The Connection Between Language and Race Essays - Culture

The Connection Between Language and Race Language exists as much to conceal as to signify. Whatever admirable relations such terminology signifies, the use of such language can be a way of embedding racist attitudes. Race' was first used in the English language in 1508, in a poem by William Dunbar, and through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it remained essentially a literary word denoting a class of persons or things. It was only in the late eighteenth century that the term came to mean a distinct category of human beings with physical characteristics transmitted by descent. Race has been used to distinguish who is who and language has been used to communicate with each other verbally and by writing. The importance of language is a key aspect and interaction in our everyday lives. We use language to communicate to the people around us about how we feel and question/understands this world that we are in. We communicate great with our words, emotions, and timbre of our voice in an abundance of situation. Would you talk to a small child with the same words you would in a business meeting? The ability to socialize with each other, form relationships, collaboration, and it's what separates humans from other animal species. Communication drives our lives and better ourselves. I have always been interested in languages. Our language is the most important part of our being. I think it is important to learn other languages because it help us learn about other people and their culture, it's so simple that we can learn just from socializing this is one of the most basic parts of our identity. Language isn't the only way that humans communicate but it makes it so much easier to do s o with language. No matter where you go in the world, there was always be different languages everywhere. For example if you come to Los Angeles, it is a lot of people from different places coexisting in the same region. Languages can be gray in many ways what they also can make it difficult for people to communicate as well. If you speak English but someone else speak Spanish it may be difficult to understand what the other person is saying, making the conversation more difficult than if you both spoke the same language. Although it may be difficult for us to all speak the same language, we can definitely learn how to speak others language through tutoring and other resources. Especially if you like traveling around the world it is a good idea to know more than one language. Thus language is not the creation of one person or of one period but it is an collection, on which hundreds of generations and numerous individual workers have worked. Language is like a update to mankind. It raised Man from a low state of being to a articulate frame of mind. Additionally, man differs from animals is that man alone is the sole possessor of language. No doubt animals have some level of communication but that is not only inferior in degree to human language, but, is completely different and complex. Also, language helps with the spread of culture. Sometimes an idea or situation is not able to be explained with language, this makes it hard to translate. Language is so important to humankind I really can't imagine life without it. It can easy to forget how useful our words can be and the history that comes with it. Race refers to a person physical person such as hair, eyes and color. It also represents the concept of dividing people into groups based on physical characteristic (which is a result from your genetic ancestry). People may wonder does race play a role in our society today I would say yes! Throughout history we have witnessed the effects and even today there are still race issues going on in our society. Racism ties together with race so, people may may wonder does this still exist, I would say yes based on the way society is structured it highly suggest that it definitely exist. For example, higher prestige jobs tend to be based on race and background more so than the skills you're

Implementation of Lean Manufacturing Tools in Garment Manufacturing Process Focusing Sewing Section of Men’s Shirt Essay Example

