Question

3.6 What is the impact of "backtracking" in a manufacturing process? Discuss several meth- ods to prevent "backtracking" from occurring

Answer 1

Backtracking refers to the process where part of a product moves from one machine to another arranged in a line arrangement usually when the product has to go through different steps of operation. One of the major impact of backtracking is increase in the production flow as the length of the process increases. This increase in the production line leads to unwanted increase in costs, unnecessary labour, more manufacturing steps and wastage of time.  

Different methods that can be followed to avoid occurance of backtracking are:

• Maintaining the coordination between the actual manufacturing steps and the flow pattern so that no activity needs to be returned back again and again.
• Keeping a strong check on the moment of the product at every stage and ensuring no part skips any stage. This will help reduce the chances of occurance of backtracking.