Bangkok Post

KANUTE NIRUNTASUKKARUT

At this time of the year, while people are relaxing and looking forward to the holiday season, many company executives are busy planning and reviewing next year's budgets. One element that these executives, especially in manufacturing, need to consider is the cost and expected return from continuous improvement.

Business success hinges on improvement from one year to the next. However, given the plethora of improvement concepts, executives often have difficulty selecting the "right" one. For instance, an executive of a leading dairy producer wonders whether the company should consider Six Sigma over the others, due to its recent popularity.

Some executives who have already started an improvement programme are still not certain whether they've chosen the right one. Sometimes, as a result of different opinions, organisations end up with more than one approach being taken at the same time.

For example, in one paper and packaging group, half of the companies are implementing TQM (Total Quality Management) while the rest are focusing on TPM (Total Productive Maintenance). While these parallel programmes may well be "right", the key point is how to select the initiatives that align with business strategy and drive the requisite process improvement.

The choice should be the one that is best able to support the company competitively in the marketplace and, therefore, involves many factors. However, the most important is whether the focus matches the type of manufacturing process. Typically, we think of five classic types: project, one-off, batch, line, and continuous process.

The "project" process normally makes large-scale, one-off, complex, products. The product is often too large to be moved or cannot be moved once completed. An example is civil engineering contracts.

The product from a"one-off" process is of an individual nature and requires that the supplier interpret the customer's specifications, while applying relatively high skills in the conversion process. The skilled employee's experience will be an essential facet of the process. This may also include responsibility for scheduling, liaison with other functions, and some involvement with arrangements for subcontracted phases. This one-off provision means the product will not again be required in its exact form. Thus, investment in the manufacturing process will not normally be warranted. An example is purpose-built tooling.

A "batch" process provides similar items on a repetitive basis, usually, but not always, in large volumes. The procedure is to divide the manufacturing task into a series of operations that combine to make products. The goal is simply to determine the most effective manufacturing route, so that low-cost requirements of repetitive, higher-volume markets can be best achieved. Suitable jigs and fixtures reduce processing times and investment, which is justified by the total product output over time. Examples include molding and metal cutting.

A "line" process is dedicated to the needs of a single or typically small range of products. The time of investment determines the breadth of the product range. In a line process, products are passed through the same sequence of operations. Changes outside the prescribed range of options (which can be very wide, for example, with motor vehicles) cannot be accommodated on the line itself. An example is car assembly.

With "continuous process", a basic material is passed through successive stages, and refined or processed into one or more products; for example, petrochemicals. The two salient features are very high volume demand and the materials involved lending themselves to be moved easily from one part of the process to another; for example, fluids, gases, and foods. The high-volume nature of the demand justifies the very high investment involved. The processes are designed to run all day, every day with minimum shutdowns, due to the high costs of starting up and closing down. Normally, the product range is quite narrow and often the products are purposely restricted to enhance volumes.

To choose the right continuous improvement initiative, then, consider the business implications of manufacturing process types. Next week, we will begin to discuss each one in detail.