Implementation of Lean Manufacturing Tools in Garment Manufacturing Process Focusing Sewing Section of Men’s Shirt Essay Example Implementation of Lean Manufacturing Tools in Garment Manufacturing Process Focusing Sewing Section of Men’s Shirt Essay Implementation of Lean Manufacturing Tools in Garment Manufacturing Process Focusing Sewing Section of Men’s Shirt Essay Naresh Paneru Implementation of Lean Manufacturing Tools in Garment Manufacturing Process Focusing Sewing Section of Men’s Shirt Implementation of Lean Manufacturing Tools in Garment Manufacturing Process Focusing Sewing Section of Men’s Shirt Naresh Paneru Master’s thesis Autumn 2011 Degree Programme in Industrial Management Oulu University of Applied Sciences Author: Title of Thesis: Naresh Paneru Implementation of lean manufacturing tools in garment manufacturing process focusing sewing section of Men’s Shirt Thesis Supervisor: Degree: Graduation Year: Number of Pages: Hannu Paatalo Degree Programme in Industrial Management Autumn, 2011 72 + 8 ABSTRACT Traditionally operated garment industries are facing problems like low productivity, longer production lead time, high rework and rejection, poor line balancing, low flexibility of style changeover etc. These problems were addressed in this study by the implementation of lean tools like cellular manufacturing, single piece flow, work standardization, just in time production etc. After implementation of lean tools, results observed were highly encouraging. Some of the key benefits entail production cycle time decreased by 8%, number of operators required to produce equal amount of garment is decreased by 14%, rework level reduced by 80%, production lead time comes down to one hour from two days, work in progress inventory stays at a maximum of 100 pieces from around 500 to 1500 pieces. Apart from these tangible benefits operator multi-skilling as well as the flexibility of style changeover has been improved. This study is conducted in the stitching section of a shirt manufacturing company. Study includes time studies, the conversion of traditional batch production into single piece flow and long assembly line into small work cells. Key Words: Lean manufacturing, Just In Time, Cellular manufacturing, Time study, Single Piece Flow 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the Oulu University of Applied Science for giving me the opportunity to pursue Master’s Degree in Industrial Management. I would like to thank my supervisor, Hannu Paatalo for his continued support throughout the course of this thesis. Similarly, I would like to express my genuine appreciation for senior lecturer Mr. Tauno Jokinen who guided me throughout this thesis process. I am obliged to all seniors and juniors in the industry, who coordinated and helped me directly or indirectly during the research process. 5 CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION.. 12 1. 1 Background 12 1. Research Problems 13 1. 3 Research Objective 14 1. 4 Research Approach 15 1. 5 Report Construction.. 16 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7 2. 1 History of Lean 17 2. 2 Definition of Lean . 18 2. 3 Lean Principles 18 2. 4 Toyota Production System 19 2. Kind of Wastes 21 2. 6 Lean Manufacturing Tools and Techniques . 22 2. 6. 1 Cellular Manufacturing .. 22 2. 6. 2 Continuous Improvement.. 24 2. 6. 3 Just in Time .. 5 2. 6. 4 Total Productive Maintenance 28 2. 6. 6 Waste Reduction Techniques .. 31 2. 6. 7 Value Stream mapping 32 2. 7 Method Study .. 33 2. 8 Labor Standards and Work Measurements 33 2. 8. 1 Historical Experience .. 34 2. 8. 2 Time Studies 34 2. 8. 3 Predetermined Time Standards .. 36 2. 8. 4 Work Sampling .. 36 6 2. 9 Layout Design . 8 2. 10 Assembly Line Balancing 39 2. 10. 1 Takt Time 40 2. 10. 2 Cycle Time . 41 2. 11 Summary.. 1 3 GARMENT MANUFACTURIGN PROCESS 43 3. 1 Industry Background 43 3. 2 Garment Manufacturing Process 44 3. 2. 1 Cutting Section 44 3. 2. 2 Preparatory Section .. 44 3. 2. Assembly Section.. 47 3. 2. 4 Finishing Section .. 48 3. 3 Style Communication .. 49 3. 4 Existing Production Layout .. 49 3. 5 WIP Movement System .. 1 4 RESEARCH OF THE EXISTING PRODUCTION . 52 4. 1 Conducting Time Study .. 52 4. 2 Creating Cellular Layout 53 4. 3 Work Balancing between Operators . 54 4. 4 Critical Operation Handling . 56 4. Trial Production on New Layout 58 5 RESULT ANALYSES . 59 5. 1 Throughput Time Comparison 59 5. 2 Comparison of Production Time 60 5. 3 Comparison of Number of Operation .. 61 5. Comparing Number of Operator Required 62 5. 5 Compa rison of Information Flow .. 64 7 5. 6 Comparison of Rework Level . 64 5. 7 Operator Skill Improvement .. .. 65 5. 8 Operator Motivation . 5 6 RESEARCH SUMMARY . 66 6. 1 Conclusion . 66 6. 2 Limitations of the Study . 67 6. 3 Recommendation for Future Research 68 7 LIST OF REFERENCES 0 8 LISTS OF APPENDICES .. 73 8 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Difference between Push and Pull Manufacturing System†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 27 Table 2: Section wise Number of Operation and Number of Operator requirement †¦.. 57 9 LIST OF FIGURES Figure1: Toyota Production System†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦20 Figure 2: Pillars of TPM†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦29 Figure 3: Garment Production Process Flow Chart†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 43 Figure 4: Cutting Section Production Flow Chart†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦ 5 Figure 5: Preparatory Section Production Flow Chart†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 46 Figure 6: Assembly Section Production Flow Chart†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦47 Figure 7: Finishing Section Production Flow Chart†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 48 Figure 8: Existing Production Layout of Stitching Section†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 50 Figure 9: Recommended Stitching Section Layout†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 55 Figure 10: Comparison of Production Time for Different Stitching Sections†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 61 Figure 11: Comparison of Number of Operation in Different Sections†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 62 Figure 12: Comparison of Number of Operator Required in Different Sections†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 63 0 ABBREVIATIONS CAD CAM CI FSVSM ISVSM JIT MTM PDCA PFD PMTS PSVSM SAM SMED TMU TPM TPS VSM WIP Computer Aided Design Computer Aided Manufacturing Continuous Improvement Future State Value Stream Mapping Ideal State Value Stream Mapping Just in Time Methods Time Measurement Plan Do Check Act Personal Fatigue and Delay Predetermined Motion Time Systems Present State Value Stream Mapping Standard Allowed Minutes Single Minute Exchange of Dies Time Measurement Unit Total Productive Maintenance Toyota Production System Value Stream Mapping Work in Progress 11 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Background Due to the increasing labor wage in developed countries, the apparel manufacturing has been migrating from the high wage developed world to low wage developing countries (Bheda, Narag an d Singla, 2003). Even though the labor cost is cheaper than in developed countries; due to the specific market nature of the garment industries for example: the short production life cycle, high volatility, low predictability, high level of impulse purchase, the quick market response; garment industries are facing the greatest challenges these days (Lucy Daly and Towers, 2004). Garment industries in developing countries are more focused on sourcing of raw material and minimizing delivery cost than labor productivity because of the availability of cheap labor. Due to this, labor productivity is lower in developing countries than in the developed ones. For example, labour is very cheap in Bangladesh but the productivity is poor among other developing countries (Shahidul and Syed Shazali, 2011). Similarly, the cost of fabric is a major part of the garment so there seems to be great need for improvement in this sector. Even in developing countries the CAD and CAM system for fabric cutting has been implemented to save fabric. Now the worry is about labor productivity and making production flexible; because the fashion industry is highly volatile and if the orders are not fulfilled on time, the fear for losing business is real. Even today, industries are getting the same or more volumes (orders), but the number of styles they have to handle has increased drastically. Earlier industries were getting bulk order so there is no need to worry; if the production line was set for the first time it would run for a month or at least a week or two. But nowadays due to small order quantities and complex designs, the garment industry has to produce multiple styles 12 even within a day; this needs higher flexibility in volume and style change over (Shahram and Cristian, 2011). In some cases it has been observed that, in developing countries the garment industries are run as family business lacking skilled personnel as well as capital to implement new technologies for improving productivity and flexibility. Because of this, industries have been running in a traditional way for years and are rigid to change. They are happy as long as they are sustaining their business. They don’t have much confidence and will towards innovation over old processes. Now the time has come to struggle with global market demand and niche market in garment industries if they want to run it further (Gao, Norton, Zhang and Kin-man To, 2009). This volatility of styles can be addressed only by flexibility in manufacturing. The best way to cope with all these challenges is the implementation of lean manufacturing. This will serve our purpose of flexibility and save a lot of money by reducing production lead time, reducing the inventory, increasing productivity, training operators for multiple works, and by reducing rework. 1. 2 Research Problems The major problem people faced in garment industry is stitching; most of time failure to meet delivery time is because of stitching. Stitching operations (with respect to cutting and finishing) needs high skill as well as quality work, because of difficulty associated with repairing of products sewed with wrong specifications. Thus we have to give more attention to stitching than to cutting and finishing of garments. Firstly, High WIP in traditional type of batch production is the major problem faced by industries. Due to high WIP the throughput time as well as rework is very high. In some cases, even though the operator has completed the stitching operations the garment cannot be packed because of high WIP. Due to huge WIP, the defective parts are hidden inside the batches and it is very difficult to clear them while completing the final order quantity. This is the reason why garment professionals seem to work like fire fighters; 13 because they are always in a hurry for searching the missing garment pieces all over the shop floor. Secondly, in batch processing flexibility cannot be achieved easily; which is the current demand of garment industry. This is obstructed by the decreasing order size and increasing number of styles. So to meet this requirement production layout should be designed such that it should hold minimum WIP and should be flexible enough to the changing of order. Thirdly, in batch process operators are given specific jobs, so the operator knows one or a few more operations only. Though he (she) may have good skill and can work more efficiently on one (allocated job only) operation; he (she) cannot work immediately on some other operation. This is another need of today’s world, because the fashion is changing frequently and the work force should be capable enough to cope with this change. To achieve this operator should be multi-skilled; which can be served by regular training and converting long assembly lines into small manufacturing cells. Workload fluctuation among operators is another problem in batch processing, because one operator is given one operation at a time. So the operator who is performing easier and low time consuming jobs can pile up a huge amount of WIP whereas in the critical operations (operations which need more time and skill) there is lagging causing unbalanced WIP in-between machines and the work load is not proper among operators. This research tries to address all these problems of garment industry by implementing lean manufacturing in the case company. . 3 Research Objective Lean manufacturing is an operational strategy oriented towards achieving the shortest possible cycle time by eliminating wastes. The term lean manufacturing is coined to represent half the human effort in the company, half the manufacturing space, half the investment in tools and half the engineering hours to develop a new product in half the time. These benefits can be achieved only if the concept is religiously followed i n the 14 organization. In simple terms lean manufacturing is without waste. Thus the objective of this research is to find out how we can use lean manufacturing to achieve the following: To meet customer demand on time by eliminating non value added work from the process To minimize the work in process inventory To create flexibility of style changeover To reduce rework percentage To create a pool of multi-skilled operators who can respond quickly for changing style 1. 4 Research Approach The initial step in this research is to systematically study and define the history of the lean manufacturing concept and its different tools and techniques. It will then examine some most used lean manufacturing tools and techniques. This will be followed by the study of the existing production system of the case company for example the existing production layouts, inventory movement systems, work balancing methods and other different variables which needs to be improved for the betterment of the existing system. To address the current issues of the industry, the researcher tries to find out the standard operation time for each operation by using time study techniques and will try to standardize all the operations. Once the standard operation time is obtained work will be done to find out the best suitable production layout and WIP movement methods, which will help to get flexibility in style changeover, should reduce the production lead time, create operator multi-skilling etc. After doing these entire things as paper work, the researcher will implement the research outcomes in the company and the improvement will be measured against the existing process. Basically, this is quantitative research where the researcher is a part of the organization during the study. 15 1. 