Object Based Manufacturing
Object based manufacturing (also known as Mass customization) is the manufacture of product, based upon Customer specifications or input. The manufactured product is essentially an object whereby the specifications determine the form, fit, and function by following predefined rules.
This applies to virtually any company where the Customer can define what they want. It also works with complex configurations and/or dimensional products.
Object Based Manufacturing is the next generation of software. It helps companies minimize the long-term maintenance of systems, while providing more user-friendly interfaces. The user can enter orders correctly the first time and still provide the information manufacturing needs in order to build the product, without the cost of having to use expensive engineers to check the orders.
Object Based Manufacturing is designed to capture information in an object-oriented method by identifying the lowest common denominators in the manufacturing process.
This generation of software has specific advantages over the older programs and it requires a different way of thinking.
The accepted method of programming for the next generation is OBJECT ORIENTED. Older methods require large amounts of code to be developed and maintained, while Object Based Manufacturing allows for an entity whereby the knowledge is self-contained. The objects are designed as the lowest common element and can be used or shared in multiple applications. By maintaining the lowest level, you can update multiple applications at the same time. This different way of thinking takes adaptation, but once understood, it allows for huge increases in productivity. The same principle can be applied to manufacturing.
The new generation of powerful application tool sets allows you to place information in the hands of users. However, successful implementations require people. Good manufacturing practices need to be maintained in order to be successful. This includes having a clear understanding of the flows of the products. It also means engineering change control must be in place. With these elements – people, organization, manufacturing flows, and change control – implementation and success are guaranteed.
What does Object Based Manufacturing mean and how can it be applied?
The purpose of this document is to orient and familiarize potential and new users to the fundamentals behind Object Based Manufacturing. By understanding and following these guidelines, the user will become more effective in the use of Object Based Manufacturing and should receive faster benefit.
The objectives to be accomplished include the following:
1. Establishing the required benefits
2. Environment
3. Definitions
4. Flow
5. Maintenance
Benefits
Companies that are Object Based Manufacturers may be required to provide their Customers with complex configurations, features and options, or a wide variety of interchangeable elements. They may also have a need to supply a virtually unlimited variety of sizes, colors, and shapes.
The specific advantages to your company and how quickly you achieve benefit will depend upon your focus and can be illustrated by the following graph:
A natural growth of this process is to allow for the elimination of all non-value-added lead-time. This is because the Customers’ requirements can now be transferred directly to the shop floor.
Note: While error reduction may be seen as a lesser benefit, some advantages and challenges exist. The environment where this pertains includes companies that have:
·Complex Configurations: The perceived error rate may already be low, as there is significant overhead (system engineers/experts) that check the work. The advantage to your company is in the reassignment of such personnel to other productive tasks.
·Dimensional Products: The expertise required tends to be prior in the order-entry process. The perceived error rate may already be low as hundreds if not millions of dollars are spend in education dealer networks. Order-entry is often a “data-processing” oriented environment.
HINT: Ways to Achieve Fast Track Results
Complex Configurations:
Build a process that can be used to validate the sales or order-entry process. You can add manufacturing information at a later date with relative ease.
Dimensional Products:
Build a pricing model only
-or-
Select one product-line to implement.
Remember: Do not try to implement without a clear understanding of the desired benefits.
Definitions or “How does it work?”
Object Based Manufacturing in a Traditional MRP Environment: Objects can be thought of as a model or item around which you state or create conditions, rules, or sets of information you need. An object is a product or item that cannot be built until these factors are known:
- How the Product Will be Used
- Parameters Surrounding its Use
- Description
A simple way to understand this is to think of a computer. In general, we know what a computer is and does. As an object, a computer cannot be built until one describes what type of computer, data storage, et cetera.
A hierarchical (traditional) approach starts at the top. You create a direct relationship between the top item (model) and its components. The classic example is the Bill of Material. The problem is that the relationship quickly becomes too complex. This is exemplified by the following:
The hierarchical approach yields the following structure:
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Another way to understand the hierarchical approach is to compare the bill approach to traditional programming. In this case, the relationship is examined for each occurrence. In other words, the program must inquire of each cable whether they are the “right” selection.
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Rather than having each cable analyzed to validate whether or not it meets the criteria, in Object Based Manufacturing, the cable contains the knowledge about itself. In other words, the engineer’s orientation is changed as follows: In Object Based Manufacturing, the object contains the knowledge about its conditional use.Let us review another example:
If an engineer defines a specific shaft (below), they have designed a unique form, fit, and function performed.
