Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering revolves around designing and enhancing the efficiency and productivity of the manufacturing processes. It involves optimizing workflows, production lines, and supply chains to maximize output while minimizing costs and waste. Industrial engineers employ various techniques such as Lean Six Sigma, process reengineering, and automation to streamline operations and improve quality. Their expertise spans layout design, production scheduling, implementing quality control measures, and integrating new technologies to drive innovation and competitiveness in the manufacturing sector.
Process planning
Process planning is the systematic approach to determining the most efficient sequence of operations and resources required to manufacture a product. It involves analyzing design specifications, materials, and available resources to create a detailed production plan. Process planners consider factors such as manufacturing capabilities, equipment utilization, and cost-effectiveness to optimize the production process. By managing each step, from components to finished product, process planning ensures smooth and efficient manufacturing operations, leading to higher quality outputs and reduced production costs.
How can AVIX help you with the Process planning?
AVIX provides a clear and comprehensible visualization of your production process, presenting essential figures such as utilization, cost calculation, theoretical number of operators needed, balance loss, and more. Any change in the process plan instantly updates these figures, allowing you to analyze the efficiency of your planned process using AVIX’s built-in reports.
With AVIX you can easily compare how different balancing scenarios, work methods, or variant mixes (customer orders) affect workload and output. When work is moved between lines or is rebalanced, AVIX automatically updates the location of consumed parts and used tools. Additionally, assigning operators to work will present the total number of operators needed in production, as well as what is expected from each operator at each takt and variant.
You can then print the necessary documentation and distribute it to relevant stakeholders. AVIX offers a variety of preconfigured reports suitable for different business functions.
Time studies
Time studies are an essential aspect of manufacturing engineering. Their primary goal is to determine accurate standards for the time needed to complete specific tasks or operations within a production process. Additionally, time studies are vital for identifying and eliminating waste in manufacturing. By examining the time spent on Non-value-adding activities, such as waiting, transportation, or unnecessary movements, engineers can remove inefficiencies, optimize operations, and lower costs. These studies provide critical data for labor costing, budgeting, and pricing decisions, which are vital for profitability in a competitive market. Ultimately, time studies are a key element in fostering a culture of continuous improvement (CI) within manufacturing organizations.
How can AVIX help you with the Time studies?
By integrating video, AVIX offers companies a method to obtain precise and dependable estimation of the time needed to perform specific tasks within the production process. AVIX employs standard time analysis using Predetermined Motion Time System (PMTS) to evaluate the movements and actions required to complete a task, subsequently calculating the time based on established standards and benchmarks.
AVIX leverages several well-established and widely recognized industry standards, including MTM-UAS, MTM-SAM, AVIX-basic motion times, and stopwatch time study, all of which provide reliable and objective data. The comprehensive process analysis in AVIX Method and AVIX Ergo not only estimates the time to perform an assembly task but also facilitates detailed waste and ergonomic analysis.
Moreover, AVIX can deploy customized time systems for unique use cases, such as companies with in-house-developed time systems or industries with specialized requirements, like aerospace.
Beyond providing accurate and reliable time analysis data, AVIX can also be used to create standardized work instructions. These instructions are based on a clear connection to the defined process sequence and time study, all as part of your Time Data Management (TDM).
Resource balance
Resource balancing is a production strategy aimed at evenly distributing resources across all tasks in a manufacturing line. The objective is to ensure each resource completes its work within the same time frame, minimizing idle time and bottlenecks. By optimizing resource allocation, line balancing enhances efficiency, reduces production time, and increases output. This approach involves analyzing tasks, assigning resources effectively, and adjusting to maintain a smooth and continuous production flow. Effective line balancing leads to improved productivity, lower operational costs, and a more flexible manufacturing process, allowing for quicker adaptation to changes in demand or production schedules.
How can AVIX help you with the Resource balance?
AVIX Resource Balance will assist you in your daily work when balancing your production lines. In AVIX you can define your tasks with the time it takes and add a description of the work content. Using drag and drop; you can move from station to station to achieve the most optimal balancing for your production. AVIX Resource Balance can also help you balance different variants and with the help of Execution Optimizer, use your production program to get a real-time overview of the balancing results. Working with the AVIX Resource Balance tools will ensure you utilize your resources in the best possible way. All the data from AVIX can then be displayed as digital work instruction in AVIX Shop Floor viewer for each station and each variant based on your balancing result.
