In the course of its business activities, each enterprise carries out a certain production process, in which there is a targeted conversion of materials and raw materials into finished products suitable for further processing or consumption. The production process is always aimed at achieving a minimum production cycle. What is the production cycle?
This concept means the full range of all operations carried out in the manufacture of products, the period of time from the beginning to the end of the production process. Since it occurs in space and time, the production cycle can be measured by the length of the path of advancement of the product and all its components, and the time required to go through all stages of processing the product. This cycle is the period of stay of objects of labor (materials, raw materials) in the production process from the very beginning of production to the final release of finished goods.
The measurement of this cycle using the path length is carried out from the original workplace, where the processing of the product and all its components, to the very last, began. The length of the production cycle is considered not a line, but the area of the room where the equipment, machines and equipment used for manufacturing products are located. An ideal situation is one in which the production cycle is maximally shortened and in which lightweight communications and transport links of workplaces with each other. In other words, the shorter the entire path of product movement during the production process, the lower the cost of its transportation between operations, the need for space, and much less time is required for its processing.
The production cycle has its duration, measured in days, hours and minutes. The enterprises distinguish the cycle of prefabricated units, the cycle of the product as a whole, of individual parts and the performance of individual as well as homogeneous operations.
The production cycle and its structure is one of the important technical and economic indicators of economic activity. On their basis, production capacities, terms of production, volumes of work in progress and many other planned production indicators are determined.
The structure of the production cycle consists of the execution time of the main (processing, assembly, procurement) and auxiliary (control, transport) operations, as well as interruptions (interoperational, intercycle, regimen). The execution time of the above basic steps is a technological cycle. During it, objects of labor are carried out indirectly and directly by the employees of the enterprise.
Breaks are divided into 2 groups:
- directly related to the mode of work (non-working shifts and days, intra-shift breaks for rest, lunch and inter-shift breaks);
- associated with the organizational and technical aspects of production (waiting for assembly of parts and components, lack of energy, vehicles, raw materials).
When calculating the period of the production cycle, only those time costs are taken into account that are not blocked by technological operations (time for control, transportation of products). Breaks that are associated with organizational and technical problems when calculating the planned duration of this cycle are not taken into account. When calculating its duration, take into account the features of the movements of objects of labor. Usually use one of 3 types: parallel, serial or parallel-serial. It is believed that the production cycle with parallel movement is significantly reduced. Its duration is influenced by economic, organizational and technological factors.