Industrial Objectives and Industrial Performance

Concepts and Fuzzy Handling

Lamia Berrah, Vincent Clivillé, Laurent Foulloy

• Publisher: Wiley-ISTE
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781848219557
• eBook ISBN:
  9781119510611
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Tecnologia e ingegneria
• Subtopic: Ingegneria industriale

This book aims to provide a synthesis of work and ideas done by our team over the last fifteen years in the field of information processing for expression of industrial performance. The statement of objectives on the one hand and the calculation of the other performances are discussed, with the search for the explanation of the link between these two basic steps of an industrial improvement. Beyond the synthetic and typological character of this study, the originality of this work lies in the consideration of the temporal dimension of the objectives, and spread on performance expressions. A fuzzy processing and multi-criteria aggregations time information that can be quantitative, qualitative or symbolic are proposed, in line with industrial practice and literature in the field of performance management.

1
The Industrial System

1.1. Introduction

Once upon a time there was a system and an actor. The system functioned and evolved within its environment. The actor, responsible for this operation and this evolution, spent their time observing the system, as a whole, as different parts. They attributed objectives to it, planned actions whose implementation they then managed, expressed the level of performance achieved, and started over with their observation cycle.

So, the tale of objectives begins with a relationship between an actor, a system observer and the system in question. The actor observes the system. Arising from this observation, a representative model is born, brought on by the presence of the actor acting for the system’s structure and operation. Intentions then occur to the actor, for all or part of the system. Therefore, we have the system, the actor, the state of the system observed by the actor, and so the actor’s intention acts as the decision-maker for the system or part of the system. In particular, the actor defines the goals and objectives to be achieved by the system (or part of it).

Thus, the notion of objective emerges from the relationship between the actor and the system. This relationship, both objective and subjective, real and tangible, is based on a large number of aspects that are probably interacting with each other. This is why we will borrow systems theory’s principles and language to comprehend this relationship. Flexible and all-encompassing, systems theory will then allow us to identify links between the various aspects of a system, in particular the entities, the finality, the structure and the behavior... and, consequently, the goals and objectives, all this in a given context and for a given observer.

So, let us begin by recalling some elementary principles of systems theory. Placing ourselves in an industrial context, we will then describe, using the systemic language, what we intuitively call the “industrial system”. By industrial system, we mean all the operations and all the equipment, used in industrial activities¹. The two latter parts of this description will be dedicated to objective-related information and then to objectives themselves. A representation of the emergence process of the objective, as proposed by the systems theory model, will then round off this exploratory chapter.

But before we get to the heart of the matter, let us take ourselves back to January 2009 and pause to look at the story of Mr. C.C., executive of the RB company and newly appointed associate manager for the “Hydraulic Cylinder Production” line.

1.2. The RB company’s “Hydraulic Cylinder Production” line

---

Resulting from the 2001 merger of companies R and B, the RB² company has a Business Turnover of 4.9 billion euros and 26,000 employees, spread across 41 sites around the world. The RB company is the world leader of the industrial automation and mobile application markets. The company produces “hydraulic equipment” (proportionately 80% of the Business Turnover), “pneumatic equipment” (proportionately 15%) and “linear guidance parts” (proportionately 5%). The RB company designs, produces, distributes and carries out maintenance on all its products.

More precisely, at the company’s Belleville site automation components are produced; mainly “Cylinders” and “Distributors”. The technologies used are respectively pneumatic and hydraulic. This production therefore includes four product families, in other words “Metal air distributors”, “Plastic air distributors”, “Pneumatic cylinders” and “Hydraulic cylinders”. Since the site has had ISO 9000 certification for the last 15 years or so, production is organized into processes. Four “value-added” processes in particular take place on this site, corresponding to the lines allocated to the four product families which are manufactured on it.

In particular, with its 22 machines, six activities and 30 operations, the “Hydraulic Cylinder Production” line is dedicated to production of “Hydraulic Cylinders”. With a production volume of “80 units per day” and a range of more than 10⁶ possibilities, the “Hydraulic Cylinders” are produced in very small batches (mean average size of 1.6 cylinders), complying with classification systems which are broken down into 15 to 20 components depending on the options chosen, with a diameter of between 16 mm and 250 mm and stroke lengths ranging from 1mm to 3000 mm. With opening hours of the order of 10 hours per day and a delivery time of “around 3 weeks”.

In line with the example set by the RB company, the Belleville site is organized in a functional manner. As the company subscribes to continuous improvement philosophy and development, its organization and working methods are revised regularly. Having recently moved from the Methods and Industrialization department to the Production and Continuous Improvements department on this site, Mr. C.C. takes over responsibility for the “Hydraulic Cylinder Production” line in January 2009, and has invited us along to experience the first 6 months of his new position at his side, time enough to observe him: observing the line, declaring his objectives, and drawing up the results of some of the actions put in place.

More precisely, Mr. C.C. does indeed have ideas about the operation and improvement of performance of the line. However, in order to be able to specify how his plans will be implemented, Mr. C.C. would like to take the time to observe his system and to understand its inner workings. To do this, Mr. C.C. will spend much time, during the last quarter of 2008, in discussion with Mr. M.N., associate manager of the line since it was set up. To this end, Mr. M.N. begins by broaching the subject of the Overall Equipment Effectiveness – OEE, the Non-compliance rate and the Throughput time.

---

1.2.1. The Overall Equipment Effectiveness – OEE

Classic productivity indicator, the Overall Equipment Effectiveness – OEE was defined in the 1980s in Japan as being associated, on an elementary level, with the productivity of a “piece of equipment” within the productive system (machine, production cell, line) [MUC 08]. The Overall Equipment Effectiveness – OEE is computed for...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title
• Copyright
• Foreword
• 1 The Industrial System
• 2 Industrial Objectives: The Variable
• 3 Industrial Objectives: The Value
• 4 Industrial Objectives: A Fuzzy Formalization to Move from Natural Language to Numbers
• 5 Industrial Objectives: Outlining Performance Expression
• 6 Industrial Objectives: Computation of Performance Expression of the Desire-Objective
• 7 Industrial Objectives: Computation of the Performance Expression of the Requirement-Objective
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index
• End User License Agreement