Outside diameter (O.D.) = 1 inch
Inside diameter (I.D.) = .25 inch
Length = 4 inch
The Bill of Material and manufacturing is straightforward. These define specifically what is required in raw materials and machining of the part.
Marketing or Sales may offer their Customers shafts that range in size:
.25 in. O.D. to 10 in. O.D.
.1 in. I.D. to 9.75 in. I.D.
1 in. length to 200 in. length
All one offered in .1 increments.
Traditional approach changes: Engineering still creates one drawing, but instead of a unique form, fit, and function, the drawing represents an object of which the parameters are:
O.D. can range from .25 – 10 inches.
I.D. .1 – 9.75; but must be less than O.D. by one tenth of an inch.
Length can range from 1 to 200 inches
Bills of Material and shop information generally cannot be created in advance, as the object does not take its form until after Sales (the Customer) specifies the exact requirement.
The power of Object-Based Manufacturing now comes into play. The raw material (RM) requirement (Bill of Material) also is an object. It has the prerequisite of having to know the length and O.D. prior to being able to calculate its usage. The raw material for the shaft can therefore be an object, whereby selection of correct raw material is based upon knowledge maintained relevant to it. For example:
RM1 is used if O.D. < Usage is calculated as Length + .25 (for saw kerf)
RM2 is used if O.D. >1<2 Usage is calculated as Length + .25 (for saw kerf)
RM3 is used if O.D. >2<3 Usage is calculated as Length + .25 (for saw kerf)
To truly understand the significance of Object Based Manufacturing, two simple facts remain:
1. Multiple conditions,
2. Formula representation.
The following paradigm shift occurs:
1. The company may sell 20 top models – some with no ID’s, some painted, others with holes, etc. In Object Based Manufacturing, the rules about the object do not change (calculation and selection would be the same – only the process or value-added operations change). If they do change, they should be maintained relative to the raw material versus a relationship with each top model.
2. The formula for calculating the usage can itself be an object! Instead of defining it for each possible RM, it is defined once and named. Therefore, if the technology in saws (cutting operations) changes, allowing a thinner kerf (material lost in the actual sawing operation), it can be changed once and affect all occurrences.
This fact is what brings the power to the forefront. The key to this is in the identification of the lowest common denominator among objects.
OBJECT BASED MANUFACTURING provides practical applications or implementation
The key to success is implementation. Traditional approaches have forced the engineering group to take ownership of the specific form, fit, and function – the exactness of the product. In the early 1900’s, it was recognized that Design for manufacturability (DFM) was a critical component to success. This means getting to understand how the product was being built not just engineered. The concept of the Object Based Manufacturer means integrating this to its next higher level. It pulls from the best technologies to find the lowest common denominator – and provide the user more flexibility and lower maintenance.
The technologies involved includes taking advantage of MRP for common materials, Group Technology for common process instructions, Object Programming for low maintenance, Parametric Technology for flexibility, Celleur Manufacturing for throughput, and so forth… all to yield advantage when applied in Object Based Manufacturing.
To succeed in this approach is quite simple. You need to establish the inputs and outputs; who are the providers and users of this information?
The Customer to the shop floor. Everything else is non-value-added. Driving the transaction costs to zero.
The Customer: The objectives are to make sure that the Customer can describe in meaningful terms what they require as a product or service. They should be able to use language that:
1) Describes a capability they require using meaningful terms, that is, using language that they are used to using in everyday life [not arcane marketing or part numbers, although these do provide value in environments where the users or Customers are very well trained. For example, virtually everyone knows what S, M, L, XL, and XXL mean when purchasing shirts].
2) Describes a situation or problem they are in or need to solve. If the Customer can not describe the product’s capability then the Customer must be able to discuss information in terms of capabilities or wants – or by describing what they need to accomplish.
Let’s expand on this and what this means.
1. Describing a capability in Meaningful Terms (Language)
Consider the following example. A Customer walking into a car dealership provides the salesperson with information such as:
· The make or type of car
· Color
· Power requirements
· Stereo options
· Interior
They say things like: “I’d like a blue Mustang convertible. You know, one with lots of power, leather seats, and the premium stereo package.”
-Not-
“How about a Model MSC1000, with the 340PX engine. Color should be BL999, seats L22, and BGBM1100 Stereo.”
In other words, they know little or care nothing about your part numbers and want to talk in everyday language.