5 Report Construction The whole report consists of seven chapters. The first chapter describes the need of the research, research objectives and research approach. Literature review about lean manufacturing, layout designs, time study and assembly line balancing is described in chapter two. Industry background and garment manufacturing processes are described in the third chapter followed by the research methodology, data collection methods etc. in chapter four. The fifth chapter includes the analysis part of the research; in this chapter different parameters are compared between existing production systems and he new recommended system. Chapter six is about the research summary, conclusion of research, its limitations and recommendation for further study, followed by the list of reference in the seventh chapter. 16 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 1 History of Lean During II world war, the economic condition of Japan was heavily destroyed. Due to this there was scarcity of fund resulting in limiting access to corp orate finance. In this situation, neither Toyota was able to set up a mass production system like their American counterparts, nor it was possible to layoff the employees to reduce their cost due to legislation. Anyhow Toyota had to devise a new system for reducing costs to sustain in the market. So they decided to produce a small batch of products which would reduce inventories; it means they would need less capital to produce the same product. But this is obstructed by the practical difficulty of changing tools and production lines frequently. To cope with this problem they started making multipurpose tooling systems in their machines and trained their employees in changeover time reduction methods. At the same time, Toyota realized that investing in people is more important than investing in bigger size machinery and continues employee training throughout the organization. This motivates all employees and they are more open to the improvement process and everyone started giving their input to the company. In this way, short production runs started by Toyota became a benefit rather than a burden, as it was able to respond much more rapidly to changes in demand by quickly switching production from one model to another (Drew, Blair and Stefan, 2004, p. -6). Toyota didn’t depend on the economies of scale production like American companies. It rather developed a culture, organization and operating system that relentlessly pursued the elimination of waste, variability and inflexibility. To achieve this, it focused its operating system on responding to demand and nothing else. This in turn means it has to be flexible; when there are changes in demand, the operating system is a stable workforce that is required to be much more skilled and much more flexible than those in most mass production systems. Over time, all these elements were consolidated into a new approach to operations that formed the basis of lean or Toyota Production System. 17 2. 2 Definition of Lean The popular definition of Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Production System usually consists of the following (Wilson, 2009, p. 29-30). 1. It is a comprehensive set of techniques which when combined allows you to reduce and eliminate the wastes. This will make the company leaner, more flexible and more responsive by reducing waste. 2. Lean is the systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste through continuous improvement by flowing the product or service at the pull of your customer in pursuit of perfection (Nash, Poling and Ward, 2006, p. 17). According to (Drew et al. , 2004, p 25) the lean operating system consists of the following: A lean operating system follows certain principles to deliver value to the customer while minimizing all forms of loss. Each value stream within the operating system must be optimized individually from end to end. Lean tools and techniques are applied selectively to eliminate the three sources of loss: waste, variability and inflexibility. Thus the organization who wants to implement lean should have strong customer focus, should be willing to remove wastes from the processes they operate on daily basis and should have the motivation of growth and survival. 2. 3 Lean Principles The major five principles of Lean are as follows (Burton T. and Boeder, 2003, p. 122): Principle 1: Accurately specify value from customer perspective for both products and services. 18 Principle 2: Identify the value stream for products and services and remove non-valueadding waste along the value stream. Principle 3: Make the product and services flow without interruption across the value stream. Principle 4: Authorize production of products and services based on the pull by the customer. Principle 5: Strive for perfection by constantly removing layers of waste. 2. 4 Toyota Production System It is a manufacturing system developed by Toyota in Japan after World War II, which aims to increase production efficiency by the elimination of waste. The Toyota production system was invented and made to work, by Taiichi Ohno. While analyzing the problems inside the manufacturing environment; Ohno came to conclude that different kinds of wastes (non value added works) are the main cause of inefficiency and low productivity. Ohno identified waste in a number of forms, including overproduction, waiting time, transportation problems, inefficient processing, inventory, and defective products. Figure 1 shows the Toyota Production System in detail. From this figure it can be seen that TPS is not only a set of different tools but it is the philosophy and integration of different tools and systems to achieve a common goal of waste reduction and efficiency improvement. Each element of this house is critical, but more important is the way the elements reinforce each other. Just In Time (JIT) means removing the inventory used to buffer operations against problems that may arise in production. The ideal of one-piece flow is to make one unit at a time at the rate of customer demand or Takt time. Using smaller buffers (removing the â€Å"safety net†) means that problems like quality defects become immediately visible. This reinforces Jidoka, which halts the production process. This means workers must resolve the problems immediately and urgently to resume production. 9 FIGURE 1: Toyota Production System1 Stability is at the foundation of the house. While working with little inventory and stopping production when there is a problem causes instability and a sense of urgency among workers. In mass production, when a machine goes down, there is no sense of urgency because the maintenance department is scheduled to fix it while the inventory keeps the operations running. By contrast, in lean production, when an operator shuts down equipment to fix a problem, other operations will also stop immediately due to no inventory creating a crisis. So there is always a sense of urgency for everyone in production to fix problems together to get the machine in working condition and to run the production as soon as possible. 1 Toyota Way (Liker, 2003, p. 33) 20 If the same problem occurs repeatedly, management will quickly conclude that this is a critical situation and it should be cracked without any delay. People are at the center of the house, because it is only through continuous improvement that the operation can ever attain this needed stability. People must be trained to see waste and solve problems at the root cause by repeatedly asking why the problem really occurs. Problem solving should be on the actual site of the problem where everything is visible and practical also; this technique of problem solving is called Genchi Genbutsu. In general TPS is not a toolkit. It is not just a set of lean tools like just-in-time, cells, 5S (sort, stabilize, shine, standardize, sustain), Kanban, etc. It is a sophisticated system of production in which all parts contribute to a whole. On the whole, its focus is on supporting and encouraging people to continually improve the processes they work on. 2. 5 Kind of Wastes According to David Magee, (Magee, 2007, p. 67) different kinds of wastes in a process can be categorized in following categories. These wastes reduce production efficiency, quality of work as well as increase production lead time. 1. Overproduction – Producing items more than required at given point of time i. e. producing items without actual orders creating the excess of inventories which needs excess staffs, storage area as well as transportation etc. 2. Waiting – Workers waiting for raw material, the machine or information etc. s known as waiting and is the waste of productive time. The waiting can occur in various ways for example; due to unmatched worker/machine performance, machine breakdowns, lack of work knowledge, stock outs etc. 3. Unnecessary Transport – Carrying of work in process (WIP) a long distance, insufficient transport, moving material from one place to another place is known as the unnecessary transport. 4. Over processing – Working on a product more than the actual requirements is termed as over processing. The over processing may be due to improper tools or 21 improper procedures etc. The over processing is the waste of time and machines which does not add any value to the final product. 5. Excess Raw Material This includes excess raw material, WIP, or finished goods causing longer lead times, obsolescence, damaged goods, transportation and storage costs, and delay. Also, the extra inventory hides problems such as production imbalances, late deliveries from suppliers, defects, equipment downtime, and long setup times. 6. Unnecessary Movement – Any wasted motion that the workers have to perform during their work is termed as unnecessary movement. For example movement during searching for tools, shifting WIP etc. 7. Defects – Defects in the processed parts is termed as waste. Repairing defective parts or producing defective parts or replacing the parts due to poor quality etc. is the waste of time and effort. 8. Unused Employee Creativity – Loosing of getting better ideas, improvement, skills and learning opportunities by avoiding the presence of employee is termed as unused employee creativity (Liker, 2003, p. 29). 2. 6 Lean Manufacturing Tools and Techniques There are numbers of lean manufacturing tools which, when used in proper ways will give the best results. Once the source of the waste is identified it is easier to use the suitable lean tool to reduce or eliminate them and try to make waste free systems. Some of these tools are discussed in this chapter. 2. 6. 1 Cellular Manufacturing A cell is a combination of people, equipment and workstations organized in the order of process to flow, to manufacture all or part of a production unit (Wilson, 2009, p. 214215). Following are the characteristics of effective cellular manufacturing practice. . Should have one-piece or very small lot of flow. 22 2. The equipment should be right-sized and very specific for the cell operations. 3. Is usually arranged in a C or U shape so the incoming raw materials and outgoing finished goods are easily monitored. 4. Should have cross-trained people within the cell for flexibility of operation. 5. Generally, the cell is arranged in C or U shape and covers less space than the long assembly lines. There are lots of benefits of cellular manufacturing over long assembly lines. Some of them are as follows (Heizer and Render, 2000, p. 345-346). 1. Reduced work in process inventory because the work cell is set up to provide a balanced flow from machine to machine. 2. Reduced direct labor cost because of improved communication between employees, better material flow, and improved scheduling. 3. High employee participation is achieved due to added responsibility of product quality monitored by themselves rather than separate quality persons. 4. Increased use of equipment and machinery, because of better scheduling and faster material flow. 5. Allows the company higher degrees of flexibility to accommodate changes in customer demand. 6. Promotes continuous improvement as problems are exposed to surface due to low WIP and better communication. 7. Reduces throughput time and increases velocity for customer orders from order receipt through production and shipment. 8. Enhances the employee’s productive capability through multi-skilled multimachine operators. Apart from these tangible benefits, there is the very important advantage of cellular manufacturing over the linear flow model. Due to the closed loop arrangement of machines, the operators inside the cell are familiar with each other’s operations and they understand each other better. This improves the relation between the operators and helps to improve productivity. Whereas in long assembly line one operator knows only two 23 operators (before and after his operation in the line) it seems that operators are working independently in the line. 2. 6. 2 Continuous Improvement According to (Gersten and Riss, 2002, p. 41) Continuous improvement (CI) can be defined as the planned, organized and systematic process of ongoing, incremental and company-wide change of existing practices aimed at improving company performance. Activities and behaviors that facilitate and enable the development of CI include problem-solving, plan-do-check-act (PDCA) and other CI tools, policy deployment, cross-functional teams, a formal CI planning and management group, and formal systems for evaluating CI activities. Successful CI implementation involves not only the training and development of employees in the use of tools and processes, but also the establishment of a learning environment conducive to future continuous learning. The short description of PDCA cycle is given below Plan: Identify an opportunity and plan for change. Do: Implement the change on a small scale. Check: Use data to analyze the results of the change and determine whether it made a difference. Act: If the change was successful, implement it on a wider scale and continuously assess the results. If the change did not work, begin the cycle again. Thus continuous improvement is an ongoing and never ending process; it measures only the achievements gained from the application of one process over the existing. So while selecting the continuous improvement plan one should concentrate on the area which needs more attention and which adds more value to our products. There are seven different kinds of continuous improvement tools (Larson, 2003, p. 46) they can be described as follows. The use of these tools varies from case to case depending on the requirement of the process to be monitored. 24 Pareto Diagram: The Pareto diagram is a graphical overview of the process problems, in ranking order from the most frequent, down to the least frequent, in descending order from left to right. Thus, the Pareto diagram illustrates the frequency of fault types. Using a Pareto, one can decide which fault is the most serious or most frequent offender. Fishbone Diagram: A framework used to identify potential root causes leading to poor quality. Check Sheet: A check sheet is a structured, prepared form for collecting and analyzing data. This is a generic tool that can be adapted for a wide variety of purposes. Histogram: A graph of variable data providing a pictorial view of the distribution of data around a desired target value. Stratification: A method of sorting data to identify whether defects are the result of a special cause, such as an individual employee or specific machine. Scatter Diagram: A graph used to display the effect of changes in one input variable on the output of an operation. Charting: A graph that tracks the performance of an operation over time, usually used to monitor the effectiveness of improvement programs. 