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Unit 8

Dispatching
Introduction
The function of programming planning is concerned with the planning of what the factory shall make in
terms of products and time. This broad plan is broken down at the ordering stage into instructions to
departments in terms of batches of components and time. Dispatching is the final process in this analysis
of the programme and is concerned with the planning of work operations on individual work centres.
In small departments dispatching is a function which is normally carried out as a part-time job by
the foremen or other line manager concerned. In large departments, particularly if they are equipped with
general-purpose machinery, if they are laid-out on a functional basis, and if they carry out a large no. of
different operations, there is a too much detailed clerical work involved in controlling the orders for it to
be done as a part time job by the foremen, and a specialist dispatcher is usually appointed to do the
work.
In this chapter the most complicated case of dispatching will first be considered in detaildispatching in the machine shop of a factory engaged in multi-product, low volume batch patch
production, in controlled by one of the multi-phase systems of ordering and we will later consider some
e of the simpler cases of dispatching in other types of process shop. The particular case of dispatching in
assembly shops will be left for a later chapter on assembly.
The duties of the dispatcher
Dispatching has been defined as the general control of shop orders in production shops; the different parts
of the job can be listed as follows:
1. The receipt and filing of all shop orders and associated documents.
2. Scheduling the selection of jobs for issue, in the most favorable sequence.
3. The issue of job cards or other forms of instruction to the operatives.
4. The issue of instructions to the setters, concerning what machines are to be set-up, for which jobs,
and when.
5. The issue of instructions concerning the movement of materials between work centres.
6. The issue of instructions concerning the issue and return to stores of special tooling.
7. The maintenance of records of production.
All these different jobs are normally controlled from a dispatchers office. Located near that of the
foremen and equipped with a desk at a window or hatch at which the operatives report to receive
instructions concerning which job they are to do next.
Occasionally the dispatching duties are spilt between a numbers of different people. One
sometimes finds, for example, time clerks dealing with the actual issue of job cards and the maintenance
of time and quantity record, without any responsibility for scheduling the order of work, or for material
and tool movement. The dispatching jobs listed above have, however, a strong interconnection one with
another, and it is generally better to combine them.
The dispatcher, in this case, is a member of the foremans staff. In many companies today the
dispatchers in each shop are part of the production control staff and report directly to the production
controller. This arrangement, however, has the great weakness that it divides authority and responsibility
between the foremen and dispatcher for achievement of the production plan; in this chapter it will be
assumed that the dispatcher is responsible in a staff capacity to the foremen, but that both he and the
foremen are bound by the instructionsconcerning methods of operationissued by the production
controller or by the organisation and methods section.
The principal duties of a planning clerk are given below:
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a) Assignment of work to definite machines or work places and men


Despatchers assign work to definite machines or work place s and men in order of priority and proper
sequence which has already by been listed on the schedule charts. In this connection it should be
remembered that job tickets are of fundamental significance. These job tickets record in full the details
as to machine loading capacity, present and advanced operations and their correct sequence etc. -- all
in order of priority.
b) The necessary authority for preparing, assembling and issuing the required materials, tools jigs,
fixtures, dies and gauges for various job etc. to their correct points of use-when job tickets have been
assigned to machines and operations, such necessary machines, tools, jigs, fixtures etc. must be issued
to their correct point of use.
c) Release of necessary order and production forms so that the operations may be switched on or started
by despatchers. Before the processing actually starts, issuance of production necessary orders to store
rooms, operators and inspectors and workers become necessary. On the basis of such orders and
forms necessary adjustments to schedules are made in accordance with the conditions prevailing. At
this stage job tickets, time tickets, identification tags, inspection forms and other requisition forms
play their own vital role as they are like genuine cheques authorizing the genuine holders(of the
cheques) to encash them when necessary arises.
d) The responsibility of guiding and controlling materials and operations in processing. Route sheets and
schedules provide the basis for the guidance and control of the movement of work from machine to
machine i.e. ascertaining whether work is walking on the preplanned road of its travelling in its correct
sequence. The despatcher here works on close co-operation with the foremen. Guidance and control
also become necessary to adjust immediately whenever unforeseen emergencies occur and
conditions change which are likely to disrupt processing.
e) Contacting the routing and scheduling sections so that their plans and schedules may not overlap. The
despatcher here acts as a liaison officer linking the activities of routing and scheduling sections. The
aforesaid activities to the despatcher are likely to vary with the type of manufacture
In brief these activities may be listed as follows:
i)
Movement of material from stores to the first process, and from process to process.
ii)
Issue of tool orders instructing the tool department to collect and make ready tools, jigs, and
fixtures in advance of the time at which the operation will commerce.
iii)
Issue of job order authorizing operations, in accordance with dates and times previously planned
and entered on the machine loading charts, route sheets and progress control sheets or boards.
iv)
Issue of time tickets, drawing, instruction cards, and other necessary information to personnel
performing the work.
v)
Issue of inspection orders after each operation to determine the result in number of pieces good
and the bad and the causes of spoilage.
vi)
Issue of more orders and collection of time tickets, drawings and instruction cards for all
completed operations.
vii)
Recording time of beginning and completing jobs, and calculating duration; forwarding complete
records to production department and time card to pay roll department.
viii)
Recording and reporting idle time of machines and operations.
The complexity of dispatching
It will be noted that most of the dispatching jobs listed in the last section are required only in the
complex cases of jobbing and batch production, on general-purpose machinery, with functional layout.
In line production dispatching is very simple, because the operatives normally do the same jobs
all the time, and there are no special component shop orders, material moves, set-ups or tool moves to

