Peterkin S.V., [email protected]
Introduction
The task of planning and managing production is one of the most "burning" and "mysterious" problems for domestic enterprises at the present time. Single successful examples of IT applications in the form of ERP systems, with outdated traditional MRP-II or perfect, but "nervous" APS algorithms, speak rather "against" than "for" them; “Lean manufacturing”, which is being implemented in our country on a wide front, and mainly at the level of 5C, visualization, kaizen, etc., also does not give enterprises any real tool for planning and managing production.
Below is a description of the planning and production management system, the most popular in Soviet times - the Rodov System, and its revival, in order to solve the production problems of the present.
The Novocherkassk Continuous Production Planning System, also called the Rodov System, was created in the 60s of the last century. And, after a short time, it was voluntarily accepted by the vast majority of the most demanding and conservative managerial public - directors and production managers, planners, dispatchers, shop managers (for comparison, take the widespread "acceptance" of ERP systems at the present time ...).
This happened due to its extreme simplicity and efficiency in solving the main production tasks: production “just in time”, “just in quantity”; rhythmically; with minimal cost; ensuring maximum transparency of what is happening. The popularity and prevalence of the system was so great that even now the "fragments" of the system, for lack of better alternatives, are still used to control production by many plants. But, I note, not the best "fragments" and, without much effect.
Nevertheless, the Rodov System, at least its main elements, can and should be used in modern conditions. How is discussed below. With a description of the Rodov System itself, its components, advantages and limitations, and its revival using IT and modern management technologies, incl. Lean, T.O.C.
Rodov system
1. Product composition. The composition of the "generalized" or conditional product, which is a combination of all products manufactured by the plant. In the example of the Novocherkassk plant, where the system was created, an electric locomotive was taken as a “generalized” product, all possible ones were added to the same composition of the product, on the planning horizon of its modification, spare parts, units and products manufactured according to their plans were added in cooperation with other plants, and TNP. For more complex cases, daily sets were taken as conditional products.
Comment. A conditional product is nothing more than a planned item or a future item of modern ERP systems.
2. Release plan conditional product - production schedule. It was fixed for a sufficiently long period (at the time of the creation of the system - for a year, but with the possibility of quarterly changes), and published in the form of conditional machines, with their serial numbers from the beginning of the year or from the beginning of production, and the dates associated with each product - see below. rice. below.
3. Planning. The cycle schedule of a conditional product was normalized to the start date of assembly:
a. The rationing coefficient for each workshop had its own (depending on the lead time) and was "backlog" in detail.
b. Subtracting the backlog from the entire WIP for the plant, the shop received, for each part, the number of a conditional product, closed (stacked).
c. The purpose of the workshop is to work with a given rhythm, i.e. release of a part for a conditional product with a number assembled today.
Thus, assuming a uniform and constant yearly output of certain conditional products, each workshop received as a production plan a plan for the production of finished products, expressed in conditional products. At factories that are still trying to practice the Rodov System, it was called, and is called differently: “serial account”, “series”, “car kits”, etc.
Comment
Let's dwell on the "backlog" in a little more detail, because. there is probably no more inadequately perceived concept in Russian production theory and practice - the reverse side of the popularity of the Rodov system. The "backlog", in Rodov's idea, is the level of work in progress, or, more precisely, expressed in quantitative terms, the lead time with which each workshop must launch parts for timely completion of the assembly. But this "sacred" meaning is now lost. The “reserve” for production workers is some kind of, most often taken from the ceiling, or, worse, calculated according to the Rodov method assuming a continuous and stable production plan, the level of stocks in consumer workshops that the latter need for continuous work. Yes, that's right, for continuous and rhythmic production! Not fulfilling the plan / order / orders on time, namely, so that the consumer shop has something to do, i.e. don't stand idle. "Push" at its worst! But "hurt", as Rodov had in mind, is nothing more than the number of kanban cards in circulation, i.e. pull! More details below.
4. Release. For each of the workshops (and further - sections) for its nomenclature of parts, "Card index of proportionality».
"Card index of proportionality" was a cabinet consisting of three shelves (each shelf - a month) with cells, according to the numbers of days in a month. Above each “month” there are calendar days of the month with a plan linked to them in conditional products. In each cell there are parts cards produced by the workshop. Each part card is placed in the cell corresponding to the maximum number of the machine equipped with this part. When a new batch of parts is produced, a mark is made on the card and it is shifted to the right, into the cell with the number of the machine for which the new batch of this part provides a complete set.