2. 6. 3 Just in Time Just in time is an integrated set of activities designed to achieve high volume production using the minimal inventories of raw materials, work in process and finished goods. Just in time is also based on the logic that nothing will be produced until it is needed (Shivanand, 2006, p. 45). Just-in-time manufacturing is a Japanese management philosophy applied in manufacturing. It involves having the right items with the right quality and quantity in the right place at the right time. The ability to manage inventory (which often accounts 25 for as much as 80 percent of product cost) to coincide with market demand or changing product specifications can substantially boost profits and improve a manufacturer’s competitive position by reducing inventories and waste. In general, Just in Time (JIT) helps to optimize company resources like capital, equipment, and labor. The goal of JIT is the total elimination of waste in the manufacturing process. Although JIT system is applied mostly to manufacturing environment, the concepts are not limited to this area of business only. The philosophy of JIT is a continuous improvement that puts emphasis on prevention rather than correction, and demands a companywide focus on quality. The requirement of JIT is that equipment, resources and labor are made available only in the amount required and at the time required to do the work. It is based on producing only the necessary units in the necessary quantities at the necessary time by bringing production rates exactly in line with market demand. In short, JIT means making what the market wants, when it wants, by using a minimum of facilities, equipment, materials, and human resources (Roy, 2005, p. 170). JIT principles are based on the following (Shivanand, 2006, p. 4): It is commonly used to describe the stockless production manufacturing approach, where only the right parts are completed at the right time. It is not a destination but a journey. Reducing inventory, improving quality and controlling cost. A â€Å"Pull System† where the parts are produced only when they are required. Pull and Push System In push system, when work is finished at a workstation, the output is pushed to the next station; or, in the case of the final operation, it is pushed on to the final inventory. In this system, work is pushed on as it is completed, with no regard for whether the next station is ready for the work or not. In this way, the WIP is unbalanced in all operations throughout the shop floor (Roy, 2005, p. 174). 26 TABLE 1: Difference between push and pull manufacturing system Description Signal to produce more Timing of signal Planning horizon Leveling of demand Push System Schedule or plan Advance of the need Fairly long No Too much inventory, no Pull System Customer signal At the time of the need Very short Generally yes Does not planned ahead, missed customer demand at the beginning of product life cycle, too much inventory at the last Repetitive, high volume manufacturing and stable demand Visible Much Negatives about the system visual control, long and planned lead times, requires more information Non repetitive, batch, short Best for product lifecycle, long lead time purchasing Problem visibility Stress to improve Not visible Little The push system is also known as the Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) system. This system is based on the planning department setting up a long-term production schedule, which is then dissected to give a detailed schedule for making or buying parts. This detailed schedule then pushes the production people to make a part and push it forward to the next station. The major weakness of this system is that it relies on guessing the future customer demand to develop the schedule that production is based on and guessing the time it takes to produce each part. Overestimation and underestimation may lead to excess inventory or part shortages, respectively (Shivanand, 2006, p. 50). Whereas in pull system; each work station pulls the output from the preceding station as it is needed. Output from the final operation is pulled by customer demand or the master 27 schedule. Thus in pull system work is moved in response to demand from the next stage in the process. The Kanban system is used to monitor the effective pull process. Table 1 helps to differentiate Pull and Push system. 2. 6. 4 Total Productive Maintenance Machine breakdown is one of the major headaches for people related to production. The reliability of the equipment on the shop floor is very important because if any one of the machines is down the entire shop floor productivity may be nil. The tool that takes care of these sudden breakdowns and awakes maintenance as well as production workers to minimize these unplanned breakdowns is called total productive maintenance. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a maintenance program, which involves a newly defined concept for maintaining plants and equipment. The goal of the TPM program is to increase production, increase employee morale and job satisfaction. (Bisen and Srivastava, 2009, p. 175) TPM is set of tools, which when implemented in an organization as a whole gives the best utilization of machines with least disruption of production. The set of tools are called pillars of TPM and they are shortly described here and illustrated in a TPM diagram (Figure 2). 5S The first pillar of TPM is called 5S, which organize and cleans work place; this helps to make problems visible and attracts the attentions of everyone. Brief description of 5S elements are as follows: Sort: The first step in making things cleaned up and organized. Set In Order: Organize, identify and arrange everything in a work area. Shine: Regular cleaning and maintenance. Standardize: Make it easy to maintain, simplify and standardize. Sustain: Maintain what has been achieved. 28 FIGURE 2: TPM diagram Pillars of TPM (Kumar, 2008, p. 217) Autonomous maintenance This is about the involvement of production workers in the day to day general maintenance of machines like cleaning, lubricating etc. hich saves the time of skilled maintenance person at the same time the production workers are made more responsible to their machines. Kaizen Kaizen is for small improvements, but carried out on a continual basis and involve all people in the organization. Kaizen requires no or little investment. The principle behind is that â€Å"a very large number of small improvements are more effective in an organizational environment than a few improv ements of large value. † This pillar is aimed at reducing losses in the workplace that affect our efficiencies (Kumar, 2008, p. 220). Planned maintenance It addresses the proactive approach of maintenance activities. This involves four types of maintenance namely preventive maintenance, breakdown maintenance, corrective maintenance, and maintenance prevention. 29 Quality Maintenance It is aimed towards customer delight through the highest quality and defect free manufacturing. In this system, one has to take care of parts which affect product quality and try to eliminate or modify them to give customer superior quality. Training Employees should be trained such that they can analyze the root cause of the problem. General know how of the problem is not sufficient rather they should be able to know why the problem is occurring and how to eliminate it. For this employee need continuous training, ultimately; the entire employee should be multi-skilled and should solve the problem in their area by themselves. Office TPM This tool is about increasing the efficiencies in office (administrative) activities. This tool works the problems like communication issues, data retrieval processes, management information systems, office equipment losses, up to date information about inventories etc. Safety Health and Environment In this area, the focus is to create a safe workplace and a surrounding area that would not be damaged by our process or procedures. This pillar will play an active role in each of the other pillars on a regular basis. Safe work environment means accident free, fire less and it should not damage the health of workers. 2. 6. 5 Work Standardization A very important principle of waste reduction is the standardization of work. Standardized work basically ensures that each job is organized and carried out in the same manner; irrespective of the people working on it. In this way if the work is standardized the same quality output will be received even if the worker is changed in process. At Toyota, every worker follows the same processing steps all the time. This 30 includes the time needed to finish a job, the order of steps to follow for each job, and the parts on hand. By doing this one ensures that line balancing is achieved, unwanted work in process inventory is minimized and non value added activities are reduced. A tool that is used to standardize work is called takt time. 2. 6. 6 Waste Reduction Techniques Some of the waste reduction tools include zero defects, setup time reduction, and line balancing. The goal of zero defects is to ensure that products are fault free all the way, through continuous improvement of the manufacturing process (Karlsson and Ahlstrom 1996). Human beings almost invariably will make errors. When errors are made and are not caught then defective parts will appear at the end of the process. However, if the errors can be prevented before they happen then defective parts can be avoided. One of the tools that the zero defect principle uses is Poka Yoke. Poka-Yoke, which was developed by Shingo, is an autonomous defect control system that is put on a machine that inspects all parts to make sure that there are zero defects. The goal of Poka-Yoke is to observe the defective parts at the source, detect the cause of the defect, and to avoid moving the defective part to the next workstation (Feld, 2000). Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) is another technique of waste reduction. During 1950’s Ohno devised this system; and was able to reduce the die changing time from 1 day to three minutes (Womack, Jones and Ross, 1990). The basic idea of SMED is to reduce the setup time on a machine. There are two types of setups: internal and external. Internal setup activities are those that can be carried out only when the machine is stopped while external setup activities are those that can be done during machining. The idea is to move as many activities as possible from internal to external (Feld, 2000). Once all activities are identified than the next step is to try to simplify these activities (e. g. standardize setup, use fewer bolts). By reducing the setup time many benefits can be realized. First, die-changing specialists are not needed. Second, inventory can be reduced by producing small batches and more variety of product mix can be run. 31 Line balancing is considered a great weapon against waste, especially the wasted time of workers. The idea is to make every workstation produce the right volume of work that is sent to upstream workstations without any stoppage (Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center Press Release, 2000). This will guarantee that each workstation is working in a synchronized manner, neither faster nor slower than other workstations. 2. 6. 7 Value Stream mapping Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a technique that was originally developed by Toyota and then popularized by the book, Learning to See (The Lean Enterprise Institute, 1998), by Rother and Shook. VSM is used to find waste in the value stream of a product. Once waste is identified, then it is easier to make plan to eliminate it. The purpose of VSM is process improvement at the system level. Value stream maps show the process in a normal flow format. However, in addition to the information normally found on a process flow diagram, value stream maps show the information flow necessary to plan and meet the customer’s normal demands. Other process information includes cycle times, inventories, changeover times, staffing and modes of transportation etc. VSMs can be made for the entire business process or part of it depending upon necessity. The key benefit to value stream mapping is that it focuses on the entire value stream to find system wastes and try to eliminate the pitfall (Wilson, 2009, p. 147-153). Generally, the value stream maps are of three types. Present State Value Stream Map (PSVSM) tells about the current situation, Future State Value Stream Map (FSVSM) can be obtained by removing wastes (which can be eliminated in the short time like three to six months) from PSVSM and Ideal State Value Stream Mapping (ISVSM) is obtained by removing all the wastes from the stream. The VSM is designed to be a tool for highlighting activities. In lean terminology they are called kaizen activities, for waste reduction. Once the wastes are highlighted, the purpose of a VSM is to communicate the opportunities so they may be prioritized and acted upon. Hence, the prioritization and action must follow the VSM, otherwise it is just a waste like other wastes. 32 2. 7 Method Study Method study focuses on how a task can (should) be accomplished. Whether controlling a machine or making or assembling components, how a task is done makes a difference in performance, safety, and quality. Using knowledge from ergonomics and methods analysis, methods engineers are charged with ensuring quality and quantity standards are achieved efficiently and safely. Methods analysis and related techniques are useful in office environments as well as in the factory. Methods techniques are used to analyze the following (Heizer et al. , 2000, p. 394-396): 1. Movement of individuals or material. Analysis for this is performed using flow diagrams and process charts with varying amounts of detail. 2. Activity of human and machine and crew activity. Analysis for this is performed using activity charts (also known as man-machine charts and crew charts). 3. Body movement (primarily arms and hands). Analysis for this is performed using micro-motion charts. 2. 8 Labor Standards and Work Measurements Effective operations management requires meaningful standards that can help a irm to determine the following (Heizer et al. , 2000, p. 408-420) 1. Amount of labor contribution for any product (the labor cost). 2. Staffing needs (how many people it will take to meet required production). 