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be organized. In line production it is only in the assembly shops that dispatching can be complicated; this
special case will be considering in a later chapter.
Dispatching can also be very simple with jobbing or batch production if group layout is used.
With this type of layout, groups of machines are laid-out and tooled-up each to do all the processing on a
number of similar components, preferably with the special tooling designed for the minimum of re-setting
time per set-up. Using period batch control or standard batch control and a group incentive scheme
with this type of layout, dispatching paper balanced product-sets to be absolute minimum, of lists of parts
in balanced product-sets to be produced. The routine of dispatching in the case will again be only a parttime job for the foreman or charge hand in charge of the group.
The complexity of dispatching is mainly a function of layout, and of organisation. It seems probable
that the next development in the batch production dispatching routines to be described in this chapter
will be their virtual elimination by the introduction of methods of plant layout based on groups.
DESPATCHING PROCEDURES
The schedules prepared, by scheduling section, for serialized manufacture are issued by
dispatching section to the department or machines concerned just before the start of the period. Similarly
in case of job order manufacture, individual manufacturing orders for each production item are issued to
the various departments or machines to authorize the work to be done. The manner in which schedules
or orders are issued depends upon whether the dispatching is decentralized or centralized.
DECENTRALIZED DESPATCHING
It consists of issuing manufacturing schedules or work orders in blanket fashion to the foreman or
dispatch Clerk within each department who must then determine the relative sequence in which these
orders will be started within that department. It is likewise the duty of the foreman or clerk to dispatch
the orders and material to each machine and operator.
CENTRALIZED DESPATCHING
On the other hand, involves the dispatching of orders from the central dispatching division directly
to the machine, or work station. Under this procedure the capacity and characteristics of each machine as
well as the backlog of work ahead of it are known and recorded in the central dispatching station, and all
dispatching is controlled from that point. The foreman merely takes the orders assigned to this machine
and runs them as assigned.
The effect achieved by decentralized dispatching is to minimize much of the red tape, the
duplication of postings, this elaborates reporting and the absentee control that are usually present in
most centralised dispatching systems. Hence it is an inexpensive system from the clerical stand point.
Nevertheless it entails more leg work on the part of the despatcher, for he must visit the various
departments regularly to retain his control and to touch with their difficulties.
As for centralised dispatching, it can achieve greater degree of control that is typical of all
centralized effort. Also it is more flexible particularly in peak periods when the plan is running near or at
full capacity. As changes occur in the relative urgency of orders, they can readily be affected at the central
dispatching station without greatly upsetting the plans and schedules of individual foreman. As all
reporting of production clears through this central station, the progress of any material can readily be
ascertained at any time. This makes far less telephoning and running back and forth between the central
production office and plant departments.
Regardless of whether dispatching is centralized, it is customary for the department foreman or
their clerks to keep themselves informed of the starting date and progress of each order by means of a
well chart visible index file, or one of the several types of departmental dispatching boards.

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Documents controlled by the dispatcher


To return to the complicated case of a batch-production machine shop laid-out on a functional
basis, a typical set of the documents that will be required by the dispatcher can be listed as follows:
1. A shop order for each component
2. A copy order known as the due-date copy.
3. A material requisition.
4. A follow card
5. A progress record card.
6. Job cards, one for each operation.
7. Material move orders for each operation.
8. Tool move orders for each operation.
The order and its associated documents are shown in the figure1 to illustrate the enormous amount of
paper shop order, material requisition, follow card and progress record card are all copies of the operation
layout card: the first being used as a data source giving particulars of standard times, etc., and the last
three being ruled specially for drawing materials from the stores, as an inspection record and as a progress
record respectively.

