THE FORD PRODUCTION SYSTEM OPER040

SUBMITTED BY:
NAZILA.A DEVI.S SUMI.S

ABSTRACT Ford has pioneered several innovative automobile manufacturing techniques since its inception. In the mid 1990s, Ford restructured its manufacturing operations in its efforts to induce more flexibility and enhance the efficiency of its automobile production system. The restructuring effort was known as ford production system (FPS). The case discusses the key elements of FPS and how it was implemented by ford. The case also discusses how Ford implemented the principles of lean manufacturing through FPS at its manufacturing operations. Finally, the case discusses the benefits reaped by the company after the implementation of FPS.

 Examine the mass and assembly line production systems at Ford, which helped it gain recognition as an innovator in the automobile industry. Ford motor company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on june16; 1903.Ford has been recognized as a manufacturing process innovator in the automobile industry. For instance, in 1907, Ford introduced the mass production system, which produced cars of uniform quality and features in bulk, and sold them at an affordable price to customers .The mass production process itself is characterized by mechanization to achieve high volume, elaborate organization of materials flow through various stages of manufacturing, careful supervision of quality standards, and minute division of labour. In 1908, Ford introduced the mass production system for the production of Model T. The novelty in this system was that the parts were standardised and fixing them on became much easier. To enable the parts to be used interchangeably, Ford standardised the gauging system throughout the production process. The company began working on pre-hardened metal that minimized distortion problems like twisting of the metal sheet during the imprinting of a die. Soon, Ford was able to develop designs that limited the number of parts required and made them easy to fix. For instance, Fords four-cylinder engine block comprised a single, complete casting; in contrast, Fords competitors had to mold each cylinder separately and then bolt them together. When perfect part interchange ability was accomplished, each assembler had to perform only a single task, moving from one vehicle to the other around the assembly hall.

Despite the efficiency of the prevailing system, it had some problems. The workers movement from one assembly stand to another wasted a lot of their energy and time.Henry Ford calculated that ten steps saved by each of his workers, would enable the company to save 50 miles of wasted energy every day. In addition to this, there was a regular human jam as faster workers tried to overtake the slower ones. In order to overcome the problems, in 1913, Ford introduced the moving assembly line concept in the Highland Park factory, bringing the car assembly line to the stationary worker. The assembly line manufacturing is totally a new approach in automobile making. An assembly line is designed by determining the sequences of operations for manufacture of each product component as well as the final product. Each movement of material is made as simple and short as possible with no cross flow or backtracking. Work assignments, numbers of machines, and production rates are programmed so that all operations performed along the line are compatible. This innovation reduced the cycle time of the task from 2.3 minutes to 1.19minutes.The assembly time for Model T chassis fell drastically from 12 hours 30 minutes to 5 hours 50 minutes Ford was able to reduce inventory to a great extent, resulting in significant savings for the company. By using the assembly line approach, the production of vehicles at Ford doubled every year during the years1913 to 1923.

WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY LEAN MANUFACTURING? IN AN ATTEMPT TO RE-ENGINEER ITS OPERATIONS, FORD INTRODUCED THE FORD PRODUCTION SYSTEM(FPS) IN THE MID -1990s. EXPLAIN THE KEY ELEMENTS OF FPS AND DISCUSS HOW FORD IMPLEMENTED THE PRINCIPLES OF LEAN MANUFACTURING THROUGH FPS

LEAN MANUFACTURING
Lean manufacturing aimed at bringing together human, material and mechanical resources at the right time and place to accomplish a task. It strived to eliminate every kind of waste including wastage of time, labour, scrap material, defective parts etc.

The concept of lean manufacturing can be traced back to Japan after the second world war. Toyota was the first company to implement these practices. The main focus of this system was to minimize the consumption of resources that were not of any value to a product. In late 1990s, Ford began implementing FPS in all its manufacturing facilities across the world. The core of FPS was the people who were responsible for understanding the process and implementing it. Employees were grouped into small teams called work groups. The work groups were responsible for the implementation of lean manufacturing at their plants. The members of the work groups were viewed as change agents. These included the application of visualization tools such as CAD and CAM ,usage of error proofing equipment ,and installation of quality process systems. Support strategies & concepts

Quick change over Work place organisation system Standardised operation Kanban system Value stream mapping Total productive maintenance Cellular manufacturing One piece source Employee involvement Quality at a source