Digital work instructions
Work instructions are used in running production whenever the operator needs them. Hence, the instructions must be valid, up to date and available at the workplace. Work instructions are essential when new products and processes are introduced as well as when changes occur to existing ones. In short, updated and validated work instructions are important to ensure standardization and product quality. Having those critical documents printed on paper and placed in folders at the workplace may not be the optimal solution. Today’s hardware and digital solutions provide a better, faster, and more flexible way to handle work instructions, both for the engineer preparing and the operator consuming the instructions. Digital work instructions may contain 3D representations, video, describing text, tools, parts and other equipment with dynamic level of detailing depending on the operator’s skill and experience. The target hardware device spans from large screens, tablets, phones and even augmented reality devices.
How can AVIX help you with the Digital work instructions?
AVIX Shop Floor Viewer is the solution for interactive, digital work instructions that can take the production processes to the next level. With AVIX, you can go beyond traditional static work instructions and embrace a more dynamic, interactive approach.
The digital work instructions are designed to be easy and simple to use, e.g. by having big visual buttons to step forward/backward in the instruction. The Immersive View, one of several views in AVIX Shop Floor Viewer, is inspired by instructions from Lego and IKEA. An appreciated feature is to have a video showing the process step, ideal for initial training, implementing standardized work and audits. Our web-based solution makes communication and teamwork easier.
Quotation process
The quotation process in manufacturing companies is a critical step in securing contracts and projects. Once the RFQ has been received, the manufacturer evaluates whether they have the capability, resources, and capacity to fulfill the requirements outlined.
It’s crucial to ensure that cost and capacity calculations are precise. This involves accurately assessing the direct labor costs and capacity of production, workforce, and equipment as well as indirect labor costs e.g. quality control and other support functions.
How can AVIX help you with the Quotation process?
Some of the capacity and cost calculation details can be derived from existing sources of information, but others need to be based on process-related information. AVIX can provide and manage all the required information related to:
- Bill of Materials (BOM): AVIX can import and manage a detailed list of all the materials, components, and parts required to manufacture a product. This includes quantities, specifications, and costs of each item.
- Process Details: AVIX maps the manufacturing process required, including the sequence of operations, machinery and equipment, setup times, cycle times, takt, and any fixtures needed.
- Production Capacity: AVIX helps calculate and visualize the maximum output or capacity of the line in terms of units produced per unit of time (e.g., per day, week, or month) and any constraints or bottlenecks in the production process.
- Labor Costs: AVIX enables to use rates and wages together with the process details in AVIX, making it possible to calculate costs for each stage of production.
The time study and process mapping in AVIX becomes your base for TDM (Time Data Management), i.e. all the information that helps build time bases and work sequences for your current products and different product configurations. Importantly, this also makes it possible to reuse the data for upcoming and new projects, saving time in the quotation process. A typical use case could be considering accepting a customer project that would involve utilizing existing production capabilities or investing in new ones.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics in the manufacturing industry is about setting up the workplace and equipment to fit the employee. It’s also about avoiding repetitive movements that may be harmful to the employee. The obvious rationale for the company to have high ergonomic standards is the care for the health of the workers. However, companies should not underestimate the impact of good ergonomics on the quality of their products and the bottom-line financial performance.
How can AVIX help you with the Ergonomics?
Ergonomics, by definition, involves optimizing human well-being and performance system. AVIX Ergo provides a unique opportunity to optimize performance system by balancing station assembly time and minimizing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders simultaneously using a visual representation of the workload and the ergonomic strain. The risk assessment method used is a time-weighted REBA (Rapid Entire Body Analysis), which considers both posture and force.
The ergonomic framework in AVIX is open and generic to support other Ergonomic methods to be implemented with low effort.
Integrating considerations of human well-being and system performance within one system is relatively unique and aligns perfectly with the principles of Industry 5.0, which emphasize both human and production system aspects. Literature shows that such a focus can also enhance product quality. When used correctly, AVIX Ergo may help create an attractive workplace and a productive production system manufacturing high-quality products.
The AVIX Ergo module together with the AVIX Resource Balance module provides a unique solution for Ergonomic Balancing with AVIX Ergo Balance.
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