The job card is one specially designed for use i=with punched-card machinery and is intended for time
recording with a time clock at the dispatchers window. It is later used for the calculation of wages and
bonus and for casting.
The material requisition is a form authorizing the issue of materials from a controlled store, and
the move tickets and tool chits are simple forms used to instruct the shop move-men concerning the
movement of materials between work centres and the issue and return of special tooling from the jig and
tool store. In many shops these latter forms are not pre-printed but are filled in as required by the
dispatcher.
This typical list is by no means universal, and there a great many alternative forms of
documentation which can be used with advantage in particular cases. Before continuing to considering a
typical dispatching routine using the typical list of documents, some of these alternatives will be examined.
Alternative documentation
First, those, in place of the copy route card a very simple form of order can be used which does little more
than quote part number, description quantity, due date and order number. When this simple type of order
is used the data required by the dispatcher concerning route and standard times has to be obtained from
some other source. Simple orders are seldom used in practice unless the factory is organized with
decentralized production engineering. The master route cards are then produced by the dispatchers
offices.
Time sheets for each operator can be used as an alternative to separate job cards. A typical form
is illustrated in fig. The operator uses one a day and fills in details of all the work he does and the starting
and finishing times for each job. This type of form is cheaper to provide and to use than individual job
cards, but it does not give as good control of work sequence and of time booking as can be obtained with
separate cards, and it is less convenient as a data source for analysis or for data processing generally when
an incentive payment system is used time sheets are not completely satisfactory unless all the work is
rated. If there is a mixture of time and rated work there will be too many opportunities for adjustments
of the record.

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The follow card can be replaced by an inspection record card. The former is intended as a record
of losses due to scrap, which accompanies a batch of material in their record card, is used for the same
purpose, but it intended to be held by the inspection department.
DAILY TIME SHEET
Department:
Check No:
Machine
No.

Order
No.

Section:
Operator:
Part
No.

Part
Name

Lost Time and


Day
Work
Detail

Date
From:

Opera
tion

Operation
No.

Sig.
Start

Sig. Finish

Time
From

To

Quantity
(Good)

To:
S.M.V.

Total
S.M.s

Analysis

Total Credits:
Fig. Operators time sheet or job sheet
INDENTIFICATION TAG
Part No:
Description:
Works Order No.
Date:
Fig. Identification Tag
When inspection record cards are used it is sometimes necessary to have an identification tag, like
that illustrated in fig. , which can accompany the materials for identification purposes. Where, however,
the work done is on established products and the parts are well known , or where the majority of parts
are marked with their part numbers at an early stage in manufacture, it is possible to operate satisfactorily
without any identifying paper work in the shops.
A material requisition is required only when the materials involved are stored in controlled stores.
Where special materials are usedcastings, forgings, blanks, ect.which are made in the factory and
are routed to move from one process shop to the next without intermediate controlled storage, this
document will not be needed. The dispatcher will instead receive a move ticket from the previous
department to tell him when the materials arrive.
The dispatchers aims
The duties of the dispatcher include selection of jobs for issue in the most favorable sequence.
There are three principal aims over which the dispatcher can have some influence. These are here given
in their order of importance: 1) completion by due date; 2) minimum throughput time; 3) minimum
setting-up time:
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1. Completion by due date--- the first aim must always be completion of all orders by due-date. It is
ridiculous but nevertheless common- to produce complicated plans and schedules, all
dispatching on completion by due-date, and then to give the dispatcher some other over-riding
aim, such as perhaps even plant loading which negates the primary aim.
2. Minimum throughput time.this aim merely reinforces the primary aim. Not only should all parts
be completed by due date, they should be completed as quickly as possible after starting. This
aim is particulary important in jobbing production.
3. Minimum setting-up time.this is a worthwhile aim providing that it is not allowed to override
the first two. It is not always realized that the dispatcher has considering control over this type of
idle time. By planning the sequence of work so that setting-up can be reduced and a worthwhile
increase in capacity can be achieved. This aim may assume major importance in the case of work
centres which are operating near their limit of capacity.
4. Maximum plant utilisation: -- one common aim which has purposely been left off the list is
maximum plant utilisation:. Unless it is the practice to specify a number of alternative routes for
each component, the dispatcher can influence plant utilization only by drawing on work for the
future. As this long-term work will inevitably have some operations on heavily loaded plant as well
as others on the lightly loaded machines, this expedient generally worsens the overall position,
both reducing finished product output and increasing the stock investment.
The only departments that can really influence plan loading are sales, production control
and production planning. To allow the dispatcher to try to re-optimise the existing production plan
can be dangerous financially, due to its effects on capital tie-up and obsolescence, and it should
not be permitted.
Dispatching systems
There are thousands of different dispatching systems in use, all varying in minor details, but
looking at the principal features and ignoring the differences of detail, it will be found that they generally
fall into two main groups. These we will call: 1) due-date sequence filing; and 2) operation scheduling.
1. DUE-DATE SEQUENCE FILING:
In due-date sequence filing each other form is filed in a work the centre file, in the section
allocated to the work centre on which the next outstanding operation is to be carried out. If there
are a number of order forms in the same work centre section of the file they are filed therein in
due-date order. Broadly speaking, the jobs for each work centre are selected from the file for
loading, in their due-date sequence, those with the earliest due-dates being issued first. Where
the different machines used in processing are normally loaded finishing operations being loaded
on the same machines, and then the final due-date can be sued for filing. If, however, there is any
risk that, say, the last operation on a short job will be planned on a slightly earlier final due-date--then the dispatcher will have to set an arbitrary due-date for each operation on orders received
for parts which have many operations, and use these operation fue dates for filing.
This method is simple to operate, but it has the disadvantages that it fails to take into
consideration the savings possible in setting-up time if like jobs are scheduled to follow each other
and it marked close scheduling the starting of one operation before the previous one is
finisheddifficult to arrange. These deficiencies are normally overcome by giving the dispatcher
permission to vary the strict due-date sequence, where this can be done with advantage.
On receipt of the order and its associated documents the order form and the material
requisition are clipped together and filed in the work centre file in the section reserved for the
work centre on which the first operation is to be carried out; the due-date copy is filed in due-date