The “proportional card file” in Rodov’s system is the main, extremely simple and visual object of intershop synchronization, shop management and visualization. Ideologically corresponding to the kanban control board (note that the Toyota system was just being born then):
— daily marker "today" shifts to the right;
- a card (kanban) close to "today" - it's time to launch (the kanban is transferred to production), a card to the left of "today" - the launch is stitched.
Comment. The ideology of the proportional file cabinet is similar to the ideology of visual kanban boards:
1) detail card - there is a kanban in circulation, with the difference that they were not transferred to production, only information was transferred that it was necessary to start production;
2) the number of kanbans in circulation - there is a “backlog” in the Rodov system. Or - the level of WIP (not normative and non-standardized!) But depending only on external demand (at that time, demand was equal to the annual plan) and on the lead time for the production of a particular part.
5. Organization of production. Information about cards (about details) close to "today" was transmitted to the masters of the respective sections. The launch of parts directly at the sites, the distribution of tasks among workers, was carried out similarly to the previous paragraph.
a. Lockers were installed for each section, each for ten workplaces (10 performers). Each workplace (each worker) in the locker corresponded to a shelf with the number of cells equal to the number of working days in a month. Above each cell, a production plan was attached, expressed in conditional products and tied to dates (to cells). Each cell contained cards of detail-operations attached to a specific workplace. The principle of moving detail-operations cards is similar to the principle of placing detail cards in the shop proportional card index.
b. Each worker every evening approached his shelf, (on his own!) compiled a task for himself for the next day from cards close to “today” and handed it over to the foreman. The master's task was to equip the workplace with everything necessary for the production of the task: materials, tools, equipment, drawings.
Comment
1. The same visual kanban board at the site level, plus “pulling” directly by the workers.
2. It should be noted that such a scheme can be used after balancing the capacities and rigidly assigning the details-operations (routes) to the workplaces. Another parallel with TPS…
6. Accounting. The accounting system consisted in collecting information on the completion of part-operations, the movement of parts from workshop to workshop and manually entering this information into the accounting cards for detail-operations and parts. At the same time, the main information that was kept in the cards was not information about stocks, but information about the serial number of the next closed conditional item. In general, the accounting procedures were “usual”, in terms of implementation in modern IT accounting systems. But these "usual" procedures were developed in 1961!
7. General monitoring the work of the main production shops was carried out using one simple and logical visual form, “Proportional graph". Its main goal is to show how synchronously the workshops of the main production and "auxiliary" departments work in relation to the rhythm of the assembly shops. Each shop should strive for Just-In-Time production, i.e. the gray stripe of each workshop, or conditional products closed by it, should rest against “today”. At the same time, the last unclosed product is the product that is not equipped with a workshop for at least one part. The backlog of each unit from “today” is estimated in daily positions of the backlog - fig. below.
Taken from "Plan-Flow-Rhythm", A. Rodov, D. Krutyansky. Rostov Book Publishing House, 1964.
Similar graphs were built for each section.
8. The last important element of the System is the change wages and motivation for production synchronous with the assembly schedule. The changes are simple, but fundamental: the total payroll of the workshop decreases in proportion to the days behind the schedule. For example: 1 day behind - 1% decrease. Further - the payroll of the sections that are behind the schedule is reduced, then - the payroll of a specific contractor. A huge plus of this change was its simplicity and visualization - both the engineering and technical staff and the production staff of the shop could see on any day how much they could lose in wages.
Sunset of the Rodov System
The Rodov system, or the Novocherkassk System of Continuous Operational Planning, very quickly became widespread throughout the Soviet Union - according to some reports, at least 1500 enterprises used itFor comparison, take our factories now using MRP-II or TPS production management principles for production planning and control!) And this is not surprising, because. The Rodov system was made taking into account the peculiarities of the management of our factories and the peculiarities of external demand. At the same time, at a time when TPS was just beginning to develop, and it was difficult to imagine about ERP systems, Rodov independently reached the best Lean planning principles and built (without a computer!) The “correct” ideology of accounting for modern ERP. Yes, Rodov did not purposefully fight against the useless, but where else are there such "deposits" of the useless, as in non-rhythmic periodic planning and production? "Deposits" ¸ that have not lost their relevance even now.
But, the Rodov System, as a holistic one and used for production management, has not survived to this day. The system was “sharpened” and worked extremely effectively in those conditions: for established industries, with streamlined and not very fast processes for developing and bringing new products to the market; with external, very stable and certain demand. In the context of the post-perestroika crisis of industry and the loss brains managers and engineers, the Rodov System began to work in the opposite direction: against production. And, although a lot of reserves were laid in the system, there was no “new Rodov” at that time to adapt the system to new conditions. And the conditions have really changed fundamentally.
