Mapping a process

You cannot manage what you cannot measure

If you do not know how to measure a process then it is difficult to

know how to improve a process

Elements of a Process
Activities
• Carried out by resources
• Add value and are required
for completion of the flow unit
• May or may not carry inventory
• Have a capacity (maximum number
of flow units that can flow through
the activity within a unit of time)

Arrows
• Indicate the flow of the flow unit
• Multiple flow unit types possible

Inventory / Buffers
• Do NOT have a capacity; however,
there might be a limited number of
flow units that can be put in this
inventory space at any moment of time
• Multiple flow unit types possible
 Mapping a Process
• To manage or improve a process, it is important to first understand it.
Almost always, the first step of any process analysis should be to map
or draw out the existing process.
• Process mapping or process-flow diagramming is a visual tool that
helps achieve this. Consider the following example of a Hawaiian-shirt
production process. This process includes the following four steps:
• Step 1 (cutting)
• Step 2 (sewing–base)
• Step 3 (sewing–extras)
• Step 4 (pack and ship)
RM 33
3 Step 2: 3
100 Step 1:
Sewing
Cutting
(Base)

FG1 Step 4: Step 3:

3
15 Pack and Sewing
Ship (Extras)
 RM
100

Retrieve Cut 1 torso, Place cuts

Print out and layout two sleeves, and PO into 3
Measure and
the next the 1 collar, and a tote;
sketch the
purchase necessary 1 shirt stage for
cuts
order (PO) fabric pocket step 2

Purchase Order

Step 1 : Cutting
 Place
Completed 3
Retrieve next Sew two
Sew pocket base back in
available tote sleeves
tote; stage for
step 3

Step 2 : Sewing (Base)

 Place
Sew collar completed 3
Retrieve next Sew 6 Sew sleeve
and collar shirt back in
available tote buttons logo
logo tote: stage
for step 4

Step 3 : Sewing (Extras)

 Pack the bag Seal the box; Stage the
Scan the PO Place
Retrieve next and receipts apply and completed
to print the completed
available tote in a scan the box at the
necessary shirt in a shipping door
standard shipping
documents plastic bag shipping box label for pickup

Return Customer Shipping

Receipt Receipt Label

Step 4: Pack and Ship

FG1
15
Capacity and Bottleneck
 Answer these questions

1 2 3
“How much can the “How many Assumption: a
existing process customers can the steady state
produce?” existing process regarding the
service?” workload of the
process
 • Notice that run time is measured in time per unit, not
just time.
Step Description Run Time
Minutes/Shirt
1 Cutting 12.5 • When analyzing a process, keeping track of the units of
2 Sewing(base) 10 measure is valuable for verifying that calculations are
3 Sewing(extras) 15
performed correctly.
4 Pack/ship 5

• The run time of a step is independent of any setup

times that may be involved in the process.

Runtime The time it takes to process an item

at a process step
 • Capacity provides us with an upper
Step Description Run Time Capacity
Minutes/Shirt bound on the amount of units we can
1 Cutting 12.5 192 produce or customers we can serve per
2 Sewing(base) 10 240 unit of time.
3 Sewing(extras) 15 160
• The capacity of a process is not strictly
4 Pack/ship 5 480
constrained by the number of personnel
available.

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 What are the ways to increase the capacity
𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑐h of a process ?

The maximum number of items that

Capacity can be processed by a resource in a
given time period.
 • The capacity of a process is the capacity of its
limiting resource.
• To determine capacity, one needs to find the
Resource
96 shirts limiting resource or slowest step, known as
(Sewing machine)
Bottleneck the bottleneck.
Step 3 • The bottleneck can be found by calculating
160 shirts
(Sewing(extras)) the capacity of every step or resource and
finding the step with the lowest capacity.

The resource that limits the

Bottleneck production or service delivery of a
process.
 = 83.3%
• Capacity utilization provides us with a
measure of how much of the capacity of an
operation is being used.

Step Description Capacity Capacity

utilization(%)
1 Cutting 192 83.3
2 Sewing(base) 240 66.6
3 Sewing(extras) 160 100.0
4 Pack/ship 480 33.3

The ratio of the amount of a

Capacity utilization resource used to the amount
available in that time period.
 • The cycle time at a process step is defined as
= or 12.5 the inverse of the capacity at that step.