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in its special box; the progress copy is filed in the progress file in part number order; and the job
card books are filed in the job card file.
At the end of each day a plan is made for the next days production, by noting the next
two or three jobs for each work centre and listing them on a daily plan or daily order of work
sheet(see fig). Copies of the dail plan are distributed to the tool stores, machine setters and the
foreman, so that any special tooling can be prepared in advance.
Department: Machine Shop
DAILY PLAN
Date:
Plant
No.
273

Part
No.
M52/15
7
M52/15
8
M52/16
3

Description

Operation

Spring arm
Cross brace
Boss

Drill 2 12.7
Drill 4, 6.35
Drill 6, 6.35

Operation
No.
6
6
8

Quantity
200
200
100

Ready

On
Now

Complete

Fig. Daily Plan


When the machine operators finish a job they call at the dispatchers window, clock-off to show the time
of finishing on the old job card and hand that card to the dispatcher. In return the dispatcher issues the
job card for the next job shown on the daily plan and the operator clocks-on, to record the starting time.
As each operation is completed in this way the dispatcher:
1. Moves the order in the work centre file to the section reserved for the work centre for the
following operation.
2. Issues a move ticket for the movement of the materials to the next machine
3. Enters particulars on the progress copy and on the daily plan of the quantity complete.
When a new job is entered on the daily plan for the first time the dispatcher gives the move-man the
material requisition instead of a move ticket, so that the material can be drawn from the stores and moved
to the machine ready for the first operation.
When the final operation on any component is completed the order form is removed from the
work centre file, is stamped complete and is returned to the production control order office. At the end of
each day the daily plan is sent to the production control office as a record of the days output.
It will be seen that this simple method emphasizes completion by due-date above all other factors.
It is used with hundreds of minor variations in a great many different industries.
II. DUE-DATE SEQUENCE FILING WITH BULLETIN BOARDS
One common variant of the simple system described above involves the use of a bulletin board
in place of the work centre file for the storage of orders.
A typical bulletin board has been illustrated in the figure it consists essentially of rows of pegs or
pockets on which the orders are filed, the pegs being arranged in sets of three pairs, one set for each work
centre. The top pair of pegs for each work centre is labeled on now and holds the order being worked
on the work centre at the time. The second pair of pegs is labeled the next job and holds the order for
the job planned to go on next and the bottom pair of pegs holds the remaining orders outstanding, in duedate order. The principal advantage of the bulletin board is that it gives a visual indication of the load
outstanding on each work centre. A disadvantage is that it requires considerable space.

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m/c No.
On
now

113

114

136

201

202

207

209

219

230

231

232

246

247

250

Ready
To
Start
Not
Ready
M/c No.
On
now
Ready
To
Start
Not
Ready
Fig Bulletin board for filing orders in workshop
Bulletin boards similar to figure are occasionally used for the storage of job cards instead of orders.
In the instance, the three stations for each work centre will normally be labeled on now, ready and
waiting. The on now station will hold the job card for the operation in progress, the ready station
will hold the job cards for all operations which can be startedmaterials and tools both available and
the waiting station will hold those orders which cannot be started because materials or tools are not
available, or because earlier operations have not yet been started. The jobs cards at the ready and
waiting stations are filed in due-date order.
In some production shops the bulletin boards are positioned inside the shop, and the setters,
move-men and operators go to the board to find their next job. The foreman then spends a little time each
day arranging the cards in the order he requires. As no records are maintained of the planned sequence
and the boards are easily altered, this method does not always give the close control of job sequence
which is desirable.
III. DESPATCHING WITH OPERATION SCHEDULING
The methods used to schedule operations on work centres have already been examined in a previous
chapter(chapter 13). Here it will be considering how this process can be fitted into a dispatching routine.
On receipt of the order and associated documents the first thing done by the dispatcher is to
load the different operations on the chart against the appropriate work centres. If a Gantt chart is used,
the load chart is made out in pencil and the order form and progress copy are then filed, the former in
completion due-date sequence and the latter by part number. The job cards are then filed either in a box
file or on a bulletin board, and daily plans are prepared from the schedule daily, as described for due-date
sequence filing.

