ASSIGMENT NO: 01

PRODUCTION
TECHNOLOGY II

COMPETITIVE ASPECTS OF
MANUFACTURIG

NAME : K.PIRUTHUVIRAJAN
REG. NO : 2015/0087
COURSE : HNDE-MEC (4TH YEAR)
DATE OF INT : 2018/08/21
DATE OF SUB : 2018/08/28
Introduction
Manufacturing high-quality products at the lowest possible cost
requires an understanding of the often complex relationship among
many factors. We have seen that product design, selection of
materials, and selection of manufacturing process are all interrelated.
Product designs are periodically modified to improve product
performance, to take advantage of the characteristics of new
materials, to make the products easier to manufacture ad assemble,
and to striver for zero based rejection and waste.
Because of the very wide variety of material and manufacturing
processes available today, the task of producing a high quality product
by selecting the best material and the best processes, while
minimizing cost, has become a major challenge as well as an
opportunity. The cost of product often determines its marketability
and its customer acceptance. Meeting this challenge requires not only
a thorough knowledge of the characteristics of material and processes,
but also innovative and creative approaches to product design and to
Manufacturing technology.
Although the economics of various manufacturing processes have
been described at the end of individual chapters, this chapter takes a
broader view and summarizes the important overall manufacturing
cos factors. We will investigate cost reduction methods in particular,
value engineering, a powerful tool that can be used to evaluate the
cost of each manufacturing step relative to its contribution to the
value of the product.

Selection of material
In selecting materials for a product, we must have a clear
understanding of the functional requirements for each of its individual
components. Although the general criteria for selecting materials were
described in Section 5 of the General Introduction, this chapter will
discuss them in further detail.
Mechanical properties include strength, toughness, ductility, stiffness,
hardness, and resistance to fatigue, creep, and impact. Physical
properties include density, melting point, specific heat, thermal and
electrical conductivity, thermal expansion, and magnetic properties.
Chemical properties that are of primary concern in manufacturing are
susceptibility to oxidation and corrosion. The relevance of these
properties to product design and manufacturing are described in
various chapters.
Selection of materials is now easier and faster because of the
availability of computerized and extensive databases, providing
greater accessibility. However, to facilitate the selection of materials
and other parameters described below, expert system software (smart
databases) has been developed. With a proper input of product design
and functional requirements, these systems are capable of identifying
appropriate materials for a particular application just as an expert or a
team of experts would.
After selecting materials we need to know the shapes and sizes in
which these materials are commercially available. They can be
obtained in various forms: casting, extrusions, forging, bar, plate,
sheet, foil, rod, wire, ad metal powders.

Product design and quality of materials

With high production rates and reduced labor, the cost of materials
becomes a significant portion of product cost. Although the material
cost cannot be reduced below the market level, reductions can be
made in the amount of material used in those components that are to
be mass produced. Because the overall shape of the part is usually
optimized during the design and prototype stages, further reductions
in the amount of material used can be achieved only by reducing the
thickness of the component. This approach requires the selection of
materials having high strength to weight or stuffiness to weight ratios.
Note that higher ratios can also be obtained by improving the
product's design and by selecting better cross-sections, such as ones
having a high moment of inertia, or by using tubular or hollow
components instead of solid ones.
Techniques such as finite element analysis, minimum weight design,
design optimization, and computer aided design and manufacturing
have greatly facilitated design analysis, material usage and
optimization. Implementing design changes and minimizing the
amount of materials utilized can, however, present significant
problems in manufacturing, as is outlined in the following examples:
 Forging of thin parts requires high forces that are due to causes
such as friction and chilling of thin sections.
 Welding of thin sheets or structures can cause distortion due to
thermal gradients.
 Casting of thin sections can present difficulties in mold-cavity
filling (due to chilling) and in maintaining dimensional accuracy
and good surface finish.
 Formability (in sheet-metal forming) may be reduced as sheet
thickness decreases, and, this reduction can lead to buckling
(during forming) due to compressive stresses in the plane of the
sheet.
Conversely, utilizing parts with thick cross-sections can slow
production in processes such as in casting and injection molding, for
instance, because of the increased length of time required for cooling
and for removing the part from the mold. Furthermore, the
bendability of sheet metals decreases as their thickness increases.

