Metrics for production processes
As the company Manychip examines various methods to assess its performance and design processes, it is looking for an analysis of the existing workflow production process and the factors that most directly impact such measurements. As a review, the most common metrics for production processes are as follows:
Quality: the number of defects associated with a given product
Cost: material and labor costs
Timeliness: how quickly products are manufactured and delivered
Flexibility: the degree to which the production process can be adapted to produce other products or specific products more quickly
Productivity: a ratio of outputs divided by inputs
Efficiency: a ratio of actual outputs divided by standard (or expected) outputs, multiplied by 100% to give a total efficiency percentage
Cycle Time: the total time it takes to complete a production process
Theory of Constraints and Queuing Theory
1. Explain how each measure can be applied to Manychip's production planning process - can the company use each one? How?
2. Rank the criteria listed above in order of importance to Manychip's production planning strategy, detailing your rationale for such a ranking.
3. Identify other measures that might apply to Manychip and explain them.