Process-focused Process Design
In a process-focused production system, all the operations are grouped according to the type of process. The system is also referred to as an intermittent production system because production is performed on products intermittently (that is on a start and stop basis). The system is also referred to as job shop as the products move from department to department in batches (jobs) that are usually determined by customers' orders.
Process-focused production systems are usually used to produce small quantities (or batches) of different items on relatively general-purpose machinery. Processing equipment and personnel are located according to the functions, and products flow through the facilities on irregular paths. Figure illustrates the zigzag type of routes in which products flow in this type of production system. This system allows both sidetracking and backtracking in the product flow route. In the figure, Job A and Job B represent two different product designs. As per their design requirements, they are routed through different production departments to undergo different operations in different sequences.
Figure: Process Focused Production - A Schematic Layout
This system has its own merits and demerits. Two or more jobs undertaken by a production organization may come to the same department at the same time. If the department cannot work on both the jobs simultaneously, one of them has to be kept waiting. This is a simple case where one job waits for its turn in one department. In large production organizations, several jobs are kept waiting in various departments. This system may lead to loss of time, especially when a major portion of production time actually comprises the time in which jobs are waiting to be processed in different departments. Also, process-focused production systems require greater employee skill, more employees training, more supervision and complex production control.
On the plus side, process-focused production systems are more flexible because of their ability to produce a wide spectrum of products in small batch sizes. They also require less initial investment since they use general-purpose equipment that is less expensive.
Product-focused and process-focused production systems represent two types of traditional approaches for organizing production activities. But, in practice, many organizations use blends of these two approaches. For instance, a typical factory producing television sets uses a blend of the above two systems. In the upstream part of the factory, where components and sub-assemblies are prepared, a process-focused approach is used because of the great variety of component designs involved. But in the downstream part of the factory that produces finished products, a product-focused approach is used because of the relatively small variety of designs involved. Such a practice has become common now as organizations put in greater efforts to cut production costs.
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