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Q4a) outline the main features of a typical manufacturing system and briefly dis

ID: 1996817 • Letter: Q

Question

Q4a) outline the main features of a typical manufacturing system and briefly discuss the principle of quality assurance for engineering components. b) the main features of a flexible manufacturing system (FMs) and its relation to flexible manufacturing cells (FMCs) c) A production facility has both fixed and variable costs. From the following list, which are fixed costs and which are variable costs? Advertising Packaging Transportation Insurance Production supplies Taxes Wages of production staff Wages of non-production staff Material costs Research Also explain the principle of breakeven Doint (BEP) for income and expenditure in relation to manufactured components. END OF PAPER

Explanation / Answer

a) Following are the main features of a typical manufacturing system:

1) Multi Skilled Workforce

2) Material Requirement Planning

3) Inventory Control

4) Line management

5) Ergonomics

6) Operaton Research

Principal of quality assurance for engineering components:

Quality assurance is process oriented. It contains the systematic implementation within the system in order to provide the assurance of quality to the customers in the future.

Following are some of its principals:

1) Total Quality management: It contains the use of control charts and other methods to keep the product quality in the required dimensions.

2) Strategic Approach: It contains, to know the future demands, continuous improvement with advacing technology, knowledge about changing trends.

3) Regular Evaluations: It is the process of determining the satisfaction of requirement.

4) Establish requirements and control changes: The process for defining the requirements must ensure that the needs of all the stakeholders involved with the end product have been accurately captured.

b) A flexible manufacturing system has 3 basic components :
i. Workstations
ii. Automated Material Handling and Storage system
iii. Computer Control System

1) Workstations: It consists of

2) Automated Material Handling and Storage system: The systems used in this category are used to transport work parts and present them to the loading/unloading stations incorporated in the workstations. Sometimes the transport of material will take place between storage and workstations.

3) Computer Control System:  The computer system as implemented in a flexible manufacturing system will generally consist of a centralised computer, with distributed smaller computers which have the role of monitoring and controlling the individual machines.

FMC is simpler computer control system.

c)

A break-even analysis explores the relationship between expenses and revenues. Revenues are the amounts you earn for selling your product. Expenses are your operating and production costs. There are two types of expenses:

1) Fixed

2) Variable

Now find contribution margin:

C = Selling price per unit - Variable cost per unit

Now to find Break Even point, formula is

BEP = Fixed Cost/Contribution Margin

  

S. No. FMS FMC 1 FMS has more than 4 machines FMC has less than 4 machines 2 FMS is larger and more sophisticated computer control system

FMC is simpler computer control system.

3 FMS has minimized an effect of machine breakdowns FMC has limited error recovery by fewer machines