INVESTIGATION OF IMPLEMENTING AUTOMATION SYSTEM IN LIGHT MACHINERY EQUIPMENT

PRODUCTION LINE

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to compare between the current conventional system and automation system (Robotic Arm) in production line for light machinery equipment in Small Medium Enterprise (SME) Company. The current system layout problem is on the cycle time. The improvement proposal has been constructed; where the new layout proposal is equipped with two robotic arms, with no operator involved. The comparisons are on the reduction of cycle time. It is found that, the automation system will improve the current system since it increases the productivity and profit. It is up to the management to decide which is best for the company.

Keywords: Process layout; Automation system, Small Medium Enterprise (SME)

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Generally, automation implies operating or acting, or self-regulating, independently, without human intervention (Nof, 2009). According to Nof, the term automation is taken from automatos, in Greek, meaning acting by itself, or by its own will, or spontaneously. Automation involves machines, tools, devices, installations, and systems that are all platforms developed by humans to perform a given set of activities without human involvement during those activities. But, there are many variations of this definition. For instance, before modern automation (specifically defined in the modern context since about 1950s), mechanization was a common version of automation. When automatic control was added to mechanization as an intelligence feature, the distinction and advantages of automation became clear. From the general definition of automation, the automation formalism is presented with four elements namely platform (e.g. 7 machine, tools and device), autonomy (e.g. intelligence, collaboration and process control), process (e.g. action, operation and function) and power source (Nof,2009).

Robots, on the other hand, were designed initially for entertainment. In the 4th century B.C, Archytas constructed the pigeon; the wings of this wooden bird were steam-driven allowing it to fly a distance of 200 metres. Al-Jazari described automatic water-powered devices in the 11th century, for instance, water powered siphon mechanisms brought about arm movements playing flute, tambourine and harp, with the whistling of the flute being produced by water emptying through a tube (Elhage & Hegarty, 2009).

The first industrial robots in the 1960s and 1970s were developed for tasks that were dangerous or very monotonous to man. Since then, robots have improved and brought flexibility to industrial automation. Compared to traditional rigid automation robots are reprogrammable and adaptable, and compared to man they are more precise and faster (Salmi, Marstio, Malm, & Laine, 2008). For present industrial situations, automation are crucial for the manufacturing companies to cope with demands from customers and consumers. Consumer attitudes and expectations are evolving more and more rapidly (Carpanzo & Jovane, 2007). As a response new consumer centered manufacturing paradigms, like mass customization and personalization, are emerging. To face such challenge, factories must be capable to adapt themselves in real time to continuously changing market demand (Carpanzo & Jovane, 2007). Hence, new technologies are needed at all factories levels. As a matter of fact, new service products and vending concept are being introduced on the market, in order to fully satisfy consumers by means of advanced product personalism services based on virtual co-design facilities. As a consequence, the whole production cycle for small or even single batches has to be executed in very short times, i.e. a few days or even hours. To face such complex and strict requirements, adaptive knowledge based production systems have to be developed, by means, a new generation of automation solutions.

Realizing the importance of technology, The Eight Malaysia Plan (2001- 2005) has been reiterates the government effort to promote technology where innovation-driven and technology-led development are prioritized. Moreover, The Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) observes intensification of application of high technology and production of higher value added products, research and innovation capability, development of the biotechnology

industry, development of centers of excellence in emerging technology areas, and promotion of Technopreneurship and Technology-based Enterprises. However, a report in 1988 makes some important findings on technology adoption by SMEs in Malaysia. The study did not only found that SMEs in Malaysia make use of a very limited range of technologies, but they are also not able to determine their real technological needs. However, this study is conducted almost 21 years ago where efforts by Malaysian government are still fragmented. The study used qualitative data which comprises of three major parameters which are (1) levels and types of technologies, (2) processes of technology selection and sources of technology and identification of factors correlating with levels of technology adoption (Abdullah & Shamsuddin, 2009).

On the other hand, current research has shown that SMI play an important role in the economic development of countries worldwide (Prabuwono,2009). According to Prabuwono, in order for SMI to survive for more than a few years in markets where there are large competitors, they must cancel out their size of disadvantages, for instance, utilising technology to overcome diseconomies of scale and too produce innovations which differentiate themselves significantly from larger competitors Because of SMI limited resources and relative inability to absorb the costs and risks associated with inhouse technology development, they must often utilise the process of technology transfer to take advantage of the benefits gained by technology and innovation. For that reason, Prabuwono conclude that in small size company, the successful of technology transfer is a pre-requisite for company performance. The abilities of SMI to utilize technology would render them global competitiveness and sustainability (Abdullah & Shamsuddin, 2009). Abdullah and Shamsuddin also cited that, technology adoption has a positive impact on output and productivity. Thus, this study is to investigate the possibility of implementing automation system in the light machinery equipment production line in the selected SME Company. The analysis will be on the comparison with respect to the cycle time.