Step Description Capacity Cycle time

(min/shirt)
1 Cutting 192 12.5
2 Sewing(base) 240 10
3 Sewing(extras) 160 15
4 Pack/ship 480 5
Setup times not included

The average amount of time that elapses

Cycle time between the completion of successive
items at a stage, assuming that the process
is operating at capacity.
Answer these questions

1 2 3
Given this, an important Why not always have What are the advantages of
question to ask is why do workers in a process separating tasks between
we split the tasks at steps 2 perform all steps—for workers?
and 3 between sewers (as example, sewing a complete
shown in Figure 1)? shirt or making an entire
sandwich at a sub-sandwich
counter?
 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 • the German term for “pace” or “rhythm
𝑘𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒=
𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 • Takt time provides a metric for evaluating and

improving cycle times.

Takt time= 13.96 min /shirt
• If the cycle time for any step of a process
exceeds the takt time, then the process cannot
fully meet demand and that cycle time must be
reduced.
• Operator loading charts

Therefore, meeting a demand of 172 shirts per week isn’t possible with the
current process configuration.

Takt time Takt time refers to the target time per unit
as derived from customer demand.
 Takt time= 13.96 min /shirt
• To increase the capacity of the process, one
5 Buttons
should increase the time available at the sewing
Sleeve
2 Pocket Logo
3
(extras) step by either adding a second sewing
4 Sleeve Collar
3
Logo machine and operator or by increasing the
4 Sleeve 4 Collar number of hours the current sewer works.

Takt time= 13.96 min /shirt

2
Buttons
4
Collar
5
To reduce the time Pocket
required to process a
4
unit at this step by either Sleeve Sleeve
3
Logo
4 Sleeve 3 Collar
Logo
eliminating unnecessary improving the time for rebalancing tasks
tasks specific tasks between steps

Takt time (continued) Takt time refers to the target time per unit
as derived from customer demand
• The batch size is then the number of items or orders that are
processed as a batch.

A group of items or orders that is

processed all at one time.
Batch
• Examples of setup time include tasks such as
• calibrating the settings on a sewing machine, setting up a large-
scale printer for a new production run, and, in general,
• preparing the workplace for a different product or service.
• Since setup time is often incurred in order to change from working on
one type of product or service to another, it is also known as
changeover time.
• Typically, the time it takes to set up does not change based on batch
size.
The amount of time it takes to set
up or prepare before processing an
Set up time item or batch of items at a process
step.
 Step Description Run time Min./shirt Set up time Capacity Cycle time
(min/Batch) (min/shirt)
1 Cutting 12.5 22 142 16.9
2 Sewing(base) 12 0 200 12
3 Sewing(extras) 13 0 185 13
4 Pack/ship 5 0 480 5

• Why did capacity decrease from 192 shirts to 142 shirts?

• The choice of batch size can have a surprisingly large impact on the capacity of a process. An interesting
question to consider is how does changing the batch size impact the Hawaiian-shirt process?
• For example, in the Hawaiian-shirt process, if the batch size were increased, would this increase or
decrease capacity? What are the potential benefits and risks of having a larger or smaller batch size?

The amount of time it takes to set

up or prepare before processing an
Set up time item or batch of items at a process
step.
• It represents the actual rate at which a process
or system generates its products or serves its
customers.
• The unit of measure for throughput rate is
units per time (e.g., shirts per week or cars per
month).
• TR=Min(demand, Capacity)

The rate at which units flow

Throughput rate(TR) through a process.
• Throughput time depends on where the boundaries of the process are drawn.
• Throughput time provides a measure of how much time on average it takes to produce
a specific item.
• It provides a sense of how responsive a process is to customer demand.

The time it takes for a specific item,

Throughput time or job, or order to go through the
Manufacturing Lead Time (MLT) entire process. In manufacturing
settings.
 == 𝐼=𝑅 𝑋 𝑇

I = Average amount of inventory (i.e.,

• For a system in equilibrium, Little’s Law governs the
the average number of units) within the
relationship between the average rate of flow through a system
R = Average throughput rate through
system, the average amount of inventory in the system,
the system
and the average amount of time that a unit spends in T = Average throughput time for a unit
to pass through the system. Little’s Law
the system.
states that the relationship between I,
R, and T

The rate at which units flow

Little’s Law through a process.
Session review

Operations Management

• Process • Capacity • Operator • Little’s Law

mapping analysis loading • Work in
• Macro view • Takt time charts progress
• Micro view • Cycle time • Bottleneck inventory
• Manufacturi • How well are • What levers
ng Lead time resources are available
• Throughput being for increasing
rate utilized? capacity?
• Setup time, • What levers
Run time and are available
batch size for reducing
throughput
time?