Sub Production or not?

thomast

Hi All (general manufacturing discussion)

I would like to raise a discussion on when to split up the production of a product up into sub-productions.

Background: I am in the middle of an implementation at a furniture producing company which is overall a "to-order" producer and the one example is the production of an office table which consists of more than 50 parts. But rather than creating 1 BOM with all 50 components we are debating whether so split it up into sub-productions. For instance, some are arguing that the 4 legs should be a separate item and produced separately.

So I have tried to come up with some general rules which might help guide the decision and I would love for you guys to comment. (If any of you have can refer to a resource online which deals with this question, let me know)

So here are my thoughts so far:
1) If a sub-component is used in many different end products you should create it as a separate item as you can then bulk produce this item on a separate production order.
2) It is easier to communicate to a worker that he has to produce 10 legs if those 10 legs have their own item number/production order.
3) If your customers continuously order small quantities the of end product rather than 1 big order once then this speaks for sub production as you can bulk produce.
4) Sub production allows you to get some of the work done while you are waiting for components arriving from your supplier needed for other parts of the production. Of course you could start producing in the case where the table has 1 big BOM but the worker would have to remember why he stopped the production.

Any comments and advantages/disadvantages are welcomed and appreciated.

Cheers.

Thomas.

waynes

Hi Thomas,

I would also think of things in terms of 'Conveyor Belts' or 'Production Lines'.
You don't create a whole table in one long process, but you have a production line/process that makes the table top, another that makes legs, and another that makes sections of chairs etc.
Each of these produce 'piles' of items that are then used by another 'Production Line' to combine into the next item.

Any of these items that are stored, or have to be moved to another location for other processing might be considered as stock items.

Its a lot easier to read
Table-A
1 * Top-A
4 * Leg-A
Assemble

Than it is
Table-A
1 * 4 x 4 Plank
Machine to Top per drawing A-Top
4 * 4 x 1 Plank
Machine to Leg per drawing A-Leg
Assemble


Regards

Wayne