Operations Management Services

Operations Management related Services of the following kind can be offered :

• Process Analysis • Work Study • Incentive Schemes • Plant Layout Improvement

Process Analysis

The purpose of Process analysis is to provide information about the overall business processes, especially production processes, and get more insight about them. This information can be an important input to Method Studies and other Projects.

Benefits of Process Analysis are:
• gaining understandance of the overall business process
• indentify its components and their interrelationships

Procedure: During a Process Analysis the complete Production process will be analyzed and broken into its logical sub processes (work breakdown structure). The interrelationships between the sub processes will be indicated. The sub processes themselves will be subdivided again into jobs that can examined during a Method Study. All this information will be documented in a proper manner.

The inputs to a Process Analysis will be
• observations from business process and
• information from existing documentation

The outputs from a Process Analysis will be
• A map of all relevant business processes indicating relationships
• Process flow charts - organigrams
• Description of the business processes and
• a listing of jobs performed at any sub process

Work Study

A Work Study will consist of the following two main components
• Method Study
• Time Study - Work Measurement

Method Study

The systematic recording and critical examination of ways of doing things in order to make improvements is known as Method Study.The purpose of a Method Study is:
• Analyze methods of Work
• Gain insight in how work is performed
• Document methods of work - create Work Instructions
• Improve Methods of Work or detect potential for improvements
• Enable planning by providing Data
• Disable possible hazards and dangers to safety
• Provide information for Time Studies, development for equipment, wage calculation and incentive Schemes.

The benefits from a Method Study will be:
• Better understanding of work performed
• Improved operator performance
• More safety less risks from hazards for health and assets

Procedure: For a Method Study the following will be done:
• A specific job will be chosen to be examined.
• The current performance of the job is observed, facts are recorded and documented.
• Important features are taken into consideration:
...• Activities performed
...• Operators involved
...• Equipment and tools used
...• Materials processed or moved
• The job is then examined and its components are challenged on their feasibility and necessity (purpose, place, sequence, method).
• After this alternative methods are developed, documented and the most suitable will be selected, becoming the base for the new Work Instructions.
• Operators will be trained on those new Work Instructions.
• Control procedures to measure the performance, as well as preventing drifting back to previous methods of work will also be introduced.

The required inputs for a Method Study are:
• Information about the role of the job in the overall business process
• All the relevant information on the job to be studied.
• The Type and number of operators involved, their skills
• The Facilities, Equipment and Tools to be used fro the jobs
• The Materials to be processed or consumed
• The Activities undertaken to perform the job, their sequence.
• Objectives for the method study, these can be:
...• Increase operator performance
...• Improve safety, decrease hazards and fatigue
...• Develop methods for other equipment.

The outputs of a Method Study will be.
• Work Instructions
• Systematic Method description involving, operators, equipment, materials and procedures. These can be of a graphical or narrative nature.
• flow charts.
• recommendations for improvement.

Time Study

Work Measurement is the application of techniques designes to establish the time for a qualified Worker to carry out a task at a defined rate of working. Time Study is a form of Work Measurement.
The purpose of Time Study is to:
• Establish Standard Times
• Rate Operator performance
• Gain information to calculate overall production capabilities and Data for capacity planning.
• Establish the total Work content of finished goods.

The benefits from a Time Study will be:
• Knowledge about Standard Times to be expected
• Ability to estimate total Work content
• Operators can be appraised on factual grounds
• Some labour regulation might require Standard Times on the basis of solving Labor disputes.

The procedure for a Time Study will be:
• A job is selected
• The method description derived from a method study of this spefic job is used to break up the job into units that can be measured more easily.
• The total job as well as the smaller tasks are rated and measured several times with a stop watch.
• Average (standard times) are established.

The inputs required for a Time Study are:
• Documented results of a method study for the job to be measured
• Observations of the job to be studied
• Time readings for the job to be measured from the Stop Watch.

The outputs from a Time Study will be:
• Standard times for the Job that has been measured
• Completed Time Study Sheet with ratings and times
• knowledge about the work content for specific Products and processes.

Incentive Schemes

Incentive Schemes serve the purpose of motivating workers to perform better. Based on a Time Study an incentive scheme can be developed.

Plant Layout Improvement

Based on Method Study and Process Analysis, recommendations on how to improve plant layout can be made.

Website:http://www.kwaliteg.co.za
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