A Comparison of a Manual and Computer-integrated Production Process in Terms of Process Control decision Making

Abstract

This paper is an investigation into the changes in process control that took place in the body shop of a vehicle assembly plant that was modernized from a principally manual process to one that extensively uses programmable automation. In this study, process control is defined as the information flow and decision-making required to perform basic process operations. We investigate affects of the implementation of a computer-integrated production system on the amount of process control decision-making, the types of process control decisions being made, and the distribution of process control decision-making between humans and machines. We found that as a result of the modernization, the amount of process control decision-making nearly tripled, the emphasis on decisions to meet product quality specifications increased, and the emphasis on decisions related to flexibility in handling a variety of product options decreased. Decisions relating to meeting product quality specifications and to timing and synchronization of tasks were mostly taken on by automated equipment, while decisions relating to the flexibility of the process remained to a large extent under manual control. Whereas humans made nearly 75 percent of the decisions required to assemble and weld a vehicle body in the principally manual system, humans made fewer than ten percent of the comparable decisions in the automated system. The framework used to produce these results provides a general approach for comparing levels of technological sophistication in manufacturing systems in terms of the amount and type of information processing.