Page 212 - DMGT501_OPERATIONS_MANAGEMENT

Operations Management

Notes 5. However, the production rate in the drop hammer was higher by 20 per cent compared to
a forging press due to its lower cycle time of the drop hammer.
6. Both the Drop Hammer as well as the Forging Press could be used continuously 24 hours a
day. As per international standards of International Labor Organization (ILO), the expected
machine utilization would be around 65 per cent for either of the machines.
7. Also, as the drop forging machines were relatively simple and inexpensive, their
maintenance costs were lower by nearly 30 per cent compared to a forging press, though
drop forging equipment required more downtime for preventive maintenance.

Figure 7.2: Process Flow Diagram for Connecting Rod

The flow diagram for the process for forging of a ‘connecting rod’ is shown in Figure 7.2. Some

of the basic elements of the process are: tasks, flows, decisions and storage. Tasks are shown

as rectangles, flows as arrows, storage as inverted triangles, and decision points depicted as
diamonds.
The flow diagram reflects the relationships between the different activities undertaken to

complete the process. Many a time looking at a process one may be looking at a number of
independent activities. One may need to evaluate other activities to arrive at a suitable decision.
There is also the possibility that there is significant interaction between individual activities and

processes that must be considered.
Very often, activities downstream impact the activities upstream or vice versa. Sometimes,
activities can be taken up simultaneously so as to improve the speed and productivity of the
process.
Standard word processing programs on a computer can be used to draw flow diagrams. Microsoft

Office programs, i.e., Word, Excel and PowerPoint, have the provision of a drawing toolbar that

helps in making flowcharts.
In the drawing toolbar choose the “Auto Shapes” button that has a number of options. One
of them is ‘Flow Chart’. On clicking this option, one will see all the standard symbols used in

flowcharts and the required symbol can be selected and transferred onto the worksheet.

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