2.0 METHODOLOGY

2.1 ANALYSIS ON CURRENT EXISTING PRODUCTION PLANT

A study on the current condition has been conducted which is the first phase of improvement. The first phase began with process analysis and the understanding of the fundamentals tasks to machine the ‘Mechanical Poker’ product. For this purpose, Mechanical Poker code BGA 35 is taken into consideration since the demand for BGA 35 is the highest compare to other Mechanical Poker and other products. This company is operated at an intermediate double-storey terrace shop office in Bandar Pinggiran Subang which consists of four shops at the particular building. As for production plant layout, the company allocates all ground floors for machining purposes and storage. Total area for production plant is around 598 m2. The layout has been arranged by the management since the company started its business there (refer Figure 3.1). However, the Production office and Quality Control office is located in the production line itself.

From Figure 1, it is clear that the machines are placed without any concern in terms of machining process for any of the products made by this company. According to the production line supervisor, the arrangement is due to the addition of machineries year by year which force them to allocate the machines like so. The entire production line is semi-automated machines, whereby the loading and unloading activities are done by the operators. No automation system ( e.g conveyor, robotic) is involved in all process. The movement from one process to another is manually done.

Figure 1 The existing production line layout

2.1.1 PRODUCTION LINE MACHINES FOR POKER SERIES BGA 35

Despite the amount of machines available in the production line, the Mechanical Poker (BGA 35) machining processes are done by several machines for every machining process involves in making one mechanical poker. Below is the table of machines involved according to Mechanical Poker parts together with the cycle time and unit of production per hour.

Table 1 List of machineries involved for Mechanical Poker BGA35 with cycle time and unit per hour

From Table 1, the machines involved have been justified and the location of each machine has also been identified. Below is the location of the machines involved for Mechanical Poker production (Marked with red box), which is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Location of machines involved for the production of BGA 35

Based on what we have in Figure 3.3, it is seen clearly that the machines used for Mechanical Poker BGA 35 production are placed without any specific layout or system. Furthermore, the travelling time from one machine to another is quite time consuming since the location of the machines are far from each other and some of the machines are repetitively used for machining different parts. Taking machine GA300 as an example (since all parts processing involve this machine), the distance between GA 300 and other machines involved is shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Distance between GA300 with other machines

2.1.2 POKER SERIES BGA 35 CURRENT PROCESS FLOW

The current process flow for the poker series BGA 35 is shown in Figure 3 below. There are 18 steps involved altogether. Also shown in the next Figure 4, the movement during the process by the operators involved.

Figure 3 Poker Series BGA 35 current process flow

Figure 4 Movement of operators during process

As seen for the Figure 4, there is a lot of movement of operators, which is obviously because of the location of the machines which is far from each other. Hence, it results in long cycle time and less productivity.

3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 NEW LAYOUT WITH AUTOMATION SYSTEM

For this layout proposal, no manpower will be used during machining process, while the calibration side will be done by the production line supervisor himself since this layout proposal deals with robotic arm, which is difficult for the operators’ level.

There are a few assumptions that should be taken into account.

It is assumed that all data, settings and calibration needed to make both robotics arm move as required starting from gripping the raw material from specified location to the movement of materials to other machines has been set up correctly with complete testing procedure.

It is assumed that the speed of the robotic arm body is constant. Assuming two sec every quarter turned. While for the distance between the machine and robotic arm, it is assumed that it is within 1440 mm radius, for ease of reach. And as for loading and unloading purpose, it is assumed that, the speed for both purposes is constant at ten seconds.

In order to ensure the raw material is continuously fed to the machine, the possibility of two robotic arms to experience delay in terms of loading and unloading activity is there. Thus, the delay of time in terms of loading and unloading of materials for this analysis is assumed low, thus, neglected.

For machine settings and calibration, it is assumed that the machines’ calibrations are tally with the robotic arm movement.

As for raw material refill, this phase is quite crucial since the robotic arm is programmed to follow the sequence. Thus, the raw material will be first sent in a batch of 30, and for the following batch, the production line supervisor will ordered the operator from storage area to refill the raw material each half an hour.

As for end product, it is assumed that the operator from assembly line will collect the end product each half an hour.

Figure 5 Proposed Automation System Layouts

3.2 MEASURE OF IMPROVEMENT

3.2.1 CYCLE TIME

As mentioned earlier, the purpose of this study is to compare the current production line’s cycle time with the proposed automation system layout. As shown in Table 3, the difference in total cycle time for the production of Poker BGA35 has been recorded based on the assumptions given. Clearly, it can be seen that, the automation system can indeed lessen the cycle time, which will result in increase of productivity and profit margin.

Table 3 Comparison of cycle time between two layouts

4.0 CONCLUSIONS

The objective of this study is to propose a new layout, with the implementation of automation system to reduce the cycle time, which will result in increase of profit and productivity. As shown in previous section, automation system is able to reduce the total cycle time from 3664.5 seconds to 2911 seconds. That records an improvement of 20.53%. Thus, it is advisable for the company to implement the automation system, so that they are able to sustain in this industry, and able to expand their market locally, as well as globally.

REFERENCES

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