Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

HIGH-VOLUME OPERATIONS

Flow operations

Processes designed to handle high-volume, standard products.

A high-volume operation at the DMV.

High-volume operations, also called flow operations, can be repetitive operations for discrete products like automobiles, appliances, or bread, or services like license renewals at the Division of Motor Vehicles. Or they can be continuous operations for goods produced in a continuous flow as in a product like gasoline or a service like waste treatment. High-volume standard items, either discrete or continuous, have smaller profit margins, so cost efficiency is important. Companies achieve cost efficiency in a high-volume operation through high levels of labor and equipment utilization. Design of the work environment ensures a smooth flow of products or customers through the system. One design is line balancing, which we covered in Chapter 10. Flow operations have the following characteristics.

Routing

Provides information about the operations to be performed, their sequence, the work centers, and the time standards.

Characteristics of Flow Operations

Flow operations use fixed routings—the product or service is always done the same way in the same ...