Production and material flow process model for manufactured housing

The manufactured housing industry has been lagging behind in its technological innovations compared to site-built housing according to PATH (Partnership for Advancement of Technology in Housing). This report is a contribution to the improvement of the production process of manufactured housing. A detailed description of the production process and industry terminology was made in Chapter three to help readers not familiar with the industry. The research showed how the production process of manufactured housing plants can be improved and resource utilization streamlined. First, a process flow diagram of all the major activities in each station is developed with the help of ANSI flowcharting concepts. An extensive data collection phase followed the process mapping stage. A detailed production process and material flow model was then developed. This model was then transformed into a computer simulation model using basic modeling techniques developed by Halpin (1992). Combis, Queues, and Normals, were used to input the model into a simulation software called EZSTROBE. The simulation software showed bottlenecks in the production process based on the time data inputted. The bottlenecks were used together with other generic what if scenarios to show how the process can be improved.