DORE DORE

A STUDY ON IMPLEMENTING THE CELLULAR DESIGN PROCESS IN THE ORGANISATION.

Background

Dore Dore was established by Jean Baptiste in 1819 It was the world class manufacturer of fashionable knitted products Its hosiery division produced socks and stockings for men, women and children & accounted for 88% of DDs sales Its knitwear division produced a line of children's knitwear such as play clothes, sweaters and nightclothes. It focused on both quality and fashion It produced hose not only under its DD trademark, but also for famous designers. DD commented a 30% to 40% market share in this segment One of DDs competitive strengths was its superior customer service for hosiery.

Operations & Problems & Planning.

Its operations were divided between two main sites MERY PLANT, which encompasses all childrens knitwear operations; and GRES COMPLEX, which encompasses the companys headquarters and central hosiery factory. Each season DD produced each style in two seasons in hosiery and preset production for Knitwear division. Forecasts were uncertain; all production took place before observing consumers demand in Hosiery Division. High inventory costs were incurred. Many items were left unsold. The company wanted to get into Cellular Design Layout for better Production And Operational Utilization. (for instance Part A & Part B shown below)

COMPANYS DESIGN LAYOUT (Part A) In childrens knitwear division, the company is using presently a product design layout to do the operations in the production.

Observations Part A

In knitwear Division, same style and same orders were placed every time and the delivery was in advance. So, by focusing on innovations, the impact of cellular design process on Hosiery Division was studied. The observations stated in this, came out with these results which are shown below: ( As per values given in the case we have taken sewing & finishing operation into account.)

PRODUCT DESIGN VERSUS PROCESS DESIGN (In Sewing & Finishing)

SRL NO TO CALCULATE: PRESENT LAYOUT PROPOSED LAYOUT

WIP INVENTORY (PCS)

720

48

NO OF BINS IN THE PROCESS*

29

NO OF BINS WITH EACH WORKER

1 PER 20 WORKERS

PERCENTAGE VALUE ADDED TIME (%)

0.14

2.10

FACTORY CYCLE TIME (MIN/PC) CANT BE CALCULATED

CANT BE CALCULATED

FACTORY LABOUR UTILIZATION

SAME

SAME

FACTORY MACHINE UTILIZATION

CANT BE CALCULATED

CANT BE CALCULATED

Considerations & Results Part A

The company is presently doing 200 same styles and same colors in the production with an advance booking of orders as usual, So the PRODUCT DESIGN AND THE PROCESS DESIGN ARE RUNNING PARALLEL AT THIS STAGE. The number of workers utilized remained same even after the process design. The output per worker remained roughly the same.

Considerations & Results Part A

Decreased Throughput time and as a result increased percentage value added time were the positive sides of the process. The factorys sewing machines utilization, though cant be calculated but still increased with the increase in number of batch size in the cells. Workers tried to learn on their own and settled their differences by working together.

Advantages of using cellular design

Work balancing by the workers without supervisors. Decreased throughput time in childrens wears could be a good innovative process in the future when the demand is more. Increased efficiency due to machines layout. Batches could move in the cell without supervisors. Sense of togetherness. Inventories are low.

COMPANYS DESIGN LAYOUT (Part B) The HOSIERY DIVISION.

Designing a Process Layout in the organisation.

Design layout as per work task

TOTAL NO OF TASKS ARE SIX

SUM OF TASK TIME

WORK TASK TIME (MIN) IMMEDIATE PREDESSOR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 MIN 1 MIN 1 MIN 1 MIN 2 MIN 2 MIN none 1 1 2,3 4 4, 5

TOTAL TIME

14 MIN

INFORMATION FOR CALCULATIONS (as given)

The number of units given for Hosiery production is 120 pairs. The total number of working hours are 24 and the work is done 7 days a week. The total throughput time including Embroidery is 7 weeks or 49 days with the traditional process and 8 days with the cellular design process layout.

Calculations
Cycle time = production time per day/ output per day. or 24 x60 / 120= 12 min per unit. (Sum of tasks time as calculated earlier is 14 min.) No. of work stations= sum of task time/ cycle time. Or 14/12= 1.16 or 2 work stations.

Calculations

As per rule we have to choose the activity with the largest task time first. (we therefore assign task 1 knitting as workstation A and others as B) Since task 1 or knitting is essentially the first task, so the total idle time is considered to be more as compared with the idle time of other 5 tasks.

WORK STATIONS

TASKS

TOTAL TIME

IDLE TIME

IDLENESS

7 MIN

5 MIN

42 %

2,3,4,5,6

7 MIN

5 MIN

42 %

Calculations
To calculate the assembly line efficiency, Or Factory Machine utilization (FMU)= total machine time or task time used/ total total machine time available. Total machine time available is = no of work stations x cycle time. or = 2 x 12 = 24 min. So FMU= (14/24) x 100 = 58 %

Conclusions & setting alternatives

With the 58 % efficiency the factory is suffering a heavy depreciation cost on the costly machines incorporated in Hosiery Division. The total idle time in a cycle is 10 min. ( Since the Total Idle time = Total available time Total time used in the tasks or 24 14 = 10 min) The company offers 365 different styles throughout the year with fluctuating demand, so the inventory costs become very high.

Recommendations
To avoid less seasonal demand, the Quick Response of Process Layout is designed. (To produce as and when required).

By skipping one or two tasks like embroidery, an efficient cellular design layout can be formed.

New Design Layout

Choosing the minimum possible change in the designing of tasks.

SUM OF TASK TIME

WORK TASK TIME (MIN) IMMEDIATE PREDESSOR 1 7 MIN none

2 or 3

1 MIN

1 MIN

2 or 3

2 MIN

TOTAL TIME

11 MIN

Calculations.
WORK STATIONS TASKS TOTAL TIME IDLE TIME IDLENESS

1, 2 or 3, 4, 5

11

9.00%

Total task time

11 min.

No. Of work Stations = sum of task time/cycle time or 11/ 12= .91 or 1

Calculations
To calculate the assembly line efficiency, Or Factory Machine utilization (FMU)= total machine time or task time used/ total total machine time available. Total machine time available is = no of work stations x cycle time. or = 1 x 12 = 12 min. So FMU= (11/12) x 100 = 92 %

Results:

By Skipping the operation of Embroidery, the organization can increase its efficiency to the maximum. So Quick Response Process can be designed. High Inventory costs will be saved. Depreciation of the costly machines will also be reduced.