Methods engineering

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Methods engineering is a subspecialty of industrial engineering and manufacturing engineering concerned with human integration in industrial production processes. [1]

Industrial engineering is an inter-disciplinary profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy and materials.

Manufacturing Engineering is a branch of professional engineering. Manufacturing engineering requires the ability to plan the practices of manufacturing; to research and to develop tools, processes, machines and equipment; and to integrate the facilities and systems for producing quality products with the optimum expenditure of capital.

Contents

Overview

Alternatively it can be described as the design of the productive process in which a person is involved. The task of the Methods engineer is to decide where humans will be utilized in the process of converting raw materials to finished products and how workers can most effectively perform their assigned tasks. [1] [2] The terms operation analysis, work design and simplification, and methods engineering and corporate re-engineering are frequently used interchangeably. [3]

Lowering costs and increasing reliability and productivity are the objectives of methods engineering. These objectives are met in a five step sequence as follows: Project selection, data acquisition and presentation, data analysis, development of an ideal method based on the data analysis and, finally, presentation and implementation of the method. [3]

Methods engineering topics

Project selection

Methods engineers typically work on projects involving new product design, products with a high cost of production to profit ratio, and products associated with having poor quality issues. Different methods of project selection include the Pareto analysis, fish diagrams, Gantt charts, PERT charts, and job/work site analysis guides.

Pareto analysis

Pareto analysis is a formal technique useful where many possible courses of action are competing for attention. In essence, the problem-solver estimates the benefit delivered by each action, then selects a number of the most effective actions that deliver a total benefit reasonably close to the maximal possible one.

Gantt chart type of bar chart used for schedules

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule, named after its inventor, Henry Gantt (1861–1919), who designed such a chart around the years 1910–1915. Modern Gantt charts also show the dependency relationships between activities and current schedule status.

Data acquisition and presentation

Data that needs to be collected are specification sheets for the product, design drawings, quantity and delivery requirements, and projections as to how the product will perform or has performed in the market. The Gantt process chart can assist in the analysis of the man to machine interaction and it can aid in establishing the optimum number of workers and machines subject to the financial constraints of the operation. A flow diagram is frequently employed to represent the manufacturing process associated with the product.

Data analysis

Data analysis enables the methods engineer to make decisions about several things, including: purpose of the operation, part design characteristics, specifications and tolerances of parts, materials, manufacturing process design, setup and tooling, working conditions, material handling, plant layout, and workplace design. [3] Knowing the specifics (who, what, when, where, why, and how) of product manufacturing assists in the development of an optimum manufacturing method.

Ideal method development

Equations of synchronous and random servicing as well as line balancing are used to determine the ideal worker to machine ratio for the process or product chosen. Synchronous servicing is defined as the process where a machine is assigned to more than one operator, and the assigned operators and machine are occupied during the whole operating cycle. Random servicing of a facility, as the name indicates, is defined as a servicing process with a random time of occurrence and need of servicing variables. Line balancing equations determine the ideal number of workers needed on a production line to enable it to work at capacity.

Presentation and methods implementation

The industrial process or operation can be optimized using a variety of available methods. Each method design has its advantages and disadvantages. The best overall method is chosen using selection criteria and concepts involving value engineering, cost-benefit analysis, crossover charts, and economic analysis. The outcome of the selection process is then presented to the company for implementation at the plant. This last step involves "selling the idea" to the company brass, a skill the methods engineer must develop in addition to the normal engineering qualifications.

Value engineering (VE) is a systematic method to improve the "value" of goods or products and services by using an examination of function. Value, as defined, is the ratio of function to cost. Value can therefore be manipulated by either improving the function or reducing the cost. It is a primary tenet of value engineering that basic functions be preserved and not be reduced as a consequence of pursuing value improvements.

See also

Related Research Articles

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  1. Design of Experiments (DOE) is a methodology for formulating scientific and engineering problems using statistical models. The protocol specifies a randomization procedure for the experiment and specifies the primary data-analysis, particularly in hypothesis testing. In a secondary analysis, the statistical analyst further examines the data to suggest other questions and to help plan future experiments. In engineering applications, the goal is often to optimize a process or product, rather than to subject a scientific hypothesis to test of its predictive adequacy. The use of optimal designs reduces the cost of experimentation.
  2. Quality control and process control use statistics as a tool to manage conformance to specifications of manufacturing processes and their products.
  3. Time and methods engineering use statistics to study repetitive operations in manufacturing in order to set standards and find optimum manufacturing procedures.
  4. Reliability engineering which measures the ability of a system to perform for its intended function and has tools for improving performance.
  5. Probabilistic design involving the use of probability in product and system design
  6. System identification uses statistical methods to build mathematical models of dynamical systems from measured data. System identification also includes the optimal design of experiments for efficiently generating informative data for fitting such models.
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Henry Gantt American engineer

Henry Laurence Gantt, A.B., M.E. was an American mechanical engineer and management consultant who is best known for his work in the development of scientific management. He created the Gantt chart in the 1910s.

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Product lifecycle

In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from inception, through engineering design and manufacture, to service and disposal of manufactured products. PLM integrates people, data, processes and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise.

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Business process modeling

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Operations management An area of management concerned with designing and controlling the process of production and redesigning business operations

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Computer-aided production engineering

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The engineering design process is a methodical series of steps that engineers use in creating functional products and processes. The process is highly iterative - parts of the process often need to be repeated many times before another can be entered - though the part(s) that get iterated and the number of such cycles in any given project may vary.

…It is a decision making process in which the basic sciences, mathematics, and engineering sciences are applied to convert resources optimally to meet a stated objective. Among the fundamental elements of the design process are the establishment of objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing and evaluation.

For the application of engineering economics in the practice of civil engineering see Engineering economics.

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Charles Day (1879-1931) 1879-1931

Charles Day was an American electrical, construction and consulting engineer, and co-founder of Day & Zimmermann. He is known as a specialist in public utility management and operation, and for his seminal contributions to flow charts and the routing diagram.

References

  1. 1 2 Methods Engineering Reference book
  2. Work Design & Measurement, IE Terminology, 2000 Revised Edition
  3. 1 2 3 Freivalds, Andris; Niebel, Benjamin (2003). Methods, Standards, and Work Design (Eleventh ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN   0072468246.