3. Cost and time estimates prior to production (to assist in a variety of decisions, from cost estimates to make or buy decisions). 4. Crew size and work balance (who does what in a group activity or on an assembly line). 5. Expected production (so that both manager and worker know what constitutes a fair day’s work). 6. Basis of wage-incentive plan (what provides a reasonable incentive). 3 7. Efficiency of employees and supervision (a standard is necessary against which to determine efficiency). Properly set labor standards represent the amount of time that it should take an average employee to perform specific job activities under normal working conditions. The labor standards are set in by historical experience, time studies, predetermined time standards and work sampling. 2. 8. 1 Historical Experience Labor standards can be estimated based on historical experience i. e. how many labor hours were used to do a similar task when it was done last time. Based upon this experience the new time will be fixed for any new operation or works. Historical standards have the advantage of being relatively easy and inexpensive to obtain. They are usually available from employee time cards or production records. However, they are not objective, and we do not know their accuracy, whether they represent a reasonable or poor work pace, and whether unusual occurrences are included. Because their variables are unknown, their use is not recommended. Instead, time studies, predetermined time standards and work sampling are preferred (Heizer et al. , 2000, p. 09). 2. 8. 2 Time Studies The classical stopwatch study, or time study, originally proposed by Federic W. Taylor in 1881, is still the most widely used time study method. The time study procedure involves the timing of a sample of worker’s performance and using it to set a standard. A trained and experienced person can establish a standard by following these eight steps (Heizer et al. , 20 00, p. 409-412). 1. Define the task to be studied (after methods analysis has been conducted). 34 2. Divide the task into precise elements (parts of a task that often takes no more than a few seconds). 3. Decide how many times to measure the task (the number of cycles of samples needed). 4. Record elemental times and rating of performance. 5. Compute the average observed cycle time. The average observed cycle time is the arithmetic mean of the times for each element measured, adjusted for unusual influence for each element: Average observed cycle time = 6. Determine performance rating and then compute the normal time for each element. Normal Time = (average observed cycle time) x (performance rating factor). 7. Add the normal times for each element to develop a total normal time for each task. . Compute the standard time. This adjustment to the total normal time provides allowances such as personal needs, unavoidable work delays and worker fatigue. Standard Time = Personal time allowances are often established in the range of 4% to 7% of total time, depending upon nearness to rest rooms, water fountains, and other facilities. Delay allowances are often set as a result of the actual st udies of the delay that occurs. Fatigue allowances are based on our growing knowledge of human energy expenditure under various physical and environmental conditions. The major two disadvantages of this method are; first they require a trained staff of analysts and secondly the labor standards cannot be set before tasks are actually performed. 35 2. 8. 3 Predetermined Time Standards Predetermined time standards divide manual work into small basic elements that already have established times (based on very large samples of workers). To estimate the time for a particular task, the time factors for each basic element of that task are added together. Developing a comprehensive system of predetermined time standards would be prohibitively expensive for any given firm. Consequently, a number of systems are commercially available. The most common predetermined time standard is methods time measurement (MTM), which is the product of the MTM association (Heizer et al. , 2000 p. 415-416). Predetermined time standards are an outgrowth of basic motions called therblings. The term therblig was coined by Frank Gilbreth. Therbligs include such activities as select, grasp, position, assemble, reach, hold, rest and inspect. These activities are stated in terms of time measurement units (TMUs), which are each equal to only 0. 00001 hour or 0. 0006 minutes. MTM values for various therbligs are specified with the help of detailed tables. Predetermined time standards have several advantages over direct time studies. First, they may be established in laboratory environment, where the procedure will not upset actual production activities. Second, because the standard can be set before a task is actually performed, it can be used for planning. Third, no performance ratings are necessary. Fourth, unions tend to accept this method as fair means of setting standards. Finally, predetermined time standards are particularly effective in firms that do substantial numbers of studies of similar tasks. . 8. 4 Work Sampling It is an estimate of the percentage of time that a worker spends on particular work by using random sampling of various workers. This can be conducted by the following procedures (Heizer et al. , 2000, p. 416-418). 36 1. Take a preliminary sample to obtain an estimate of the parameter value (such as percent of time worker is busy). 2. Compute the sample size required. 3. Prepare a schedule for observing the worker at appropriate times. The concept of random numbers is used to provide for random observation. For example, let’s say we draw the following 5 random numbers from a table: 07, 12, 22, 25, and 49. These can then be used to create and observation schedules of 9:07 AM, 9:12, 9:22, 9:25, and 9:49 AM. 4. Observe and record worker activities. 5. Determine how workers spend their time (usually as percentage). To determine the number of observation required, management must decide upon the desired confidence level and accuracy. First, however, the analyst must select a preliminary value for the parameter under study. The choice is usually based on small sample of perhaps 50 observations. The following formula then gives the sample size for a desired confidence and accuracy. = Z2 ? p 1 ? p /h2 Where, n = required sample size z = standard normal deviate for the desired confidence level (z = 1 for 68% confidence, z = 2 for 95. 45% confidence, and z = 3 for 99. 73% confidence level) p = estimated value of sample proportion (of time worker is observed busy or idle) h = acceptable error level, in percent Work sampling offers several advantages over time study methods. First, because a sing le observer can observe several workers simultaneously, it is less expensive. Second, observers usually do not require much training and no timing devices are needed. Third, the study can be temporarily delayed at any time with little impact on the results. Fourth, because work sampling uses instantaneous observations over a long period, the worker has little chance of affecting the study outcome. Fifth, the procedure 37 is less intrusive and therefore less likely to generate objections. The disadvantages of work sampling are: 1. It does not divide work elements as completely as time studies. 2. It can yield biased or incorrect results if the observer does not follow random routes of travel and observation. 3. Being less intrusive, it tends to be less accurate; this is particularly true when cycle times are short. 2. 9 Layout Design Layout is one of the key decisions that determine the long-run efficiency of operations. Layout has numerous strategic implications because it establishes an organization’s competitive priorities in regard to the capacity, processes, flexibility and cost as well as quality of work life, customer contact and image. An effective layout can help an organization to achieve a strategy that supports differentiation, low cost, or response (Heizer et al. , 2000, p. 336). The layout must consider how to achieve the following: 1. Higher utilization of space, equipment, and people. 2. Improved flow of information, material or people. 3. Improved employee morale and safer working conditions. 4. Improved customer/client interaction. 5. Flexibility (whatever the layout is now, it will need to change). Types of Layout Layout decision includes the best placement of machines (in production settings), offices and desks (in office settings) or service center (in setting such as hospitals or department stores). An effective layout facilitates the flow of materials, people, and information within and between areas. There are various kinds of layouts. Some of them are as follows (Heizer et al. , 2000, p. 336-337). 38 1. Fixed Position layout – addresses the layout requirements of large, bulky projects such as ships and buildings (concerns the movement of material to the limited storage areas around the site). 2. Process Oriented Layout – deals with low volume, high variety production (also called ‘job shop’, or intermittent production). It can manage varied material flow for each product. 3. Office Layout – fixes workers positions, their equipment, and spaces (offices) to provide for movement of information (locate workers equiring frequent contact close to one another). 4. Retail Layout – allocates shelf space and responds to customer behavior (expose customer to high margin items). 5. Warehouse Layout – it addresses tradeoffs between space and material handlings (balance low cost storage with low cost material handling). 6. Product oriented layou ts – seeks the best personnel and machine utilization in repetitive or continuous production (equalize the task time at each workstation). 2. 10 Assembly Line Balancing Line balancing is usually undertaken to minimize imbalance between machines or personnel while meeting a required output from the line. The production rate is indicated as cycle time to produce one unit of the product, the optimum utilization of work force depends on the basis of output norms. The actual output of the individual may be different from the output norms. The time to operate the system, hence, keeps varying. It is, therefore, necessary to group certain activities to workstations to the tune of maximum of cycle time at each work station. The assembly line needs to balance so that there is minimum waiting of the line due to different operation time at each workstation. The sequencing is therefore, not only the allocation of men and machines to operating activities, but also the optimal utilization of facilities by the proper balancing of the assembly line (Sharma, 2009, p. 179). 39 The process of assembly line balancing involves three steps (Heizer et al. , 2000, p. 356358): 1. Take the units required (demand or production rate) per day and divide it into the productive time available per day (in minutes or seconds). This operation gives us what is called the cycle time. Namely, the maximum time that the product is available at each workstation if the production rate is to be achieved. Cycle time = production time available per day / units required per day 2. Calculate the theoretical minimum number of workstations. This is the total task duration time (the time it takes to make the product) divided by the cycle time. Fractions are rounded to the next higher whole number. MinimumNumberofWorkstations = ? Where n is the number of assembly tasks. 3. Balance the line by assigning specific assembly tasks to each workstation. An efficient balance is one that will complete the required assembly, follow the specified sequence, and keep the idle time at each work stations to a minimum. TimeforTaski / Cycle Time 2. 10. Takt Time Takt is German word for a pace or beat, often linked to conductor’s baton. Takt time is a reference number that is used to help match the rate of production in a pacemaker process to the rate of sales. This can be formulated as below (Rother and Harris, 2008, p. 13). Takt Time = Takt time can be defined as the rate at which customers need prod ucts i. e. the products should be produced at least equal to takt time to meet the customer demand. Takt time works better when customer demand is steady and clearly known; but if the customer demand varies on the daily basis then it is difficult to calculate the takt time as well as 40 alance the production facility according to varying takt time. So if the orders are varying every day the information of actual shipments (not orders) should be gathered for last few months or years and takt time for the particular product should be calculated. In this way, the production can be balanced to meet changing customer demand. 2. 10. 2 Cycle Time Cycle time is defined as how frequently a finished product comes out of our production facility (Rother et al. , 2008, p. 15). Cycle time includes all types of delays occurred while completing a job. So cycle time can be calculated by the following formula. Total Cycle Time = processing time + set up time + waiting time + moving time + inspection time + rework time + other delays to complete the job To meet customer demand or monitor productivity the cycle time and takt time should be balanced in parallel. The higher cycle time than takt time may result the late delivery and customer dissatisfaction whereas shorter cycle time than takt time may cause the excess inventory or excess use of resource. 2. 11 Summary This chapter briefly describes lean manufacturing tools and techniques for waste reduction and efficiency enhancement. Literature defines lean manufacturing, describes some lean tools (most relevant to this research), work standardization and assembly line balancing tools. The lean tools selected consist of cellular manufacturing, single piece flow, just in time (pull production), work standardization methods, continuous improvement process, and some other waste reduction tools. The chapter ends with the work standardization process by time studies, layout design and assembly line balancing methods. 1 Lean is a powerful tool, when adopted it can create superior financial and operational results. But in many cases, the confusion about how to start lean, from where to begin is also a problem for new practitioners. In some cases, the company tries to implement lean but it does not give effective results and stops in-between. All these are due to lack of clarity before implementing lean and lack of top management commitment. So to avoid the chances of failure one has to prepare in advance for the outcomes of the lean and should involve all employees on improvement programs. Lean is not just about the implementation of tools but also the development of its employees to adopt these tools. So, regular training and upgrading of employee skill is the most important factor for the success of lean. 42 3 GARMENT MANUFACTURIGN PROCESS 3. 1 Industry Background The research is conducted in garment industry whose major products are Men’s formal shirt in various order size. The factory consists of central cutting d

