^ E W S F E E D

THE LOGIC OF LOGISTICSTHE IMPORTANCE OF LOGISTICSengineering to a successful manufac-turing business is becoming increas-ingly'recognised. A recent one dayIProdE seminar deal with a widevariety of aspects of this importantdiscipline but paid special attention toimplementation by means of casestudies. The seminar, held at theNational Motorcycle Museum, Soli-hull, also provided the venue for thelaunch of a new IProdE publication,"A Management Guide to LogisticsEngineering", which is now generallyavailable through the IProdE.

The seminar was organised by theInstitution's Logistics EngineeringWorking Party and its Chairman, ColinCross of IBM (UK) also chaired theseminar.

The first speaker was Marklanyon, of the Department of Tradeand Industry. His presentation, "Man-aging into the '90's", put logistics intothe perspective of his department'sawareness and educational pro-gramme of the same name. He paidparticular attention to the 1992 singlemarket and to the importance ofintegrating the various functionswithin a business.

Kerry Beat, also from IBM (UK),was responsible for the formal launchof the Management Guide. Havingedited the Guide, he was obviouslyfamiliar with all of its aspects. Hispresentation described why the Guidewas needed, its scope, its intendedaudience and some aspects of itsproduction.

The Guide, with an introduction byLord Young of Graffham, outlines theprinciples and theory of logisticsengineering, deals with its enablingtechnologies, implementation aspectsand the effects of the 1992 singlemarket. Its usefulness is enhanced bythe inclusion of six case studies froma variety of different sizes and types ofmanufacturing business. The Guide isintended as a practical document formanufacturing engineers and man-agers, being concise and easilyassimilated. A Glossary deals with theseemingly inevitable jargon of anyspecialisation. Overall, the aim isto address business issues from anup to date viewpoint. The Guide willalso be of benefit for educationalpurposes.

"Logistics Techniques" by Pro-fessor Bob Hollier from UMIST, dealt

with the background and theory oflogistics engineering as applied tomanufacturing. His opening remark,referring to the seminar venue as amorgue, was a graphic illustration ofthe fate of industries that do notchange: the UK motorcycle industry isnow virtually extinct. His salient pointwas that logistics is one of thedisciplines that need to be masteredwithin manufacturing industry. Takingas his main theme the material flowcycle, with its corresponding informa-tion flow being linked to the productlife cycle, Professor Hollier reviewedthe full scope of logistics. This coversproduct design, supply and manufac-turing through to distribution, overallplanning and control. The benefitsfrom the successful use of thesemethods has led to logistics engi-neering being highlighted as a keycompetitive factor by several manage-ment consultancy firms.

The next speaker, Richard Gane,from Price Waterhouse ManagementConsultants, covered "Logistics Man-agement: Optimising the Flow ofMaterials and Value". This concen-trated upon the fundamental issue ofhow to achieve the best flow ofmaterials through a manufacturingfacility. He discussed and comparedthe main control methods: MRP II,OPT and JIT. Starting from the majorpoint that logistics has traditionallysuffered from a piecemeal approach, itbecame apparent that an integratedroute offers far more benefits.

The nature and sheer magnitude ofthese benefits were illustrated by acase study from the AmericanProduction and Inventory ControlSociety (APICS). A company imple-mented several systems changes,eventually becoming a Class A user ofMRP II, and succeeded in reducing itslead times from 22 to 15 weeks (areduction of 32%). The subsequentapplication of logistics engineeringtechniques, including part familygroups and planned material flow,reduced average lead times to 3.8weeks (a further reduction of 75%).This latter case represents the level ofimprovement necessary to be 'worldclass' and so compete with the best ofthe competit ion; usually theJapanese.

Mike Wyatt from Lucas Engi-neering and Systems presented apaper called "Consumer Orientated

Logistics". It is well known that therehave been radical improvementswithin the Lucas group of companiesover the past few years. The paperdetailed some of the techniques thathave been, and indeed still are being,used. There are several fashionablephrases used to overview thesemethods, perhaps the best is TotalQuality Management - which ought torefer to the quality of the completebusiness. One of the principle toolsused by Lucas to drive the necessaryinitial sudden, or revolutionary, jumpchange is the multi-disciplinary taskforce. This starts with the teamspecifying the specific objectives thatthey are going to achieve. Its successhad led to over 100 task forces withinLucas during the last 3 years.

Having defined the general prin-ciples, the use was then illustrated bythree case studies, all from withinLucas: customer logistics, internallogistics and supply logistics. Thesethree case studies covered theimplementation of the results driventask force approach in some detail,but applied to different needs. In eachcase, a set of objectives, based uponbusiness principles, was developedand then used to devise the necessaryactions to achieve them. The nextstage was to implement these actionsand then to follow through byconstructing a framework for futurecontinuous, or evolutionally, changeand improvement.

The f inal speaker, PeterWhitehead, Managing Director of TlCox, covered his experiences with"Logistics: An Executive View". Thisdealt with using logistics issues toaddress business issues during a

move from two factories to a singlesite - concurrently with increasingdemand for its automotive seatmechanisms and frames. The use of aset of objectives covering lead times,product quality, and inventory levelsacted as the basis for a newmanufacturing organisational philos-ophy. This led to a system of cellularmanufacture with closely groupedmachines allowing ease of materialshandling. The supervisory structurewas revised to give control by productline, so that all materials movement ina single area is under co-ordinatedcontrol the role of educating peoplefor a situation where 'change isnormal' was emphasised, as was theneed for simple measurement tools tomonitor progress. However, probablythe major recommendation was, onceagain, to formulate a set of objectivesto plan for, achieve, and then monitor,change.

The six speakers described a wideset of concepts and techniques.However, several main themesappeared throughout. First was thegeneral need to plan for and thenimplement change, against thoseplans, to meet specified objectives.Second was the more specific issueabout simple approaches being best:simple material flow and simplecontrol. Simple methods have thegreat virtue of being easily under-stood, so that all personnel cancontribute to the obvious objectives.Third, and finally, was the need toconsider the business as an inte-grated unit, rather than as a collectionof individual departments. Logisticsengineering is of value here as thebenefits, often applied in one areafirst, can be seen to be of value acrossthe whole of the business.RI MillsSDRC Engineering Services

PER A SERVICESTOGOPLEASE NOTE that the provision of library and informationservices to members through PERA wIHbe discontinued a! theend of September 1989.

Urgent discussions are undeni^witMiarraud arganisaiitnis -in an effort to negotiate soft;IProdE members a'nd; you

MANUFACTURING ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 1989