Continuing the series on what makes a GOOD manufacturing organisation we come to:
Manufacturing Effectiveness 7 – Production Engineering
A production engineering section working to its optimum will arrange production facilities in such a way as to relieve production management of most of its routine task, using the rigorous application of the discipline of ergonomics, in addition to the application of logic in arranging process layouts and logistical flow. Following its responsibility for designing a process it will continue to form a close working relationship with the production sections in the form of designated teams to support individual production processes, in designing and then monitoring the efficacy of equipment maintenance programmes, in being proactive in the assessment of equipment downtime, and most importantly, in providing immediate reaction to, and support in the case of, production equipment failure.