Major General Benedict Arnold in the American Revolution

Major General Benedict Arnold in the American Revolution Benedict Arnold V was born January 14, 1741, to successful businessman Benedict Arnold III and his wife Hannah. Raised in Norwich, CT, Arnold was one of six children though only two, he and his sister Hannah, survived to adulthood. The loss of the other children led Arnolds father to alcoholism and prevented him from teaching his son the family business. First educated at a private school in Canterbury, Arnold was able to secure an apprenticeship with his cousins who operated mercantile and apothecary businesses in New Haven. In 1755, with the French Indian War raging he attempted to enlist in the militia but was stopped by his mother. Successful two years later, his company departed to relieve Fort William Henry but returned home before seeing any fighting. With the death of his mother in 1759, Arnold increasingly had to support his family due to his fathers declining condition. Three years later, his cousins loaned him the money to open an apothecary and bookstore. A skilled merchant, Arnold was able to raise the money to buy three ships in partnership with Adam Babcock. These traded profitably until the imposition of the Sugar and Stamp Acts. Pre-American Revolution Opposed to these new royal taxes, Arnold soon joined the Sons of Liberty and effectively became a smuggler as he operated outside of the new laws. During this period he also faced financial ruin as debts began to accumulate. In 1767, Arnold married Margaret Mansfield, daughter of the sheriff of New Haven. The union would produce three sons before her death in June 1775. As tensions with London increased, Arnold increasingly became interested in military matters and was elected a captain in the Connecticut militia in March 1775. With the beginning of the American Revolution the following month, he marched north to take part in the siege of Boston. Fort Ticonderoga Arriving outside Boston, he soon offered a plan to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety for a raid on Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York. Supporting Arnolds plan, the committee issued him a commission as a colonel and dispatched him north. Reaching the vicinity of the fort, Arnold encountered other colonial forces under Colonel Ethan Allen. Though the two men initially clashed, they resolved their disagreements and captured the fort on May 10. Moving north, Arnold conducted a raid against Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River. With the arrival of new troops, Arnold fought with the commander and returned south. Invasion of Canada Without a command, Arnold became one of several individuals who lobbied for an invasion of Canada. The Second Continental Congress finally authorized such an operation, but Arnold was passed over for command. Returning to the siege lines in Boston, he convinced General George Washington to send a second expedition north via the wilderness of Maines Kennebec River. Receiving permission for this scheme and a commission as a colonel in the Continental Army, he embarked in September 1775 with around 1,100 men. Short on food, hampered by poor maps, and facing degrading weather, Arnold lost over half his force en route. Reaching Quebec, he was soon joined by the other American force led by Major General Richard Montgomery. Uniting, they launched a failed attempt to capture the city on December 30/31 in which he was wounded in the leg and Montgomery killed. Though defeated at the Battle of Quebec, Arnold was promoted to brigadier general and maintained a loose siege of the city. After overseeing American forces at Montreal, Arnold commanded the retreat south in 1776 following the arrival of British reinforcements. Troubles in the Army Constructing a scratch fleet on Lake Champlain, Arnold won a critical strategic victory at Valcour Island in October which delayed the British advance against Fort Ticonderoga and the Hudson Valley until 1777. His overall performance earned Arnold friends in Congress and he developed a relationship with Washington. Conversely, during his time in the north, Arnold alienated many in the army through courts-martial and other inquiries. In the course of one of these, Colonel Moses Hazen charged him with stealing military supplies. Though the court ordered his arrest, it was blocked by Major General Horatio Gates. With the British occupation of Newport, RI, Arnold was sent to Rhode Island by Washington to organize new defenses. In February 1777, Arnold learned that he had been passed over for promotion to major general. Angered by what he perceived to be politically motivated promotions, he offered his resignation to Washington which was refused. Traveling south to Philadelphia to argue his case, he aided in fighting a British force at Ridgefield, CT. For this, he received his promotion though his seniority was not restored. Angered, he again prepared to offer his resignation but did not follow through upon hearing that Fort Ticonderoga had fallen. Racing north to Fort Edward, he joined Major General Philip Schuylers northern army. Battles of Saratoga Arriving, Schuyler soon dispatched him with 900 men to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix. This was quickly accomplished through a use of ruse and deception and he returned to find that Gates was now in command. As Major General John Burgoynes army marched south, Arnold advocated aggressive action but was blocked by the cautious Gates. Finally receiving permission to attack, Arnold won a fight at Freemans Farm on September 19. Excluded from Gates report of the battle, the two men clashed and Arnold was relieved of his command. Ignoring this fact, he raced to the fighting at Bemis Heights on October 7 and guided American troops to victory. Philadelphia In the fighting at Saratoga, Arnold was again wounded in the leg he had injured at Quebec. Refusing to allow it to be amputated, he had it crudely set leaving it two inches shorter than his other leg. In recognition of his bravery at Saratoga, Congress finally restored his command seniority. Recovering, he joined Washingtons army at Valley Forge in March 1778 to much acclaim. That June, following the British evacuation, Washington appointed Arnold to serve as military commander of Philadelphia. In this position, Arnold quickly began making questionable business deals to rebuild his shattered finances. These angered many in the city who began collecting evidence against him. In response, Arnold demanded a court-martial to clear his name. Living extravagantly, he soon began courting Peggy Shippen, the daughter of a prominent Loyalist judge, who had previously attracted the eye of Major John Andre during the British occupation. The two were married in April 1779. The Road to Betrayal Angered by a perceived lack of respect and encouraged by Peggy who retained lines of communication with the British, Arnold began reaching out to the enemy in May 1779. This offer reached Andrà © who consulted with General Sir Henry Clinton in New York. While Arnold and Clinton negotiated compensation, the American began providing a variety of intelligence. In January 1780, Arnold was largely cleared of the charges levied against him earlier, though in April a Congressional inquiry found irregularities pertaining to his finances during the Quebec campaign. Resigning his command at Philadelphia, Arnold successfully lobbied for command of West Point on the Hudson River. Working through Andrà ©, he came to an agreement in August to surrender the post to the British. Meeting on September 21, Arnold and Andrà © sealed the deal. Departing the meeting, Andrà © was captured two days later as he returned to New York City. Learning of this on September 24, Arnold was forced to flee to HMS Vulture in the Hudson River as the plot was exposed. Remaining calm, Washington investigated the scope of betrayal and offered to exchange Andrà © for Arnold. This was refused and Andrà © was hung as a spy on October 2. Later Life Receiving a commission as a brigadier general in the British Army, Arnold campaigned against American forces in Virginia later that year and in 1781. In his last major action of the war, he won the Battle of Groton Heights in Connecticut in September 1781. Effectively viewed as a traitor by both sides, he did not receive another command when the war ended despite lengthy efforts. Returning to life as a merchant he lived in Britain and Canada before his death in London on June 14, 1801.

Digital Evolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Digital Evolution - Essay Example Looking at it in high level, Barrett tackled what is going on around the world referencing significant improvements in technology that has changed the face of humanity and of the world. He then moved on to discuss the importance of such technologies highlighting his company’s contribution to the evolution of technology. With this, Barrett pointed out two important opportunity areas where technology can be utilized to not only change how things are done but to deliver benefits to the population. These are the areas of healthcare and education. Based on the profile of Barrett, it could be noted that he has a strong advocacy for improving education in the United States as well as the rest of the world. Being a staunch supported of research in the academia, Craig together, with Intel, has made significant partnerships with educational institutions to promote and fund numerous research programs. With Intel focused on product-oriented research devoting around $6 billion annually for research and development, he strongly believes that research is vital for innovation and moving the nation and the world. Because of this, he has poured significant investments in research with these institutions to help improve and build on technology as it exists at the moment with a vision in fulfilment of what Gordon Moore has postulated and predicted decades ago. In relation to his company Intel, it has been reported that Barrett’s concern is capitalizing on the rapidly evolving digital world. The prospects on the electronic sector are really great. As believed by Intel, standardization is key to ensure that the different technologies produced and provided by different companies will work together. As such, Intel is looking into the expansion of manufacturing products that people actually want (What does the future hold for Intel, Apple and Microsoft?,  2004). Finally, Barrett in his 2004 article has

AIS-8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

AIS-8 - Essay Example various activities which include the development of an implementation plan, preparation of the site, selection, installation and testing of hardware and software, writing and testing the new program modifications and reinstallation and retesting of the total system from a technical standpoint. The delivery part comprises of various sub-activities that includes selection and training of personnel, compilation and completion of document and finally converting all operations to the new AIS (Nah, Fui-Hoon, Lee-Shang, & Kuang, 2001). The implementation phase initiates with the planning process which involves establishment of estimates of costs, timing and assigning of responsibilities to individuals involved in this process. This process also identifies the changes required in the organizational structure and different risks which could affect the successful transformation process. The companies tend to develop a fallback strategy if these risks become difficult to overcome. Preparation of site is a lengthy process as it relates to activities that allow new and improved space and infrastructure for the new system by either increasing the area, storage capacity and offices. These activities must be initiated well ahead of the implementation deadline. In addition to these activities preparation also involves selection and testing of hardware, software and vendors for efficient implementation of the accounting information system. Other sub-activities of construction part involve testing of the new system. Testing is typically performed at four levels. These include 1) unit testing which ensures the correctness of individual modifications 2) program testing which checks the compatibility between individual modifications and the program they enhance 3) system testing establishes whether the program modifications tally with the overall objectivity of the AIS and finally 4) acceptance testing that ensures the overall user expectations are met and the desired results from

Outline and comment on the two schools Essay Example for Free

Outline and comment on the two schools Essay Outline and comment on the two schools of thought involved in the study of the nature-nurture debate in development. Explain, using examples, why this debate gives rise to so much controversy.  The debate concerning the two schools of thought involved in the study of the nature versus nurture is one of the most controversial and long-lasting debates in psychology. Psychologists disagree whether a particular part of behaviour had taken place through genetic and heredity factors or through experience in their environment and learning. Psychologists are trying to answer, What makes us who we are? and consider two main influences. Firstly nature which is involved in genes and heredity, and their influences on our development, and secondly nurture which is involved in external influences on our development such as the environment and nurturing. Psychologists were divided into two schools of thought, firstly the nativists, who are concerned with the nature side of the debate. In 1943 Gesell argued that genes and chromosomes that are inherited are the main influence in child development (Hayes and Orrell 1996, pg 2). For example: Gesell found that the development of physical coordination in a baby seemed to follow an orderly sequence, beginning with its head, and gradually moved down the body. Gesell regarded these sequences of development as being fixed and genetically determined (Hayes N 1993, pg 31). See more: what is essay format Genes are lengths of DNA, which carry instructions that control everything that happens inside a cell. They are passed onto the next generation in order to avoid extinction. Each body cell contains two sets of 23 chromosomes and each chromosome contains up to 4000 genes. (Barber M et al 2000, pg 480). Every newborn baby has around 60,000 genes; they have two copies of each gene and inherit one set from the mother and one set from the father. (Barber M et al 2000,pg 504). We portray some of these genes in our similarities in appearance to our parents or other members of our immediate family, or when generations have been skipped. For example our eye and hair colour is similar or our height, build and weight is similar to our parents. Genes can be recessive or dominant. For example: The gene that gives the colour in brown eyes is a dominant gene and the blue gene that results in blue eyes is a recessive gene. A child will have brown eyes if one of its parents had brown eyes even if the other parent had blue eyes. That child will still have the blue-eyed gene and may pass it on to the next generation (Hayes and Orrell 1996, pg 5). Some diseases are inherited mainly because of faulty genes. For example: Huntingdon disease is caused by a faulty gene and causes premature degeneration of the brain (Barber M et al 2000,pg 504). Downs syndrome is another example of a genetic disorder, which has resulted from the presence of an extra chromosome and causes physical and mental handicaps to different degrees of severity (Hayes and Orrell 1996, pg 4).  As well as inherited characteristics and features there is also evidence of inherited behaviour. This was shown in 1938 in Lorenz and Tinbergens 4 characteristics in animal behaviour: Stereotyped this behaviour happens the same way every time.  Species specific this behaviour is specific to a certain type of animal.  Isolation this behaviour is the same as others of their species, even if they have been isolated.  No practice this behaviour appears as a complete unit even if the animal has had no chance to practice it. (Hayes and Orrell 1996 pg 9 Class notes)  Imprinting is a type of behaviour that can form rapid attachments and is also believed to be genetically influenced. For example: Ducklings had become imprinted on a human being. Lorenz found that ducklings would adopt him if he were the first moving thing they saw. He believed this would only take place in the critical period, up to 25 hours after hatching. This was questioned by, (W Slucking in 1964.) After his own study of the same experiment, he found the period was extended if the ducklings were isolated from one another, and hadnt been able to imprint on each other (Hayes N 1993, pg 39). Behaviours we inherit dont show up all at once. Certain forms of behaviour emerge when the individual is mature enough. This is known as maturation, for example, the physiological changes that take place in puberty (Hayes Orrell 1996 pg 7). There are disagreements between the nativists and behaviourists about whether or not maturation is purely genetic. (Hayes N 1993, pg 32).  This brings the debate to the other side of the disagreement and behaviourists also known, as empiricists, believe nurture is the main influence in development. In 1913, J.B. Watson attempted to make psychology `Scientific`. Previously psychology had concentrated on the study of the mind, Watson argued that the mind was not suitable for valid scientific research, so instead he studied behaviour (Hayes N 1995, pg 3). Watson was a total empiricist believing the environment was the only important factor in an individuals development. He considered that a child was born as tabula rasa a blank slate, which experience would write upon to produce the person (Hayes Orrell 1996, pg 2.

