A physical system theory approach to material flow and productivity analysis

This paper describes an application of physical system theory to the modelling and analysis of material flow and the productivity of a batch-processing engineering company which produces a large variety of electrical motors. The flow of material is taken as “through” variable, whereas the unit cost of material is considered to be an “across” variable. The component models for the individual processing stages, e.g., the foundry, machine shop, etc., have been developed. These models, when connected, form the system graph, governed by continuity and compatibility constraints. The productivity index of the overall system is developed and sensitivity analysis is carried out with respect to technological coefficients at various stages.