Quantitative evaluation of the organisation of manufacturing and technological processes

Abstract

The rhythm of production as one of the major characteristics of manufacturing and technological processes is considered in this paper. Various rhythmicity indices, often yielding different results for the same initial data, are used to determine the pace of work. The paper presents some axioms stating the conditions which methods of determining rhythmicity indices of manufacturing and technological processes should satisfy. Several methods of determining rhythmicity indices are offered and their effectiveness is validated. It has been found that the above axioms are satisfied by the Atkinson's and variation coefficients and Theil's index, which may be recommended for practical application. A case study of the calculation of monthly and quarterly rhythmicity indices for a consortium of three construction firms is presented.