variety and low volumes, but whereas in project processes each project has resources devoted more or less exclusively to it, in jobbing processes each ‘product’ has to share the operation’s resources with many others. Ex.: specialist toolmakers, furniture restorers, make-to-measure tailors, etc. Requires considerable skill, often more unpredictable than project processes.
- Small batches, wide range of products/services
- High in-process inventory
- Many possible sequences and set-ups
- Multiple work stations
- Tracking systems are key
What are batch processes?
Batch processes can look like jobbing processes, but w/o the degree of variety normally associated with jobbing. Usually produce more than one ‘product’ at a time. Each part of the op has periods when it is repeating itself, at least while the ‘batch’ is being processed. Ex.: special gourmet frozen foods, component part manufacturing, clothing, etc.
- Standardised job shop
- Relatively stable line of products/services
- Batches of one product produced periodically
- More stable process
- Work in progress less than job shop
- Shorter changeover times
What are line/mass processes?
Produce in high volume, usually with narrow effective variety. A car manufacturing plant, for example, might produce several several thousand variants of cars if every option of engine size, colour and equipment is taken into account. Ex.: food processes like frozen pizza manufacturer, beer bottling plants, CD production, etc.
What are continuous processes?
Continuous proceeses are one step beyond mass processes as they operate at even higher volume and often have even lower variety. Usually inflexible, capital-intensive, highly predictable flow. Ex.: petrochemical refineries, electricity utilities, steel-making, and Internet service farms.
- Low number of inputs
- Very capital intensive and specialised
- Nearly totally automated
- Maintenance and availability are key issues
- Location of facility important
What are professional services processes?
High-variety, low-volume processes, where customers spend a considerable time in the service process. Tend to be people-based. Ex.: management consultants, lawyers, architects.
What are service shop processes?
Service shops are characteristed by levels of customer contact, customisation, volume of customers and staff discretion that position them between the extremems of professional and mass services. Ex.: banks, High Street shops, holiday tour operators.
What are mass service processes?
Have many customer transactions and little customisation. Often equipment-based and ‘product’ oriented, most value added in the back office. Ex.: supermarkets, national rail network, airport, call centres.
What happens when you move off the ‘natural diagonal’ of the product-process matrix?
You will incur excess cost. The diagonal represents the most appropriate process design for any volume-variety position. Processes on the ‘right’ normally assoc. with lower volumes, higher variety. They are not taking advantage of their ability to standardise their activities. Processes on the ‘left’ normally assoc. with higher volumes and lower variety. These are overstandardised and too inflexible for their variety-volume position.
What is the Scientific Management symbol for an operation (an acitivity the directly adds value)?
A circle.
What is the Scientific Management symbol for Inspection/Checking?
A square.