PHILOSOPHY Essay -- essays research papers

With such great minds and an awesome influence that seems boundless, how can there not be references to the works of Thomas Hobbes and Immanuel Kant. The Fundamental Principles in the Metaphysics of Morality is used by the minority dissenting opinion to reiterate the concepts of the intrinsic dignity of man. While the majority uses the literary work the Leviathan to support their own opinions. Transforming and uplifting the case of Gregg v. Georgia into an arena for a debate of Hobbian and Kant philosophies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The majority claims that the death penalty serves two purposes, restitution and deterrence. Quoting the prior case of Fruman v. Georgia, that â€Å"The instinct for retribution is part of the nature of man and channeling that instinct in the administration of criminal justice serves an important purpose in promoting the stability of a society governed by laws. †¦ This is a classic statement that Hobbes himself could have possible uttered. For man is an awkward beast, driven by internal forces. The laws of nature. All men are equal and can perform equal acts of harm. Once harmed, he that who has been hurt will make attempts to revenge. Either in the name of just, duty, honor, or by any other word, it is an example of man conforming to his nature. To curb his nature by law is what the courts claim to be a stable society, Thomas Hobbes calls this a commonwealth under the Leviathan.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Deterrence, the power of the controlling entity to help guide and command those that its laws regulate against taking certain actions. Instilling fear within the hearts of man is a powerful and highly effective tool of leadership. As all men are equal this deterrence and creation of fear helps the Leviathan rule and have an edge over the citizens in the commonwealth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hobbes wants an ordered and just society. Where its people depend on the Leviathan for justice and protection. That is his reason for creating such commonwealth. His formula gives birth to a structured and organized society. According tot he courts a penalty such as that as death is a needed and essential law in an organized society that’s its citizens rely on legal process rather then self-help to vindicate their wrongs.   Ã‚   ... ...requires approval of retribution as a general justification for that punishment. Justice Marshall states in his dissenting opinion. It is the question whether retribution can provide moral justification for punishment. It simply defies belief to suggest that the death penalty is necessary to prevent the American people from taking the law into their own hands. Just as Justice Brennan has before, Marshall here fights retribution as cause for validity in the penalty of death. Using the same logic and formulas derived by Kant. Different examples and opinion but sill same results.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This case of Gregg v Georgia was an important trial to show us that we are forever redefining our standards and morals. Though our attitudes often changes they more often stay the same. This particular case holds this to some degree to be true. For may after their first publications, moral works here of Hobbes and Kant still help fuel some of the biggest debates in political, philosophical, and moral arenas. Each side, majority and the opposing dissent refer back to the mighty giants that with their little pens strokes brought down the mighty oaks.

Macro ad/as model

Let us first understand the components of the AD/AS model, so we can determine and identify the factors which play a part in the level of output in the economy, and learn how the government intervenes in order to implement macro-policies in order to increase output, and the effects of these policies on the economy. The AD/AS model shows the combinations of both the aggregate demand curve and the aggregate supply curve.The aggregate demand curve shows the combinations of the price level and level of output at which both the money market and good market are in equilibrium, while the aggregate supply curve shows for each given price level the mount of out of output the firms are willing to supply. As mentioned in the 10th edition of macroeconomics by Mc Grawhill â€Å"the aggregate supply -aggregate demand model is the basic macroeconomic tool for studying output fluctuations† (Pg. 98, Macroeconomics, Rudiger Dornbush).Let us first understand the market equilibrium price of the p roduct and then identify and analyze how factors such as change in demand and supply, elasticity, separating and pooling equilibrium, market structure determine the price of a good or service. In free market, equilibrium price is the price at which there is no surplus or shortage nd therefore quantity demanded equals quantity supplied (Sloman 2008). At equilibrium, any change in quantity demanded or quantity supplied will move the market towards disequilibrium Let's work through an example.For this example, refer to . Notice that we begin at point A where short-run aggregate supply curve 1 meets the long-run aggregate supply curve and aggregate demand curve 1 . The point where the short-run aggregate supply curve and the aggregate demand curve meet is always the short-run equilibrium. The point where the long-run aggregate supply urve and the aggregate demand curve meet is always the long-run equilibrium. Thus, we are in long-run equilibrium to begin. Now say that the Fed pursues ex pansionary monetary policy.In this case, the aggregate demand curve shifts to the right from aggregate demand curve 1 to aggregate demand curve 2. The intersection of short- run aggregate supply curve 1 and aggregate demand curve 2 has now shifted to the upper right from point A to point B. At point B, both output and the price level have increased. This is the new short-run equilibrium. But, as we move to the long run, the expected price level comes into line with the ctual price level as firms, producers, and workers adjust their expectations.When this occurs, the short-run aggregate supply curve shifts along the aggregate demand curve until the long-run aggregate supply curve, the short-run aggregate supply curve, and the aggregate demand curve all intersect. This is represented by point C and is the new equilibrium where short-run aggregate supply curve 2 equals the long-run aggregate supply curve and aggregate demand curve 2. Thus, expansionary policy causes output and the pric e level to increase in the short run, but only the price level to increase in the long run

