HOW THE ASSEMBLY LINE REVOLUTIONIZED MANUFACTURING MR. KATZE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY JEFFERSON FOREST HIGH SCHOOL

WHAT IS AN ASSEMBLY LINE  A manufacturing process in which interchangeable parts are added to a product in a sequential manner to create an end product  The main purpose for implementing the assembly line is to make the production of a particular product faster  Special and efficient manufacturing process

THE BIRTH OF THE ASSEMBLY LINE  Idea first developed in Venice several hundred years before industrial age  Ships were produced using pre-manufactured parts, assembly lines, and mass production  Produced roughly one ship per day  Effectively the worlds first factory  English System of manufacture  Until the 1800s  Domestic System- a single craftsman or team of craftsmen would create each part of a product individually, and assemble them together into a single item, making changes in the parts so that they would fit together

THE BIRTH OF THE ASSEMBLY LINE  First introduced to industrial age by Eli Whitney  created muskets for the U.S. Government  developed the American System of manufacturing in 1799  used the ideas of division of labour and engineering tolerance, to create assemblies from parts in a repeatable manner.  Only with precision parts manufacturing is anything like an assembly line process possible  This linear assembly process allowed relatively unskilled laborers to add simple parts to a product.  All parts were already made, they just had to be assembled  Not of the quality found in hand-made units  Required much less training of the assemblers, and therefore could be created for a lower cost.  Originally, all the parts would move on a belt or chains, and the workers would stand in a line to assemble the products.  Work came to the worker

THE BIRTH OF THE ASSEMBLY LINE  First introduced to car industry by Henry Leland.  He started both the Cadillac Car Co., sold to GM and later the Lincoln Car Co., which he sold to Ford  He was the early engine builder for most of Detroit.  The prerequisite to the development of the assembly line was precision manufacturing.  This was not present with the early auto makers, most of which were from the carriage builder trade, and used the technique of file and fit.  File and fit would not allow for the quick and accurate assembly of parts onto an auto frame.

HENRY FORD’S HIGHLAND PARK FORD PLANT  Ford's production methods were based on two main ideas  The assembly line  The uniformity of a product.  1908, he divided up the tasks involved in manufacturing an automobile  tried having chassis pulled along factory floors with towropes  Men walked alongside the chassis to stations, at each station parts were added  Manufacturing time for a single automobile decreased from twelve hours to five and one- half hours  Installed the World's first moving assembly line on December 1, 1913  workers stood at their stations, each doing the same repetitive task over and over again  Manufacturing time for one car fell to around an hour and a half  By The end of 1914, his employees were the highest paid industrial workers in the world; a worker performing the simplest of tasks could, and some did, become rich  The idea was an adaptation of the system used in the meat processing factories of Chicago, and the conveyor belts used in grain mills.

MANUFACTURING PROCESS FLOW CHARTS  Manufacturing Process works on providing outputs (tangible products) to the customers after the inputs (raw materials) are processed through different stages.  With the objective of providing cost effectiveness to the manufacturing processes, manufacturing process flow is extremely critical to a manufacturing process

PART 1: RAW MATERIALS  Every product starts from the raw materials.  Business owners look at two strategies for raw materials 1) The raw materials can be purchased from a provider days/weeks before production commences  ensures that the raw material is at the manufacturing company's disposal even before production commences but it also increases the storage and maintenance headache for the company 2) The raw materials can be purchased from a provider on time of the demand.  minimizes inventory but at the same time holds the manufacturing company ransom the raw materials provider to give the raw materials in time.

PART 2: PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT  Plays a very important role in ensuring that the product as well as the product development information flows smoothly between stages.  With many companies implementing Lean Manufacturing processes, Cellular Units take care of product development by sub-units.  Cellular setups ensure that inventory is minimized at all costs. Standard of Work  Job Specific Tools

PART 3: INFORMATION FLOW  This is specifically important for products that have complex technical and business specifications.  During the product development if these products, It is important that vital information is shared between different units of the production cycle. T  his ensures optimum time utilization resulting in shorter lead times.  In most cases, the preceding manufacturing sub-unit relays the information to the one succeeding.

PART 4: TESTING  Quality Control is very important to ensure that all the goods produced off a manufacturing process meet the quality standards as mentioned by the client which warrants all the items manufactured to be tested against certain metrics.  Let us take the example of manufacturing tables.  When a wooden table is produced, it is tested against  its strength  load factor  humidity levels in the table  painting and finishing of the table  other factors.

ASSEMBLY LINE PROS  Speed  Products that are manufactured with assembly lines can get to market faster than those that don't.  Product Cost  More cost efficient since it uses machines to help in the production of the automobile.  Safety  Occurrence of industrial accidents were lessened since it implemented the process because workers specialized in a particular task.

ASSEMBLY LINE CONS  Tedious Work  In early industrial times, the assembly line ran smoothly, but as competition increased, the workers had to work faster and longer hours, therefore increasing the rate at which workplace injuries occurred.  Job Loss  Many factory jobs were converted to robotic jobs  Safety  frustrated with the unsafe, exhausting working conditions.  Repetitive stress injuries due to standing in the same place for hours and repeat the same motion hundreds of times per day  Most never had the satisfaction of seeing the finished product  in sociological terms, they felt alienated from the product of their work

COMPARE AND CONTRAST For a company that does not implement the assembly line:  Only one station for engine installation, hood installation and wheels installation.  If three cars will be produced without the use of the technique, the production rate will be less.  If the installation of the engine takes 15 minutes while the installation of wheels and hood are 10 minutes each, then the production time for the three cars will be 105 minutes. However, for a firm that implements the assembly line:  The production of all the three cars is less. This is because there will be one station for hood installation, a separate station for wheels installation and another station for engine installation.

WORKS CITED