Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Designers of manufacturing processes, facilities, and products must evaluate their
design from the point of view of job satisfaction. There are several criteria (Locke, 1983).
The design of a job should allow operators to
• Collaborate
• Talk to others.
• Receive performance feedback
• Have control over one's own work pace
• Use their own judgment and decision-making
• Be exposed to opportunities to learn new concepts and develop new skills
These factors are affected by engineering design and should be addressed in the design
process.
EXERCISE: DESIGN FOR JOB SATISFACTION
Discuss the effects of product design and facilities design on job satisfaction. In
particular, address the factors listed above. Provide examples of scenarios where these
factors cannot considered and where they can be considered. You may think about how
the manufacturing facility is laid out and how that affects these issues. For these
scenarios, discuss what you think the effects will be on job satisfaction and job
dissatisfaction.
Is it easier to predict when an individual will be satisfied or when an individual will be
dissatisfied? Is there a difference in the types of issues that lead to satisfaction versus
those that lead to dissatisfaction?
17.7
DESIGN FOR MAINTAINABILITY
With increased complexity in manufacturing and use of computers and automated
devices, maintenance in a manufacturing plant has become more difficult. To maintain an
automated piece of equipment or a robot, an operator needs knowledge of electronics,
hydraulics, pneumatics, and programming. In a manufacturing plant there is also an
increased use of specialized machines or one-of-a-kind machines. In this complex
scenario, it is important that production equipment is designed from the very start with
maintainability in mind. To avoid expensive downtime, production equipment must be
easy to maintain and quick to service. The design of equipment then becomes extremely
important, since machines that are designed with maintainability in mind can effectively
reduce the amount of downtime.
We need only consider the military as a case to understand that increased complexity
of machines has a severe outcome on machine availability. Bond (1986) claimed that, at
any given moment, only about one half of the combat aircraft on a U.S. Navy carrier are
able to fly off the ship with all the systems in “up” condition. Below we discuss four
aspects of maintainability: fault identification, testability and troubleshooting,
accessibility, and ease of manipulation (see Figure 17.16).
