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Chapter 8 Process technology 211
machines within an FMS must have some finite limits on the size and shape of the materials
it can process. What constraints or risks does it impose? Very high capital costs with uncertain
payback, needs programming skills, and can be vulnerable to tool breakage (which can stop
the whole system).
Short case
YO! Sushi 3
YO! Sushi are sushi restaurants with an accent on
style. They also employ technology to create their
unique atmosphere. Prepared dishes are circulated
around the sitting area on a moving conveyor.
Customers simply take what they want as they
pass by. In fact, this idea goes back to 1958 when
Yoshiaki Shiraishi saw beer bottles moving down
an Asahi brewery conveyor. Wanting to cut overheads
in his restaurant, he developed the idea of the
rotating conveyor belt. Originally known as
‘satellite-turning-around-sushi’ (rough translation),
he calculated that the dishes should move at a rate
of 8 centimetres per second. No more, no less. Any
slower and customers get bored and the food may
dry out. Any faster and customers do not have time to
decide and the food may fly off the belt. At YO! Sushi
tables also have personal metred beer taps but also
a one-metre-high automated moving trolley, which,
stocked with drinks, glides gently through the eating
area inciting customers to ‘stop me if you wish’.
A moving belt used to serve customers at YO!
Sushi restaurant
Source: YO! Sushi/Jonathan Roberts
Computer integrated
manufacturing
Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). What does the technology do? Coordinates the
whole process of manufacturing and manufactures a part, component or product. How does
it do it? Connects and integrates the information technology which forms the foundation
of design technology (CAD), manufacturing technology (flexible manufacturing centres or
systems), materials handling (AGVs or robots) and the immediate management of these
activities (scheduling, loading, monitoring). What benefits does it give? Fast throughput times,
flexibility when compared with other previous ‘hard’ technologies, the potential for largely
unsupervised manufacture. What constraints or risks does it impose? Extremely high capital
costs, formidable technical problems of communications between the different parts of the
system, and some vulnerability to failure and breakdown.
Information technology
Information-processing technology
Information-processing technology, or just information technology (IT), is the most common
single type of technology within operations, and includes any device which collects,
manipulates, stores or distributes information. Often organizational and operational issues
are the main constraints in applying information technology because managers are unsure
how best to use the potential in the technology. The following quotation gives some idea
of how fast information technology is changing:
‘The rate of progress in information technology has been so great that if comparable advances
had been made in the automotive industry, you could buy a Jaguar that would travel at the
speed of sound, go 600 miles on a thimble of gas and cost only $2!’ 7