Negative Effect Of Nuclear Family Essay

The nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of aheterosexual pair of adults; wife and husband, and their children. It can also be known as a ‘beanpole family’ and it can be, especially in middle-class families, child-centered; child-centered is defined as being actively involved by spending lots of time together as the child’s needs and wishes are the most important thing. Only 17% of families in the UK are nuclear families, and this statistic is on the decrease as it is more so a norm in the 21st century to cohabit (an unmarried couple living together and having a sexual relationship).In 2012 there were 18.2 million families in the UK. Of these, 12.2 million consisted of a married couple with or without children. It is in fact 50% of people in the UK who cohabit and the number of opposite sex cohabiting couple families has increased significantly, from 1.5 million in 1996 to 2.9 million in 2012. However, there are other types of families: extended family, unconventional families; single parent families, homosexual families and reconstituted families; step families. Single parent families and step families usually occur after ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of marriage, resulting in divorce. However, it could be that a martial partner or partner has died or left unexpectedly, and after this a new intimate relationship is formed and the couple is likely to procreate. Other characteristics of a nuclear family are: parents having high-paid or good occupations, living away from other family members; independent or privatised; they keep in contact with family via phone and mainly see family on special occasions, e.g. Christmas, Easter, marriages, funerals, and christenings. Despite this, the husband is actively involved in raising the children; ‘new dad’ and they are influenced by the media to be a ‘good father’ and perhaps their peers who are of t he same age as them. Also, they are likely to be called the ‘new man’, a term used to identify men who believe in equality, do house-work, spend time with family and children and do not use any offensive sexist language. There are five theories by sociologist that either support or resent nuclear families. The theories that resent nuclear families are: Marxist and feminist; the nuclear family is not a perfect family. The theories that support nuclear families are: functionalist, post-modern and new right; the nuclear family is the best type of family. Feminists believe: that the failures or ills of family life are due to men, in the family there is gender inequality as it has been proven that women do 3 times more house work than men, women are more likely to be victims of domestic abuse from males, children are more likely to be abused by men rather than women, 80% of divorce is women divorcing men, males are more likely to have addictions (drugs or alcohol or gambling) and men are more lik ely to have a career rather than have a strong focus on the children or housework. In contradiction to this, about two in five of all victims of domestic violence are men; and this is on the increase. However, men do not report domestic abuse from their partners because they are ashamed or embarrassed. Also in favor of men, it is apparent that all men are different, the research and statistics are a generalisation; perhaps not completely reliable. In addition to this, recently there has been an increase in female dominated families;matriarchy. Catherine Hakim (1996) suggests that feminists under-estimate women’s ability to make rational choices. It is not patriarchy (male domination) or men that are responsible for the position of women in families. She argues that women choose to give more commitment to family and children, and consequently they have less commitment to work than men have. Ann Oakleyargues that gender role socialisation is responsible for sexual division of labor. She also argues that there is still an expectation for women to take on the housewife and mother role. Because of this, it is more difficult for women to pursue careers as men do. Oakley also claims that employers expect women to play the role of housewife rather than pursue a career. This patriarchal ideology is justified by men through claims that women are more suited to caring roles because of their maternal instinct. However, Sue Sharpe said that not all women take on caring roles because of their socialisation. They may react against their socialisation, or pursue a career. Charlie Lewis (1980s) stated that fathers are playing a bigger role; they a more committed. Adrianna Burgess agrees with Charlie Lewis. He is a part of the ‘father institute’, a charity that supports fatherhood. A sociologist who wanted major changes was Charlotte Gilman. Gilman called herself a humanist and believed the domestic environment oppressed women through the patriarchal (male dominate d) beliefs upheld by society. She argued that male aggressiveness and maternal roles for women were artificial and no longer necessary for survival in post-prehistoric times. She wrote, â€Å"There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. Might as well speak of a female liver.† She also argued that women’s contributions to civilization, throughout history, have been stopped because of an androcentric (focus on male) culture. A Marxist view on the nuclear family looks at inequality. Similar to feminism, a Marxist approach to the nuclear family is cynical. A psychiatrist, David Cooper was critical of the nuclear family, and parents; they brought up children incorrectly, leading corruption! His views and research is clearly expressed in ‘The death of a family.’ He has certain beliefs about disciplining children; he believe that parents are obsessed with discipline; ‘control freaks’; children ‘cannot breathe’ and this it is not acceptable; parents should be liberal. He also thinks that this obsession is due to the past where parents were allowed to physically punish their children; violence and hitting. Rd Laing believes that the nuclear family is the cause of a person’s unhappiness; it should take full responsibility for depression or mental illness. It is in fact 50% of adults in Britain are depressedand about eight percent of children and adolescents suffer from depression.More specifically, he states that schizophrenia occurs due to the family. However, it may be un-noticed as mental illness is usually hidden. Edmund Leach; ‘A runaway world’ 1967. He believes that the nuclear family is isolated due to distant relationships with peers, and other family, which is caused by the location in which you live and the occupation you possess. The nuclear family should be outward looking, and it is not, it is inward looking. There should be support from other family members regardless of the situation as, apparently the nuclear family can’t cope with the stresses and strains of modern day society. In contradiction to the beliefs of the above Marxist sociologists: the family, or within primary socialisation play an imperative in teaching their children discipline and self-discipline, which is vital for future employment. It is therefore inevitable! With regards to the believes of Rd Laing, it has been known that when diagnosing mental disorders or illnesses, other factors are present. In addition to this, every individual deals with stress differently, so by assuming that the nuclear family can’t cope with stress isn’t compatible with every family. Divorce is also more likely to occur in the nuclear family, in comparison to the extended family. The functionalist view on the nuclear family is optimistic. They believe that the nuclear family is the norm in modern industrial societies, and it has major functions that contribute to the well-being of society: the family is the primary agent of socialisation; teaching norms and values; the family is central in creating consensus and order. Parsons (1955) argued that families are ‘personality factories’, producing children who have a strong sense of belonging to society. Talcott Parsons believes that the nuclear family provides key functions for society by learning morals, norms and values; primary socialisation, and it provides stability for children. It is described to be universal and functional. Parsons also argued that the family functions to relief the stress of modern day life. It can be known as the ‘warm-bath’ theory, in that the family provides a relaxing environment for the male worker to immerse himself after a hard day. Children or adolescences in nuclear families are unlikely to engage in crime, recr eational drugs, anti-social behavior, and violence. It is only a small minority who engage in this acts; majority have been successful indoctrinated to be a good citizen. Also, Children or adolescences do better in education, exam results, universities, health and career, in a nuclear family. Children in nuclear families are likely to achieve (academically, better health and career), whereas children in single-parent families have lower academic performance, are more susceptible to peer pressure to engage in deviant behavior, have higher dropout rates from high school, and have greater social and psychological problems.However, Kellaghan and this colleagues (1993) conclude that family social status or cultural background don’t determine a child’s achievement at school. They propose that for academic success, it is what parents do in the home, and not children’s family background, that is significant. Similarly, Sam Redding (1999) indicates that in relation to academic outcomes, the potential limitations associated with poor economic circumstances can be overcome by parents who provide stimulating, supportive, and language-rich experiences for their children. The criticisms of the functionalists perspective of the nuclear family is that: there thinking suggests that all members of the nuclear family are underpinned by biology, functionalist’s analysis on the nuclear family tend to be based on the middle-class; they don’t consider other influences such as wealth, social class or ethnicity and the harmonic view from functionalists on family tends to exclude social problems such as increases in divorce rate, child abuse and domestic violence. Ronald Fletcher, ‘shaking the foundation’ (1988) is also in favor of the nuclear family. He argues that people expect more out of marriage and family life than they used to. Couples are no longer prepared to be part of ‘empty-shell marriages’ (marriage without the partners being in love). Therefore divorce is becoming more popular; re-marriage is more successful and procreation is likely. Robert Chester; ‘the rise of the neo-conventional family’ (1985). He believes that the nuclear family has a positive impact on life; 80% of people will live in a nuclear family in sometime in their lives and 80% of people will get married- most people are also likely to become parents. He contends that the neo-conventional family that is characterized by joint conjugal roles and greater sexual equality has replaced it. Chester argues that the statistics only reflect one stage in a person’s life and the ultimately the majority of people will get married, have children and stay in this relationship. New right or traditionalists believe that the nuclear family is the best type of family to live in and that everyone should live in this type of family, on the assumption that, it is on a permanent basis. A relevant example of the New Right approach to the family can be seen in the view that there exists and under-class of criminals, unmarried mothers and idle young men who are responsible for rising crime. It is argued that this under-class is welfare-dependent, and that adolescence girls are deliberately getting pregnant in order to obtain council housing or state benefits. To hinder things further, this under-class is socializing its children into a culture revolving around crime, anti-authority, anti-world and anti-family values. The New right thinkers believe that there has been a significant amount of damage inflicted upon the nuclear family by, for instance, government policies. For example, they claim that government have encouraged mothers to get back to work, but this has resulted in maternal deprivation; lack of love resulting in psychological damage. There have been few taxes or benefits to encourage mothers to stay at home. The New Right argues that commitment to marriage has been weakened by divorce being made easier and single-parent families have been encouraged by welfare policies. It is apparently, more likely for those who are married and have children to stay together, which enables stability for children; children should only be brought up in the marriage by its heterosexual parents, both should be equal. The New right completely looks down upon divorce as in a unconventional family, children do not do as well, in terms of health, education, career etc. The New Right also perceives homosexuality as the symbol of moral decline, ‘unnatural’ and deviant. Many ‘New Right’ thinkers see the 1960s and early 1970s as the beginning of an attack upon the nuclear family; traditional family values. Specifically, the introduction of the contraceptive pill and the legislation of abortion in the 1960s have been associated with the family decline. The sexual freedom women experienced due to these changes apparently lessened their commitment to the family and equal pay and equal opportunities drifted women away from their roles as ‘natural’ mothers. Also, the 1969 Divorce Reform Act was seen as undermining commitment to marriage. Charles Murray (1989). Murray sees the traditional family to be under threat and Murray made this link to the idea of this ‘culture of dependency’. The ‘culture of dependency’ is the idea of people living off benefits rather than working for money. Patricia Morgan’s ‘Farewell to the family’ states that government policy has directly and indirectly contributed to the growth of the mother/child household. While looking to the needs of sole parent families, governments have overlooked or ignored the needs of intact families. Morgan states that the arrival of feminist advisers into governments has radically changed the way government benefits are d istributed. The burden of taxation has increasingly been shifted onto married parents to the benefit of the single and the childless. As a result, lone parents can end up with higher final incomes from any given wage than two-parent families. Also, more mothers are tempted into the workplace, and more children are pushed into day care, in order for traditional families to stay afloat economically. To contradict the beliefs of the New Right are: that the traditional nuclear family is still central to government plans; ‘key ministers have stated that children are best brought up by married natural parents’ andnew rights or legislation for children and women are aimed to strengthen the nuclear family as a whole, rather than weaken it! A post-modernist view on the family is more neutral; all families can face difficulties; any family can be unsuccessful or successful. Post modernists suggest that in the post modern era there is a wide variety of family arrangements people can choose from – nuclear, extended, reconstituted, cohabitation etc. They claim that not one type dominates and that family arrangements are diverse and fluid. Post modernists see such flexibility as a positive thing. Judith Stacey for instance, suggests that a single individual will experience a variety of family structures throughout their life span. Post-modernists argue that the post-modern family life is characterised by diversity, variation and instability. For example, women no longer aspire to romantic love, marriage and children. Cohabitation, single-sex relationships, economic dependence, pre-marital sex and childlessness are now accepted alternative lifestyles. Men’s role(s) are no longer clear, which has, apparently led them to redefining both their sexuality and family commitments. Others disagree with this view; they believe that the basic features of the family have remained identical to the 1950s. Also, the increase in single-parent families and reconstituted families indicate that there is a slow drift away from the nuclear family. Pakulskic and Waters (1996) believe that class can be seen as just one, not very important, division in society along with ethnicity, gender, age, disability, etc. They offer a number of explanations for ‘the death of class’. The development of welfare states and the institutionalization of class conflict have reduced the direct impact of class relationships. Property has increasingly moved from private hands to being owned by organisations and the division of labour has become more complex. Moreover, increasing affluence for the majority has meant that most people are able to choose what they consume and therefore they are able to create their identities. Class background no longer restricts people’s opportunities, confining them to a particular pattern of life and range of experiences. Judith Stacey argues that the greater choice for women gives them the ability to break out of there patriarchal oppression and shape their families to their needs. Therefore, women are the main agents of family change, by changing their role. For example, many reject the traditional house-wife mother role for a career or higher qualifications. Jeffery Weeks; growing acceptance of diversity. Weeks identified that there are shifts in attitudes since the 1950s. The shifts in attitudes are: sexual morality is mostly a matter of personal choice, Church and state have lost the potency to influence morality and there are favourable attitudes to homosexuality and cohabitation. However, despite these changes in attitudes Weeks states that family patterns are not changing; most people want marriage, children are mostly still brought up by couples and many people who divorce get re-married. To contradict this, the New Right and functionalists would disagree and say that the patriarchal nuclear family is the best family as it meets the needs of society. To conclude, I believe that the nuclear family can have a negative impact on its members, which feminist would agree. However, all types of families, e.g. reconstituted family can have a negative impact on its members also. But, the nuclear family is seen to be the traditional family which people have been living in for centuries, so it can therefore be suggested that the changes in society have negatively affected the nuclear family, e.g. equality legislation, and therefore promoted, discreetly, alternative families.