- There was a market demand, with it - the impossibility of predicting a fixed and somewhat stable output plan.
- The Customer appeared, with its specific requirements, and with it - the growth of the range of finished products and their modifications, the need to go to small series or piece production and the production of modified basic products on order.
- Competitors have appeared, incl. western and eastern, with them - the need for a rapid change in product generations, rapid development and launch of new products on the market.
- As a result of these uncertainties - a "shaft" of modifications and design changes
- As a result, it is impossible to determine a fixed conditional product for the required planning horizon, form and link to specific dates of the production plan for conditional products.
In the changed conditions, work according to the Rodov system led to the fact that 90% of the purchased / produced backlogs settled in the warehouses of MTS / in the shops, making their contribution, for many - a fatal contribution to the “assets” items of the balance sheets, with a simultaneous failure to meet the deadlines for fulfilling orders .
Comment. The “backlogs” of the Rodovskaya System are so deeply ingrained in the heads of our production workers that even now many factories are trying to standardize, create, track “backgrounds” in production, work “to the backlog”, “close the series”, stamp impersonal vehicle kits to the PDO / PROSK assembly warehouse workshops. And the domestic “science” of production management still continues to churn out textbooks (and, apparently, knowledge) with the collective name “Management of (modern) production”, where the backlog and methods of their calculation are given a huge role.
Once again: the "backlog" of the Rodov System is not a backlog, it is not a WIP standard, an irreducible balance. This is the quantified lead time for a specific part, calculated to run ahead of it in order to deliver “just in time” to the assembly!
It was at this time, having lost what they had and not creating anything new, Production Planning Systems died and still have not appeared in the vast majority of our factories, especially traditional, post-Soviet ones. Instead: someone tries to squeeze himself into the MRP-II Procrustean bed with the help of ERP systems, someone looks with envy at kanban and the just-in-time management method, realizing that this cannot be pulled, someone, and not always unsuccessful, trying to manage using their own systems, someone - most of them so far, has given all management at the mercy of the sales department and the workers - for the latter - through piecework.
Rodov system. Second birth.
But the situation, incl. market is changing. Now successful enterprises, incl. state-owned enterprises have a stable demand for their products and can live not only in the future. The spread of Lean ideas and the struggle for efficiency lead to the fact that enterprises begin to focus on the production of only those products in the production of which they are most competent. And although the number of modifications does not become less, it is, at least, not “irons and helicopters”.
And if the Rodov System is so brilliant, and I dare say it is, why not update it and use it to manage certain types of industries? Moreover, Rodov laid in it quite a lot of development reserves, incl. the possibility of using and in a state of great instability of the internal and external production environment.
The development of the Rodov system, with the expansion of its capabilities with IT technologies and Lean / TOC tools - below.
1. Conditional product. From a conditional product, in the traditional sense, you will have to turn out. Instead of it - a product under the order (order), with its specific order structure. Either, or at the same time (depending on the configuration of demand and the production of the enterprise), can be defined and used as a conditional item and daily-kit (day edition) or clock kit. Those. a product (a group of products) produced on a daily basis or according to a cycle specified for a given enterprise.
2. As production schedule there will be a schedule for the shipment of orders - an order (product under the order) plus the date of readiness. Or a daily (tacto) set tied to the date of readiness.
3. Next improvement - "backlog". From the backlog, as well as from the normalization of the release schedule to the date of the start of the assembly - we refuse. We replace them with dynamic (i.e. constant) planning, whose main task is to calculate the dynamic lead time (when planning with constraints), release schedule, launch. There was practically no planning in the Rodov System, because. external and internal conditions changed slowly. Therefore, having set the flow, the main task was to support and monitor it. The real situation is different. The situation, both internal and external, is changing, and very quickly. And (re)planning needs to be done every day. What software and hardware tools do well.
The concept of planning depends on the business needs of each enterprise, but its general elements are roughly as follows.
a. Each element of the production schedule - an order (product on order) is planned separately, from the finished product, "down" and "left", according to the specification and the cycle assembly schedule. With the preservation of the link of each part, assembly or workpiece, with the head order (see the figure below). In this case, each shop will be able to see the order for which they must produce parts, and, conversely, each order "sees" how specific parts are produced for it. This is a “directive” (customer-ordered) production plan.
Commentary on capacity accounting. Depending on the characteristics of the enterprise, capacities may not be taken into account when planning (in this case, the takt time is calculated by product groups and the capacities are balanced per tact, including Lean tools), or planning is performed taking into account available resources, using, including optimization algorithms.
b. In the case of the release of the same type of product and a quasi-stable production schedule, it is also possible to manage “backlogs” with the organization of a pull launch scheme using electronic kanban. This is an implementation of the "pull-push" planning scheme, improved by the "drum-buffer-rope" algorithms and TOC color signaling. See fig. below.