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If, instead of hand-written Gantt charts, one of the proprietary loading boards is used, the
scheduling is done by placing the job cards in the appropriate positions on the board where they remain
until required for issue to the operators.
The advantages of operation scheduling are that it gives a good visual indication of the load ahead
and of progress achieved and that it enables close scheduling to be practiced, thus giving higher
throughput rates than are possible with due-date sequence filing. The difficulty with close-scheduling
is that it machine breakdown during the first operation on a part with twelve operations on different
machines, can make it impossible to start any of the following operations at the scheduled times. This
delay will in turn affect the schedules for all other jobs scheduled small delay can cause so many alterations
to the schedule that the only solution is to make a new chart. Proprietary planning boards that they do
not provide a permanent record of past plans and performance, they are expensive and they require a lot
of space.
It should be remembered that a principal advantage of these types of operation scheduling is that
it makes it possible to close-plan, or in other words to reduce the transfer quantities and obtain the
advantages of reduced throughout times and stock. If due to the load conditions and the type of ordering
system used a high rate of stock turnover cannot be achieved, then there is little advantage in operation
scheduling over due-date sequence filing.
This subject should not be dropped without mentioning the many attempts that have been made
to centralize operation scheduling in the production control office. In practice, centralised operation
scheduling can be made to work effectively only if the number of new set-ups is kept to a minimum. If the
cycle times are short and the no. of set-ups large, confusion normally follows due to delays and
misunderstandings in communications between the shop and the office. As the main advantage of
operation scheduling is that in particular cases it can assist in increasing rates of stock turnover, centralizing
the process- which removes this main advantage cannot be recommended.
The daily stint
When preparing the daily plan, the quantity of work to be done at each work centre can either be
shown approximately or it can be calculated accurately to find the daily stint, or quantity which should be
produced if the operator lives up to the standard times for his operations.
In this second case the standard minutes required for setting up and processing the first job are
first checked; if they do not fill the capacity available on the shift in question, the next job is considered,
and the process is continued until the load balances the capacity. Generally, it will be necessary to finish
with a part of one order, to achieve the balance required.
This method of specifying the exact requirement from each work centre, per shift, gives good
control of output, but increases the cost of dispatching.
The storage of work in progress
The next subject to be considered is that of material movement inside the shops, and particularly
the methods of storing work-in-progress between operations.
In line production this problem does not arise, because as soon as a component is completed at
one operation it immediately passes on to the next one. This section is therefore concerned only with the
storage of work in progress in batch production and jobbing shops.
There are two principal methods used for the storage of work-in-progress: 1) storage by the work
centre at which the next operation will take place; 2) storage in special work-in-progress stores. The first
of these methods has nearly all the advantages over the second, principally because it eliminates changeover delays caused by waiting for material and because it gives the best possible visual indication of the
load on each machine.

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Work-in-progress stores may, however, be justified in some circumstances. For example, if special
inspections- by Government Inspection Agencies, for exampleare required at particular stages in
processing, then it is probably better that the material should wait in a work-in-progress store, than that
the space by the machines should be taken up with work which cannot be started. Again if space is at a
premium, then it may be that storage in a work-in-progress store will take up less floor area then separate
storage areas by each work centre.
The actual choice of storage method is largely dependent on the following four factors:
1. The average size of the work piece.
2. The average run quantity
3. The average load on the shop.
4. The type of handling container used.
If the parts are small, the run quantities are small, the load on the shop is restricted to short-term
requirements and easily stacked containers are used, then storage by the machines is the easy and obvious
choice. If the reverse applies, then a work-in-progress store may well be the only solution until the obvious
problem of excessive work-in-progress has been tackled.
Shop and inter-departmental transport
The methods of moving material in process shops are legion and constitute an important part of
handling engineering. In batch production and jobbing production the methods depend principally on the
type of container used to hold materials in the shops; some of the principal types of container used in
engineering production and their associated handling equipment are illustrated in fig.
As far as dispatching is concerned, the moves between work centres can be organized either by
the issue of move tickets to the shop laborers, truck drivers or specialist move-men, or a routine can be
work centre as soon as they are completed at any operation. In this latter case the machine operations,
the informing the move-men when batches are complete and ready to be moved on, and no paper work
is used.
Once a batch of material has been completed in a process shop, the universal rule must be that
the management of that department is responsible for seeing that it is moved on to the stores or to the
following process department.
In small factories or where the flow of materials is small this purpose can be achieved by using the
departmental move-men and shop transport for the transfer. In large factories a better method id to have
a receiving and dispatch station in, or just outside, each department and to run a routine interdepartmental service for the purpose, following a fixed route and calling at all stations on the way.
This method works particularly well when the inter-departmental flow conditions are good. In this
case all goods placed in the dispatch station will automatically be picked up and deposited at the next
receiving station on the line by the first transport vehicle to the shop transport move-men at the
receiving department will pass his ticket to the dispatcher when he collects the load, to inform him that
the materials have arrived.
If the materials dispatched from one division may be routed to any one of a number of different
destinations, or alternatively, the transport driver can be instructed to examine the move tickets and drop
off each load at the destination shown.