2. Describing a Situation or Problem
The Customer may not even know what your product does, so instead they discuss their situation. In this case they tell the salesperson about themselves and the situation they are in such as:
· Price category (budget)
· Miles per gallon required
· They have children.
· They like to have fun and this is a second car.
· They are city drivers that like to go to the beach.
In other words, it is the salesperson’s job to find the best match for their requirements.
Without a salesperson, the system must be designed to collect enough information to provide choices or to steer the Customer to the products most likely to meet their needs.
Implementing the Front End.
To be successful, Object Based Manufacturing must be flexible enough to collect all of the relevant information in terms in which both the Customer and the salesperson can communicate. It must also make sure that only the right choices are presented to the Customer to prevent mistakes from occurring.
The simplest way to go about this is to bring together the persons who deal directly with the Customer. Have them make a list of specific questions to ask the Customer; then, after knowing their detailed needs, they can correctly configure an order.
Connecting it to The Shop Floor: The Shop Floor is the department responsible for building or assembling the correct configuration. What this means is that the departments or work-centers that add value to the product must have sufficient information to correctly build the product.
In the era of mass customization (personalization or configuration of product to a specific purchase) Customer-Driven Manufacturers do not build products or configurations until the Customer defines the product for them. Therefore, to be successful, the products they build must be defined in terms that the shop floor can use to correctly build or assemble the product. Until the definition by the Customer is complete, the products produced are best described as an object. The object is a set of rules or that can not be built until enough information is known to convert the Customer’s requirements into meaningful manufacturing information.
For example, in an Object Based Manufacturing process, you are more likely to hear personnel speak in terms of the products they build as:
·Windows
·Desks
·Computer systems
·Equipment for food processing
·Environmental testing devices
If the shop floor is asked to build such a product (as above), they cannot until someone has given information about the end product specification, and translated that into the exact requirements for a given manufacturing operation. If the person responsible for staining the desk is asked to perform an operation, they will want to know the information about which stain, what wood is being used, what type of finish is required, and so forth. If a person is asked to build computer memory, they most likely will need to know how much memory is needed, what is the CPU, what model, and so forth. In other words, the product cannot be built until the specification is known and translated into shop floor data.
Organizations are developed around value-added operations. Manufacturing is successful when tasks are repetitive and the cost of performing the value-added operation is minimized.
Therefore, the goal in Object Based Manufacturing is to take advantage of repetitive processes and, given the right set of data, to allow the department or work-center to convert the object into the correct product using unique customer requirements. In other words, focus on the lowest common denominator involved in production, not the uniqueness of the result. Cutting is repetitive: the fact that each length of cut material is unique is irrelevant from a process perspective.
It is critical to identify commonality between products produced in terms of process. The commonality is the department, cell, or work-center operation and the lowest level of material(s) to be converted. The customer-specific data allows the department, cell, or work-center operation to convert the object in a repetitive fashion into the piece or assembly needed to build the product.
Examples:
1. In a Furniture Manufacturing Company:
The sawyer cuts molding. The molding is an object. The saw proivides the value-added operation. The customer-specific data includes:
·The overall size of the desired product, and
·The style, series, or type of the product.
This provides sufficient information for the sawyer to:
·Select the right type of molding, and
·Cut it to the correct length.
Since the sawyer does not stain nor assemble nor build, any other information is not required. In fact, the sawyer takes on the attributes of a high-volume repetitive process. Select molding and cut to length à Select molding cut to length à Select molding à Cut… into a specific component in a high speed repetitive fashion.
2. In a Complex Systems Company:
The system is the object. The final configuration is the value-added operation. The Customers’ specific data is used to configure the desired product.
·Country,
·Applications to be loaded,
·Temperature extremes the product is subjected to, and
·Storage requirements.
This provides sufficient information for the technician to configure the memory, load the correct software, and convert the sub-assemblies and assemblies into an operating machine.
Collecting complete customer specifications or requirements and translating into meaningful shop floor information may require the use of modifiers such as formulas and look up tables or in some cases may be directly inferred from the input. This is illustrated by the following diagram:
Building on Efficiency in an Object Based World
In order for objects to work in manufacturing, the object must be self-contained and have knowledge or rules about the processes and materials necessary to specify or convert the object into a product or valued-added operation. The object may also share other objects’ properties, as well.