Substitution of materials

There is hardly a product on the market today for which substitution

of materials has not played a major role in helping companies
maintain their competitive positions. Automobile and aircraft
manufacturing are examples of major industries in which substitution
of materials is an important and ongoing activity. A similar trend is
evident in sporting goods and in various other consumer products.
Selection of manufacturing process

This section describes the importance of proper selection of

manufacturing processes and machinery, and how the selection
process relates to the characteristics of materials, the dimensional
tolerances and surface finish obtained. And manufacturing cost. As we
have seen, most manufacturing processes have been automated. And
are increasingly computer controlled, in order to optimize all aspects
of operations. Computerization is also effectively increasing product
reliability and product quality and reducing labor costs.

The choice of a manufacturing process is dictated by various

considerations, some of which follow:

 The characteristics and properties of the work piece material.

 The shape, size, and thickness of the part
 The dimensional tolerance and surface finish requirements
 The functional requirements of the part
 The production volume (quantity)
 The level of automation required to meet production volume
and production rate
 The costs involved in individual and combined aspects of the
manufacturing operation.

We have seen that some materials can be processed at room

temperature, whereas others require elevated temperatures (and thus
the need for furnaces and appropriate tooling). Some materials are
easy to work because they are soft and ductile: others. Being hard,
brittle, and abrasive, require special processing techniques and tool
and die materials.
Different materials have different manufacturing characteristics (such
as cast ability forge ability, workability, machinability and weld ability).
And few materials have favorable characteristics in all the relevant
categories. For example, a material that is cast able or forgeable may
later present difficulties in the machining, grinding, or finishing
operations that maybe required in order to produce a product with
acceptable surface finish, dimensional accuracy, and quality.

Manufacturing costs

In order for a product to be marketed successfully, its cost must be

competitive with that of similar products, particularly in the global
marketplace. The total cost of a product consists of $several
categories, such as material cost, tooling cost, fixed costs, variable
costs, direct labour costs, and indirect labour costs.

There are $several methods of cost accounting used by manufacturing

organizations today. The methodologies of various accounting
procedures can be complex (even controversial), and their selection
depends on the particular company and its type of operations.
Type of machinery Price($000)
Broaching 10-300
Drilling 10-100
Electrical discharge 30-150
Electromagnetic 50-150
Fused deposition modeling 60-120
Gear shaping 100-200
Cylindrical 40-150
Surface 20-100
Headers 100-150
Injection molding 30-150
Jig 50-150
Horizontal boring mill 100-400
FMS >1000
Lathe 10-400
Value Engineering

Value engineering (VE) is a systematic and organized approach to

provide the necessary functions in a project at the lowest cost. It
promotes the substitution of materials and methods with less
expensive alternatives, without sacrificing functionality. It is focused
solely on the functions of various components and materials, rather
than their physical attributes. Value is the ratio of function to cost.
Therefore,

VALUE = FUNCTION / COST

Value concept

Value is an effective balance between the Quality, the Function and

the Cost as shown in the given figure:

QUALITY

FUNCTION COST

Importance of VE: It leads to optimal expenditure of owner funds

while meeting required function and quality level. The success of the
Value Engineering process is due to its ability to identify opportunities
to remove unnecessary costs while assuring quality, reliability,
performance and other critical factors that meet or exceed customer’s
expectation.
 Diagram showing value engineering

Example for value engineering:

When a product incorporates a computer, it replaces many parts with

software that fits into a single light-weight, low-power memory part or
microcontroller. As computers grow faster, digital signal processing
software is beginning to replace many analog electronic circuits for
audio and sometimes radio frequency processing.