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2. FOLLOW UP AND REPORTING


2.1 FOLLOW-UP DEFINED
Follow-up or expediting is that branch of production control procedure which regulates the progress
of materials and parts through the production process. Follow-up closely interrelated with the
activities of a despatcher to whom is delegated the scheduling responsibility. However, follow-up
needs a separate description because of the complexities of production which thinks that it is a
distinguished mechanism of production control. And of course, it should be such.
Follow-up is that tool which acts as a regulator of material and component parts when they are
travelling on the path of performances as laid down by the routine sheets and schedule charts. It
materializes and backs up the promises made by the routing and scheduling sections. It investigates
thoroughly variations arising through production process in the light of the predetermined time
schedules. It serves as a catalytic agent to fuse the various separate and unrelated production
activities into the unified whole that means progress, or, in other words, follow-up is the means by
which the execution of the production plan is efficiently coordinated so as to reveal and, as far as
possible, to eliminate any variations from the plan which has set the engine of productional control
moving to a definite goal.

i)

ii)

iii)

2.2 TYPES OF FOLLOW-UP:


The follow-up of materials, work in process, assembly and erection are the different phases of the
technique of production control.
Materials: the follow-up of purchased material is, as well be noted in the section on procurement primarily
the responsibility of the purchasing department. The original requisition upon which the purchase of
materials, is based usually specifies the date on or before which the material is required and then it
becomes the duty of purchasing department to ensure that the material received so as to be available by
that date. This follow-up may be accomplished most simply filing one copy of the requisition in a daily
follow-up file or in a tickler file according to the date the material is due to be received. Delivery
information as obtained from the purchasing department through this type of follow-up can be transferred
to the stock records to supply a ready cross reference for the source of the information.
Work in progress: the following-up of work in process in serialized manufacture consists primarily of
checking the materials required for that process and recording the production accomplished by the
production line for comparison purposes with the preplanned schedules. In fact, follow-up of serialized
manufacture can rely on a daily production record or make use of a control chart to reveal the delays in
production items along the line. Thus, by the use of the principle of exception, late items can be given
special attention. It is the duty of follow-up men or expediters to advise the foreman as to the best
sequence in which orders can be run so as the required parts in with orders can be fabricated and brought
together at the right time and place for the completion of the finished product.
Follow-up of job order manufacture may be organized either by product or by department Fathering
system usually operates best when the product represents a complicated assembly requiring numerous
component parts all or which must be available for following all the component parts. However, the
disadvantages to this system lies in the fact that frequently several follow-up men, each interested only in
expediting his particular material, a certain foreman for the simultaneous use of the same machines and
equipment. Thus for less complicated products, it is frequently available for the follow-up to be organized
by departments so that one follow-up man is left with the responsibility of advising the foreman how to
make the best use of his facilities.
Assembly and erection: responsibility for assembly and erection of products in assembly manufacture is
almost invariably rested in one follow-up man using the fathering technique. Recognizing that it is
virtually impossible always to bring together component parts of an assembly at exactly the right instant,
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many companies provide matching centres for temporary storage of the component parts awaiting
assembly. When all parts are available, the follow-up man permits assembly or erection of the product to
start.
In the case of large and complicated products, the assembly and erection as well as the
subsequent servicing of the production may be necessity and may take place at the purchasers
plant. This type of erection is frequently required for machining and for other highly technical
articles where the follow up man must be thoroughly acquantained with the engine details of the
product, with the applications in the field and with the trouble shooting and servicing of the
product after it goes into service.
2.3 PREVENTING PRODUCTION DELAYS:
As can be seen from the foregoing explanation the follow-up man or expediter is concerned with the
delays that creep into industrial production. He learns of the delays through analysis of the production
reports and through personnel observation. He must not only take corrective action after a delay has
occurred but also anticipate and prevent it before it actually develops. An ounce of prevention is for
more valuable than a pound of cure where delays in industrial production are concerned.
2.4 CAUSES OF DELAY
Common causes of delays for which the expediter can help administer the remedy include;
i)

