MNO 3701 Production & Operations
Management
Chapter 4
Design of processes for Products & Services
The design activity
The design is to conceive the looks, arrangement and workings of something before is constructed.
At the start of the process design activity, it is important to understand the design objectives.
It is often the only through getting to grips with the detail of a design that the feasibility of its overall
shape can be assessed.
The process design and product/service design are interrelated.
The design of products and services and the design of the processes which make them are clearly
interrelated.
The design of a process can constrain the freedom of product and service designers to operate as they
wish
The overlap between the two design activities is generally greater and operations which produced
services.
Overlapping product and process designs has implications for the organization of the design activity.
Process design objectives
The whole point of process design is to make sure that the performance of the process is appropriate
for whatever it is trying to achieve.
Some kind of logic should link what the operation as a whole is attempting to achieve and the
performance objectives of its individual processes.
Operations performance objectives translate directly to process design objectives
The time that the units spends in the process (throughput time) will be longer than the sum of all the
transforming activities that it passes through.
Also the resources that perform the process activities may not be used all the time because not all units
will necessarily require the same activities and the capacity of each resource may not match the
demands placed upon it.
The impact of strategic performance objectives and process design objectives and performance
Quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, cost
It is common for more micro performance flow objectives to be used to describe process flow
performance. E.g.
Throughput rate – the rate at which units emerge from the process
Throughput time – averaged elapsed time taken for inputs to move through the process
1
, Number of units in the process – ‘work in process’
Utilization – proportion of available time that the resources with in the process of performing
useful work
Environmentally sensitive design
Process and product/Service designers have to take account of green issues
Interest has focused on some fundamental issues:
Sources of inputs
Quantities and sources of energy consumed in the process
The amounts and types of waste material created in the process
The life of the product itself
The end of life of the product – disposal in an environmentally friendly way or recycled for energy
Life cycle analysis: analysis of all the production inputs, life cycle use of a product and its final disposal
in terms of total energy used and waste emitted.
To help make more rational decisions in the design activity, some industries are experimenting with life
cycle analysis. Inputs and wastes are evaluated at every stage in the creation of the product or service
Process’ types - the volume – variety effect on process’ design
Usually the two dimensions of volume and variety go together.
Low volume operation processes often have a higher variety of products and services.
High volume operation processes often have a narrow variety of products and services.
There is a continuum from low volume – high variety through to high volume - low variety on which we
can position operations.
Different operations may adopt different types of processes.
The differences are explained largely by the different volume – variety positions of the operations.
Process types
The position of a process on the volume-variety continuum shapes its overall design and the general
approach to managing its activities.
These general approaches are called process types. Different terms are used to identify process types
depending on whether they are predominantly manufacturing or service processes.
Project processes
Those which deal with discreet, usually highly customized products.
The timescale of making the product or service is relatively long.
Low volume and higher variation characteristics of project processes. Activities in making the product
can be ill defined and uncertain.
Examples include: shipbuilding, construction companies, movie production
The essence of project processes is that each job has a well-defined start and finish, the time interval
between starting different jobs is relatively long and the transforming resource which makes the product
will probably have been organized especially for each product.
2
Management
Chapter 4
Design of processes for Products & Services
The design activity
The design is to conceive the looks, arrangement and workings of something before is constructed.
At the start of the process design activity, it is important to understand the design objectives.
It is often the only through getting to grips with the detail of a design that the feasibility of its overall
shape can be assessed.
The process design and product/service design are interrelated.
The design of products and services and the design of the processes which make them are clearly
interrelated.
The design of a process can constrain the freedom of product and service designers to operate as they
wish
The overlap between the two design activities is generally greater and operations which produced
services.
Overlapping product and process designs has implications for the organization of the design activity.
Process design objectives
The whole point of process design is to make sure that the performance of the process is appropriate
for whatever it is trying to achieve.
Some kind of logic should link what the operation as a whole is attempting to achieve and the
performance objectives of its individual processes.
Operations performance objectives translate directly to process design objectives
The time that the units spends in the process (throughput time) will be longer than the sum of all the
transforming activities that it passes through.
Also the resources that perform the process activities may not be used all the time because not all units
will necessarily require the same activities and the capacity of each resource may not match the
demands placed upon it.
The impact of strategic performance objectives and process design objectives and performance
Quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, cost
It is common for more micro performance flow objectives to be used to describe process flow
performance. E.g.
Throughput rate – the rate at which units emerge from the process
Throughput time – averaged elapsed time taken for inputs to move through the process
1
, Number of units in the process – ‘work in process’
Utilization – proportion of available time that the resources with in the process of performing
useful work
Environmentally sensitive design
Process and product/Service designers have to take account of green issues
Interest has focused on some fundamental issues:
Sources of inputs
Quantities and sources of energy consumed in the process
The amounts and types of waste material created in the process
The life of the product itself
The end of life of the product – disposal in an environmentally friendly way or recycled for energy
Life cycle analysis: analysis of all the production inputs, life cycle use of a product and its final disposal
in terms of total energy used and waste emitted.
To help make more rational decisions in the design activity, some industries are experimenting with life
cycle analysis. Inputs and wastes are evaluated at every stage in the creation of the product or service
Process’ types - the volume – variety effect on process’ design
Usually the two dimensions of volume and variety go together.
Low volume operation processes often have a higher variety of products and services.
High volume operation processes often have a narrow variety of products and services.
There is a continuum from low volume – high variety through to high volume - low variety on which we
can position operations.
Different operations may adopt different types of processes.
The differences are explained largely by the different volume – variety positions of the operations.
Process types
The position of a process on the volume-variety continuum shapes its overall design and the general
approach to managing its activities.
These general approaches are called process types. Different terms are used to identify process types
depending on whether they are predominantly manufacturing or service processes.
Project processes
Those which deal with discreet, usually highly customized products.
The timescale of making the product or service is relatively long.
Low volume and higher variation characteristics of project processes. Activities in making the product
can be ill defined and uncertain.
Examples include: shipbuilding, construction companies, movie production
The essence of project processes is that each job has a well-defined start and finish, the time interval
between starting different jobs is relatively long and the transforming resource which makes the product
will probably have been organized especially for each product.
2
