自動化改善生產流程之案例研究

Abstract

本論文是針對某案例公司（稱為S公司）的生產過程，研擬自動化提案並評估其效益。在S公司，調合是關鍵的製造過程，其中各個原料必須以精確的比例調合與良好控制才可確保品質。調合作業是相當勞動密集的，因為要調合的每種原料大多儲存在桶裝容器中，這導致大量的勞動力工作;從桶裝原料收料入庫、備料分裝與確認、原料領回與確認、入料準備與確認、原料抽入調合槽等。為了減少勞動力，本研究提出了一種自動化生產流程改善方案，其原料皆以槽裝方式入廠，儲存在儲槽中，透過自動化設備控制，原料依調合比例藉由管路精確的輸送到調合槽進行製造生產。自動化項目大大節省了勞動力，本研究對建置儲槽、配管和自動化機制進行投資分析，研究結果顯示自動化專案的投資是相當正面的，投資回收期約為3年。

This research investigates the effectiveness of an automation proposal for improving the production process of a case company (called S-company). In the S-company, blending is a critical manufacturing process in which accurate proportion of blended materials must be well controlled to ensure quality. The present blending process is quite labor intensive because each input material to be blended is stored in a container. This results in a substantial amount of labor works: filling materials into a container, moving container to the shop floor, retrieving container from the shop floor, taking materials out of containers, and filling materials into the blender machine. To reduce labor efforts, this research proposes an automation project in which materials are stored in a tower silo, transported to the blender by pipe lines, and the proportion of blended materials are well controlled by an automation mechanism. The automation project substantially saves labor efforts at the expense of incurring an investment on building silos, pipe lines, and automation mechanism. The study concludes that the investing the automation project is quite positive and the payback period is about 3 years.