Design, implementation and control of a small industrial manufacturing system

Abstract

One part of manufacturing systems that contributes to the well being of British Industry is that of small intermittent production systems, commonly known as ‘JobShops'. Job shops tend to be run by management on a break-even basis and management do not always fully realise the potential capabilities of their production system. The project undertaken was directly linked to a job shop where a general analysis of the factory was being carried out to improve productivity as well as to set out a means by which information could be made more readily available to management.The project involved an overall increase in efficiency of the plant (machinery being semi-automatic) by basic analysis an application of computer orientated mathematical techniques. A series of computer programs, together with graphical output, enabled a greater appreciation of the mathematical techniques employed. Some of these programs were later compiled into two general purpose, master packages that could be modified easily to suit any job shop within reason. One of the packages, the cam design package, enables the complete setting out of all resources for the manufacture of a batch of components. Information pertaining to the production of the batch is also available and very useful as the package could be run interactively and results obtained immediately. The other package, the scheduling package,enables orders to be added into a master schedule file,the criteria of schedule being pre-assigned priorities generated from the specifications of the order, and subject to alterations at the discretion of management. Both packages are executed using macros, written in the Geroge 3 Operating System language, and can be run on any ICL 1900 series installation. The results and conclusions drawn from the project were discussed with the Managing Director and a feasibility study on the implementation of a digital computer was proposed.