A method to assess capacity utilization in short cycle functional layouts

Abstract

The aim of this article is to indicate that methods of monitoring capacity utilization applied in the processing industry such as cement production can be used in the metalworking industry that has a high level of capacity utilization. The process approach to establishing the level of capacity utilization can be employed in conditions of balanced line production, or when there are components of large-scale production, as well as short production cycles. The results of the analysis indicate that when the level of capacity utilization is high, this variable can be observed per day as stochastic, while, per machine, it can be a random variable. In the metalworking industry it is possible to monitor a larger number of factors related to operating and not operating machines, whereas in the processing industry the factor of work is generally only a single-machining time and factors of not operating are connected only to breakdowns or regular maintenance. To monitor capacity utilization in the processing industry, it is possible to apply a work-sampling method as well as the continual streaming method. The possibility common for both industries is to represent the monitoring of capacity utilization over time and to test the mastering of that stochastic function via control limits that are optimal when defined by 2SD.