A good example to help understand the value of using shared objects is the following, simple example. Consider a word-processing document linked to a spreadsheet. If the values within the spreadsheet are changed, all word-processing documents containing linked references to the spreadsheet are updated. Unlike the structured hierarchical approach, whereby each occurrence of such a relationship must be updated and maintained, the properties are shared and updated at one time.In this next series of examples, consider that other objects may share the object.
In the following diagram, Factor A is used in the formula as the primary variable. If a different choice selection or model selection is made, then the result of the formula would change. By utilizing this method, only one change has to be made to allow many things to be updated simultaneously.
The traditional approach had been to create bill of materials for each unique instance of the product. Documented cases exist where 50,000 – 100,000 part numbers and tens of thousands of Bills of Material relationships exist, with potentially millions of possible combinations. Even in these environments, the complaint is that only the “standard products” are documented. Even utilizing standard product configuration technology, multiple iterations are often required.
Object Based Manufacturing helps reduce/eliminate the number of infinite Bills of Material that can be created. Consider the way an engineer documents products. If one were to look at the engineering drawings in most of these companies, they contain references to parts that may range in size. A dimensional arrow usually demarcates these. If a part number is referenced, the part may contain a dash number with an “x” to represent the actual part required (e.g. 1000-x which could be 1000-1 for the one inch, -2, for the two inch version and so forth). Since the engineer has already created the object (the drawing), it is the Materials Requirements System or need to communicate to the shop floor an exact specification that has forced us to create part numbers for each of the possible iterations.
Object Based Manufacturing changes this by assuming that no Bill of Material or part specification is complete until the user (Customer) specifies the part. Raw materials or purchased components and sub-assemblies, in this case, become the lowest common denominator. Any other iteration involves a transformation of the item by applying value-added processes to it.
Quantities and dimensional information can be calculated using formulas and are communicated via process instructions. As in the previous example cut material #1000 to (x), where x is the users selection of a dimension or the result of a formula.
How to Use Object Based Manufacturing
How is Object Based Manufacturing used to provide the information necessary to complete the specification required to manufacture the customer-specific part? This can be broken into materials, routing information and process instructions.
Material
Let us consider the raw material, using the simple example of a pane of glass for a picture frame. The Customer at the glass shop tells the shopkeeper what size picture frame they need. The Customer and shopkeeper determine the appropriate frame (molding) and whether reflective or non-glare glass is required. Knowing this, and knowing the outside dimension, the shopkeeper calculates the inside glass size and then cuts the glass from a larger sheet. When asked as to the stocking number, the shopkeeper is most likely to respond that he orders his glass by the square foot, and that’s that.
Given the number of possible sizes of a picture frame, one would tend to agree that setting up a part number for each and every possible sized glass would be a difficult, if not a meaningless, exercise. Furthermore, creating a relationship between each size, shape, and type (glare and non-glare) of glass, and all of the possible types of frames (molding) would be a challenge.
As the framer’s business increases, he can no longer be the only source of information or worker. He must then transfer this knowledge. To document this process for others, the choices are threefold. One) Go to each frame, write down the calculation and glass to be used. Two) Go to the glass and write down a list of the offsets (based on frames) and the corresponding formula. Three) Let each object contain the necessary information to aid the process. The frame contains the offset, and the glass is a variable formula. The other variable, regular or non-glare glass, is an attribute of the glass itself. The glass contains the knowledge about the formula and reference to the offset, rather than each frame containing a duplicate record or a specific part number (glass size and type).
In the next example, by attaching the conditions of use to the steel rods, the rod (object) contains the selction criteria to allow the right rod to “come true”. The customer-specification collects information to allow a formula or engineering rules to create a listing of requirements, including how long the rod would have to be, and what tensile strength it needs to support. Attributes or conditions of use assigned to the different raw materials allow the correct rod match. Furthermore, there are no if/then statements that could potentially create a maintenance issues. This is because in the object approach, the engineer can add new raw materials and file them with their associated selection criteria without having to go back to the “rules” and maintain them.
In this way, one can maintain the part at the lowest common denominator or point.
Routings
The advantage of having thousands of part numbers is that each part number is unique in its form, fit, and function and the specification on how to build the part is complete. If one no longer pre-specifies each routing and replaces it with variables, the specification now must be transferred to where the value-added operation is performed.
In most manufacturing operations there are only a limited number of paths through work centers or routings that can be taken.
Only because we have been forced to predefine all possibilities, we appear to create multiple possible iterations. For example, a job involving cutting different shafts will take different standard times. Adding threads to a shaft may require different machinery. Yet the value provided by the work-center or cell is generally not unique for each operation. The work center may cut or turn. The specifics of the operation on lengths or thread type is again based upon a series of input and outputs within a predefined structure.
