chapter 2 Production Operations and Automation Strategies

Production is a transformation process that converts raw materials into finished products that have value in the marketplace. The products are made by a combination of manual labor, machinery, tools, and energy. The transfomiation process usually involves a se quence of steps, each step bringing the materials closer to the desired tinal state. The individual steps are referred to as production operations.
ln this chapter we define some fundamental concepts about production and automation. We begin by examining the industries that are engaged in manufacturing. This leads into the types of production and the various functions that are associated with it. Many of the functions can be described by mathematical models, and several equations are derived to define concepts such as production rate and plant capacity. The chapter concludes by developing a list of I0 automation strategies. These strategies form the basis for the specific topics covered in this book.

2.1 MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
There is a wide variety of basic industries, including not only manufacturing but all others as well. By examining the publicly held corporations whose shares are traded on the major stock exchanges, it is possible to compile a list of industry types. Such a list is presented in Table 2.l. This list includes all types of industrial corporations, banks, utilities, and so on. Our interest in this book is on industrial firms that are engaged in production. 

 TABLE 2.1 Basic Industries : General

Advertising
Aerospace
Automotive (cars, micks, buses)
Beverages
Building materials
Cement
Chemicals
Clothing (gaments, shoes)
Construction
Drugs, soaps, cosmetics
Equipment and machinery
Financial (banks, investment companies. loans)
Foods (canned, dairy, meats. etc.) .
Hospital supplies
Hotel/motel
lnsuranceMetals (steel. aluminum, etc.)
Natural resources (oil, coal, forest, etc.)
Paper
Publishing
Radio, TV, motion pictures
Restaurant
Retail (food, department store, etc.)
Shipbuilding
Textiles
Tire and rubber
Tobacco
Transportation (railroad. airlines, trucking. etc.)
Utilities (electric power, natural gas, telephone)

 Table 2.2 is a list of basic industries that produce goods, together with examples of companies that are members of these industries. The companies represented in this table can be divided into two types, depending on the nature of their production operations. The two types are the manufacturing industries and the process industries. Manufacturing companies are typically identified with discrete-item production: cars, computers, machine tools, and the components that go into these products. The process industries are rep resented by chemicals and plastics, petroleum products, food processing, soaps, steel, and cement. Our focus in this book is on manufacturing.
There are other ways to classify companies. One altemative is to place a company
into one of three categories: -

1. Basic producer
2. Converter
3. Fabricator

TABLE 2.2 Basic Industries: Manufacturing and Process Industries

    Basic industry                              Representative company
    Aerospace                                   Boeing Co
    Automotive                                 General Motors
    Beverages                                   Coca-Cola
    Building materials                        U.S. Gypsum
    Cement                                       Lone Star Industries
    Chemicals                                   E.I. du Pont
    ClothingHanes Corp.
    Drugs, soaps, cosmetics               Proctor & Gamble
    Equipment and machinery
        Agricultural                              Deere
        Construction                           Caterpillar Tractor
        Electrical                                 General Electric
        Electronics                              Hewlett-Packard
        Household appliances              Maytag
        Industrial                                 Ingersoll-Rand
        Machine tools                         Cincinnati Milacmn
        Office equipment, computers   IBM
       Railroad equipment                  Pullman
       Steam generating                      Combustion Engineering
    Foods
       Canned foods                          Green Giant
       Dairy products                        Borden
       MeatsOscar                            Mayer
       Packaged foods                      General Mills
    Hospital supplies                        American Hospital Supply
    Metals
       Aluminum                              Alcoa
       Copper                                  Kennecott
       Steel                                     U.S. Steel
    Natural resources
       Coal                                     Pinston
       Forest                                  Georgia-Pacilic
       Oil                                        Exxon
    Paper                                       Kimberly Clark
    Textiles                                    Burlington Industries
    Tire and rubber                         Goodyear

The three types form a connecting chain in the transformation of natural resources and basic raw materials into goods for the consuming public. The basic producers take the natural resources and transfonn these into the raw materials used by other industrial manufacturing firms. For example, steel producers transform iron ore into steel ingots.
The converter represents the intermediate link in the chain. The converter takes the output of the basic producer and transforms these raw materials into various industrial products and some consumer items. For example, the steel ingot is converted into bar stock or sheet metal. Chemical finns transform petroleum products into plastics for molding. Paper mills convert wood pulp into paper. A distinguishing characteristic of the convener is that its products are uncomplicated in physical form. The products are not assembled items. The production processes used to make the products may be complex but the products themselves are not.
The third category of manufacturing firms is the fuhricator. These firms fabricate and assemble final products. The bar stock and sheet metal are transformed into machinedengine components and automobile body panels. The plastics are molded into various shapes. Then these parts are assembled into final products, such as tmcks, automobiles, appliances, garments, and machine tools. Fabricators include both the firms that produce the components and those which assemble the components into consumer goods.
There are several complicating factors in this classification. Some firms possess a high degree of vertical integration, which means that their operations include all three categories. The major oil firms are examples of vertical integration. They convert natural resources into finished petroleum products and then market these products directly to the consumer. Another complicating factor is that some companies-the conglomerates-are in so many different types of business that it is difficult to classify them. Some of their operations are in the basic producer category; others are converters; and still other lines of business fall into the fabricator category.