4. Card index of proportionality. After automatic planning (or after automatic formation of a "kanban" for launch to replenish the intermediate warehouse), each workshop / section / workplace receives both a release plan and a launch plan, specific parts for specific orders - a "proportional file" in electronic form (Release - see below). To limit the launch of more than the required quantity (especially relevant in the case of piecework wages), the launch plan is "open" for viewing by each workshop/site only for a fixed period - the "launch window" defined for each workshop/site. With automatic generation of pull signals, the launch plan is limited to only kanbans generated for the replenishment of the intermediate warehouse. In this "electronic filing cabinet", the role of the "product card" is played by the electronic "kanban" card, which is printed (with a barcode) and is both a launch signal and an accompanying document and an analogue (or full compliance) of the route map.
5. Organization of production. At best, it can be implemented similarly to the Genera System: for each workplace / milk of each worker, a launch plan is formed and published electronically. The launch plan is similar to the one presented above, but with an indication of the detail-operations (or - section-calls, i.e. - groups of operations), with a color signal of production readiness (availability of a technical process / CNC program, tool, tooling, materials / blanks or semi-finished product with previous section). Further, either the site foreman or the performer directly prints a kanban (or, the Soviet analogue of kanban, a route map) from the available launch window and supply, and starts production. In this version, "Launch by Workplaces" is published on a flat monitor of the workshop/section, or, using touch-screens, by analogy with payment terminals for mobile and public services in supermarkets. In the latter case, the worker receives access to his data using his magnetic pass.
6. Accounting launch-release, accounting for the execution of operations (if necessary), further movement of parts across areas / workshops is performed using bar coding, scanning kanban or route cards passing through the area. Or / and - through the input of information by the master / executor / controller of the BTK through "payment terminals". This significantly reduces labor costs for accounting and ensures high efficiency and reliability of information on the implementation of the production plan as a whole - at the time of entering the information, the calculation of the “coverage” of orders / cycle sets is automatically performed with the visualization of information on the “Launch” (see above) and “Synchronization” " (see below). Also, in this case, any performer immediately sees what has been done for the shift, and, consequently, the money earned per day (in the case of a made or time-bonus wage system).
7. Monitoring.
a. Every day, based on the fact of fulfillment of production tasks, a “calculated” version of the production plan is formed, according to the principle: fact + remaining volume (time) of work.
b. The "proportionality graph", it is "Synchronicity", - the main tool for controlling the cycle of work of shops - is built through a comparison of the "directive" and "calculated" plan of the "proportionality graph" (below).
c. And, as a more subtle tool for general analysis of supplies, incl. and to each other, internal suppliers of the production supply chain - "Supplier Status".
Conclusion
This system, called the Planning and Monitoring System, was created by our team for several years and acquired a complete form and methodology by 2009. The following year, in a continuous search for better solutions to production planning problems, we rediscovered the Generic System. After that, the concept was expanded with the principles of launching and monitoring: “Launch” (“Proportionality Card Index”), workshop and district, “Synchronicity” (“Proportionality Graph”). During this time, the described concept was successfully implemented both at the former serial plants and at the new ones: NAZ im. V.P. Chkalov and KnAAZ named after Yu.A. Gagarin (Sukhoi), KVZ (Helicopters of Russia), GSS (in terms of planning and monitoring supply and a multi-level supply chain), and some others. The first of which actively used the Generic System.
Practice has shown that the concept of planning and monitoring presented above, with the elements of the Genera System, newly realized and based on new management methods, can be quickly implemented and successfully used for the most complex industries. For simpler ones, the solution will be simpler, faster and, ideally, “right out of the box” (we are currently moving towards this goal). Moreover, it may well be implemented by the forces of the enterprises themselves - like the original system of Rodov. But the brake here, traditionally, is the presence of the Customer at the enterprise, who has power and understanding, the presence of brains and good ambitions at the middle management level, and, last but not least, the general level of production culture. The first two conditions are necessary and sufficient for success, the last is the determining time for the transition to a new system.
Unfortunately, the level of both the first, second and third is currently much lower than the level of 1961 described (between the lines) by Rodov and Krutyansky. Of course, many of the equipment is new, but there is a categorical lack of brains and competent leaders. Just as there is a lack of a trivial production culture, from maintaining the composition of products and elementary accounting in warehouses / in production to methods of shop and general production management. Let's hope and work in this direction that this situation will change for the better. Including, and with the revival of the methods described above.
Source: habr.com