Errors in planning
These are essentially errors or production management where by equipment is scheduled with work
beyond its capacity to produce, set-ups are excessive as the result of scheduling uneconomically small
lots, or manpower demands have been under estimated. The follow-up man by his close association
with plant conditions is often able to discover such errors and have then rectified before serious
trouble is caused.

ii)

Lack of materials, tools or equipment


Here the problem may be a basic one of improper planning, or it may derive from a delivery failure
which could have been prevented by closer follow-up by the purchasing department or the production
expediter.

iii)

Equipment breakdowns
Preventing maintenance and duplication of vital pieces of equipment help to minimize delays from
breakdowns. However, the expediter can assist in seeing that prompt transfer is arranged to the
alternate or stand by equipment as breakdowns do occur.

iv)

Excessive rejections
Material scrapped at any point in the process in excess of the scrap factor allowed subsequently causes
a shortage in the finished item. The follow-up man is instrumental in setting in motion the machinery
to replace the defective material and in expediting the replacement lot so as not to delay the
production of the finished item.
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v)

Out of balance in process inventories


Where the bank of materials builds up to a point of excess between some operations with a resultant
starvation of material between other operations, slight spurts or lags in production can cause
operators to run out of work. The follow-up man must then take steps to level of the float to a point
where idle-man and idle machine time reduced to a minimum.

8.3 COMPUTERS IN PRODUCTION, PLANNING AND CONTROL


8.3.1 introduction
Ever since computers were first introduced into the business world it has been realized that one of their
most profitable uses is in the field of production control. This is because the operation of a production
control system involves large number of calculations, the sorting and storage of huge quantities of data
and the printing of considerable volumes of information. All these tasks are eminently suited to the
operating characteristics of computers, which are devices designed to store and rapidly manipulate vast
amounts of data.
What appears not to have been fully appreciated, however, is that the computer is only a
tool whose main function is to provide management with information, on the basis of which decisions can
be made. It is true that computers can be programmed to make certain simple decisions, when these
decisions depend upon mathematical logic, but at the present time, the more complex intuitively, which
is the case of the bad manager means that he takes a guess, or in the case of good manager means that
by some process which he may be at a loss to explain, as it is almost certainly based on experience of
similar situations situations on previous oocassions. He has a feeling as to what is the correct decision.
In both cases, the quality of the decision could often be greatly improved if relevant information, where
available at the time that the decision has to be made. A major function of computers in production control
is to supply such information at the time, that, it is required. This may be clarified by the following two
examples. The first of which deals with a simple qualitative decision of the type that computers can be
programmed to handle automatically, whereas the second is concerned with a qualitative decision,
outside the capability of a computer to make(or, to be more precise outside mans ability to program a
computer to make the required decision), but for which a computer can assist a manager to arrive at the
right decision by providing relevant information.
8.3.2
PROBLEMS WITH CONVENTIONAL PRODCUTION, PLANNING AND CONTROL
There are many problems that occur during the cycle of activities in the traditional approach
to production planning and control. Many of these problems result directly from the inability of the
traditional approach to deal with the complex and ever-changing nature of manufacturing. The types of
problems commonly encountered in the planning and control of production are the following.
I)
Plant capacity problems: production falls behind schedule due to a lack of labour and equipment.
This results in excessive over time, delays in meeting delivery schedules, customer complaints
backordering, and other similar product problems.
II)
Suboptimal production scheduling:- the wrong jobs are scheduled because of a lack of clear order
priorities, inefficient scheduling rules, and the ever-changing status of jobs in the shop. As a
consequence, production runs are interrupted by jobs whose priorities have suddenly increased,
machine setups are increased, and jobs that are on schedule fall behind.
III)
Long manufacturing lead times. In an attempt to compensate for problems as described in I and
II, production planners allow extra time of produce an order. The shop becomes over loaded, order
priorities become confused, and the result is excessively long manufacturing lead time.
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IV)

V)

VI)

VII)

VIII)

Inefficient inventory control:- at the same time that total inventories are too high for raw
materials, work-in-process and finished products, there are stock-outs that occur on individual
items needed for production. High total inventories mean high carrying costs, while raw material
stock outs mean delays in meeting production schedules.
Low work centre utilization:- this problem results in part from poor scheduling (excessive product
changeovers and job interruptions), and from other factors over which plant management has
limited control(e.g., equipment breakdowns, strikes, reduced demand for products).
Process planning not followed:- this is the situation in which the regular planned routing is
superseded by an adhoc process sequence. It occurs, for instance, because of bottle-necks at work
centres in the planned sequence. The consequences are longer setups, improper tooling, and less
efficient process.
Errors in engineering and manufacturing records:- bills of materials are not current, route sheets
are not up to date with respect to the latest engineering changes, inventory records are inaccurate,
and less efficient process.
Quality process:- quality defects are encountered in manufactured components and assembled
products, resulting in rework or scrapped parts, this causing delays in the shipping schedule.

APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER IN PRODUCTION, PLANNING AND CONTROL


There have been several factors working over the last several decades to cause the evolution of a more
modern and effective approach to the problems of production planning and control cited above. The most
obvious of these factors was the development of the computer a powerful tool to help accomplish the
vast data processing and routing decision-making chores in production planning that had previously been
done by human beings.
In addition to the computer, there were other factors which were perhaps less dramatic but equally
important. One of these was the increase in the level of professionalism brought to the field of production
planning and control. Production planning has been gradually transformed from what was largely a clerical
function into a recognized profession requiring specialized knowledge and academic training. Systems,
methodologies, and even a terminology have been developed to deal with the problems of this
professional field.
Important among the methodologies of production planning and control and another significant
factor in the development of the field, is operations research. The computer became the important tool
in production planning, but many of the decision-making procedures and software programmes were
based on the analytical models provided by operations research. Linear programming, inventory models,
queuing theory and a host of other techniques have been effectively applied to problems in production
planning and control.
Another factor that has acted as a driving force in the development of better production
planning is increased competition from abroad. Many Indian firms have lost their competitive edge in
international and even domestic markets. Increasing productivity is seen as the only one way to improve
our competitive position. Better management of the production function is certainly a key element in
productivity improvement.
Finally, a fifth factor is the increase in the complexity of both the products manufactured and the
markets that buy these products. The number of different products has proliferated, tolerances and
specifications are more stringent, and customers are more particular in their requirements and
expectations. These changes have placed greater demands on manufacturing firms to manage their
operations more efficiently and responsively.
As a consequence of these factors, companies are gradually abandoning the traditional
approach in favor of what we are calling computer-integrated production management systems. There
8. 14

are other terms which are used to describe these systems their major components. IBM uses the term
communications-oriented production information and control system-COPICS to identity the group of
system elements; George Plosal integrates the various system concepts under the name manufacturing
control. Computer-Aided Manufacturing-International calls its development manufacturing resource
planning to consolidate the manufacturing, engineering, and financial systems designed to integrate the
various function of production planning and control and to reduce the problems described earlier.
Figure 15.2 presents a block diagram illustrating the functions and their relationships in a
computer-integrated production management system. Many of these functions are nearly identical to
their counterparts in traditional production planning and control. For example, forecasting appear the
same in figures 1 and 2. To be sure, modern computerized systems have been developed to perform
these functions themselves remain relatively unchanged. More significant changes have occurred in the
organisation of such schemes as MRP, capacity planning, and shop floor control fig. 2 exhibit the various
functions that are the elements of different modules which of a computer integrated manufacturing
planning and control system. This is the latest concept in computer used production management tools
available in the world.
Some examples of application of computers in Production Planning and Control problems
for data acquisition analysis and results are as under:
i) A simple stock control and re-ordering problem:
A computer can be programmed to compare the recorded stock balance of suppliers name and address
and raise an order for replenishment. For the simplest system, the re-order level and the order quantity
can be specified by a human being. For a more sophisticated system, the computer can be programmed
to analyze the demand data for a stock item and to calculate the re-order parameters, on the basis of
the analysis without human intervention. Thus, in such a case the decision to replenish a stock item is
made by the computer.
ii) A capacity loading problem: the operations details and bill of material for the manufacturing of a
product can be held on a computer file. When an order for the product is obtained from the customer,
the computer, if suitably, programmed, can explode the product into its component parts and load each
manufacturing operation into its appropriate cost centre at a time when capacity is available and in
accordance with a time schedule which ensures that production can proceed with the least possible
delay between manufacturing stages.
This is a fairly complex procedure, for a computer, which in a very much simplified form, can be
illustrated by referring to fig. 3 which depicts the explosion tree for a simple product assembled from
a component and sub-assembly, made up from two components.
The computer examines the load statistics for cost centre E and detects that capacity in weeks 16 and
17 is fully allocated to other orders, but 40 hours capacity is available in week 18; it then assembly
cannot start until weeks 20 and 21 respectively and the manufacture of parts 1 and 2 cannot be put
back to week 19. Assuming that capacity is available in work centres A, B, C and D to enable the revised
production schedule to be achieved; the customer can then be informed that his order cannot be
executed until week 22.

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