Slack
Chapter 4: Process Design
The definition of ’design’:
” The process by which some functional requirement of people is satisfied through the shaping or configuration of the resources and/or activities that comprise a product, or service, or the transformation process that produces them”
What is process design? A design decision affects the physical shape and nature of the process (ex. purchase or rearrange the position of a piece of equipment, or when they change the way of working within a process.)
Process design and service/product design are interrelated Design of services and products, and the design of the processes which make them are treated like two separate activities. Small changes in the design of products and services can have profound implications for the way the operation eventually has to produce them.
What objectives should process design have? The point of process design is to make sure that the performance of the process is appropriate for whatever it is trying to achieve. Operations performance objectives translate directly to process design objectives but process design also need to consider a more ‘micro’ and detailed set of objectives called flow performance.
Examples of flow performance Throughput rate (or flow rate) is the rate at which items emerge from the process, i.e. the number of items passing through the process per unit. Cycle time, or takt time, is the reciprocal of throughput rate – it is the time between items emerging from the process. The term ‘takt’ time is the same, but is normally applied to ‘paced’ processes like moving belt assembly lines. It is the ‘beat’, or tempo, of working required to meet demand. Throughput time is the average elapsed time taken for inputs to move through the process and become outputs. The number of items in the process (also called the ‘work in progress’ inventory, or in-process inventory) as an average over a period of time. The utilization of process resources is
The definition of ’design’:
” The process by which some functional requirement of people is satisfied through the shaping or configuration of the resources and/or activities that comprise a product, or service, or the transformation process that produces them”
What is process design? A design decision affects the physical shape and nature of the process (ex. purchase or rearrange the position of a piece of equipment, or when they change the way of working within a process.)
Process design and service/product design are interrelated Design of services and products, and the design of the processes which make them are treated like two separate activities. Small changes in the design of products and services can have profound implications for the way the operation eventually has to produce them.
What objectives should process design have? The point of process design is to make sure that the performance of the process is appropriate for whatever it is trying to achieve. Operations performance objectives translate directly to process design objectives but process design also need to consider a more ‘micro’ and detailed set of objectives called flow performance.
Examples of flow performance Throughput rate (or flow rate) is the rate at which items emerge from the process, i.e. the number of items passing through the process per unit. Cycle time, or takt time, is the reciprocal of throughput rate – it is the time between items emerging from the process. The term ‘takt’ time is the same, but is normally applied to ‘paced’ processes like moving belt assembly lines. It is the ‘beat’, or tempo, of working required to meet demand. Throughput time is the average elapsed time taken for inputs to move through the process and become outputs. The number of items in the process (also called the ‘work in progress’ inventory, or in-process inventory) as an average over a period of time. The utilization of process resources is