Another way to understand this concept is to walk out to the factory (or grab a blueprint of it). Ask the shop to trace on the blueprint the path the products go through. You will almost immediately find that there are a limited number of paths.
In Object Based Manufacturing, standard routes that can be applied to almost all products exist through the factory floor. The differences may be exception-based processes. Examples would be where a stain versus paint operation is required, or where extra testing or burn-in may be required. These again become objects that become true if certain tests are passed, and would be added to the standard path for that order only.
Depending upon the part manufactured at the work-center, the time standard may also change. Therefore, in Object Based Manufacturing, the quantities or time-standards (crucial to capacity planning or performance measurements) can be established as formulas. This allows complete variability.
Process Instructions
Finally, the value-added operation requires directions or instructions. Therefore, the remaining requirement is to ensure that the performance specification or work instructions are made clear.
If you have mapped the shop floor, you can now go directly to each of the machines, work-centers, or cells. Ask the shop floor operator to list all of the products, models, or sub-assemblies that are built there. More importantly, ask them to build you one. The classic response will be an almost identical set of questions that you may have asked the Customer in the first place. The only difference is that the questions may be a subset of the total number of questions asked if you included all operations.
Then have them show you what they do with the information. They may use the Customer’s input (as in selecting a color paint or processor chip), or they may use it to calculate the length of a board, or look up a configuration variable in a table to set the right jumpers. Process instructions allow you to provide an operator with information that enables them to convert the material into the product required or to process it to the next operation. To achieve this successfully, all you need to do is:
1. Capture the correct set of information up front.
2. Filter only those sets of information that are important to specific work-centers.
3. Create tables or formulas to convert information that can not be inferred directly.
4. Use information to complete the process instructions.
The process instruction then becomes a set of variables that are completed at the time the customer-specification is collected. Therefore, only a relatively smaller set of instructions is required to produce unique customer-specific process instructions on how to build the part.
As an example, the object or value-added step has attributes, parameters, or properties that cannot be defined until the Customer specification is known. These are put into a list requiring answers such as:
·Cut Length?
·CPU?
·Length?
·Formula Results?
·CNC Program?
At the time of customer-specification, the information collected or updated can be provided directly to the shop floor.
Process instructions allow variable data to be imbedded – Customer-Specification completes the data required to communicate concise information.
Process instructions provide a key to Object Based Manufacturing benefits. They allow specific information to be validated, calculated, and passed directly to the shop floor as information. They also allow you to take that same information and utilize it for the purpose of passing parameters to other programs such as optimizers, electronically-controlled saws, and CNC programs. They can be used to sort and filter operations, and can be used for historical sales analysis information.
As another example:
The sawyer needs to know what kind of molding to cut and how long it should be cut. The process may read:
Cut to length.
This instruction is associated with the work-center saw. The will be substituted with a raw material number based on the Customer-specification. The may be a formula that will substitute the actual calculation based upon the Customer-specification.
The shop floor may also opt to sort the orders on the floor by . They may pass the results of the formula to a numerically controlled saw as the molding is inserted.
Using Object Based Manufacturing, any number of variables may be required at a given work-center. This allows them to maintain common instruction sets, yet at the time of the Customer-specification, create exactly what the customer requires!Closed Loop The goal of Object Based Manufacturing is to eliminate the non-value steps in the manufacturing process. The resultant benefit is to eliminate unnecessary lead-time taken up by checking work, ensuring complete sets of information are collected, and translating that information into Customer-specific Bills of Material, routings, and process instructions. Object Based Manufacturing uses the lowest common denominator or object to define the rules and methods of use.
Object Based Manufacturing allows you to:
·Collect information from your Customers using their terms.
·Validate the responses.
·Use objects such as common formulas.
·Maintain information on raw material or component usage at the object level (raw material or component) instead of each possible end-item.
·Manage the routings from the lowest point; adding work-centers, cells, or departments as required, instead of creating every possible iteration up front.
·Use object based process instructions, whereby the information is common to repetitive manufacturing and dynamic or variable data is created using the Customer specification.
In other words, Object Based Manufacturing links the Customer to the shop floor.
In order for objects to work in manufacturing, the object must be self-contained and have knowledge or rules about the processes and materials necessary to specify or convert the object into a product or valued-added operation. The object may also share other objects’ properties, as well.