8.3 Overview
Evaluation of Process Technology has been one of those significant things that a
manager must be able to address appropriately, hence, given are the 3 sets of criteria
for evaluation:
1. Does the technology fit the processing task for which it is intended?
2. How does the technology improve the operation’s performance?
3. Does the technology give an acceptable financial return?
8.3. How are process technologies evaluated?
In this area, one should be able to answer first why evaluation is necessary for
every operation.
And for that, the reason behind this is simply, the birth of alternatives. Hence, it
really matters for the managers to acknowledge the elements, parts, and characteristics
of the alternative technologies by assessing and evaluating them using certain
comparison – which where decisions for the production can be drawn after.
Three criteria for evaluation of process technologies
1. Does the process technology fit the processing task?
Under by this, we should take in mind that different process technologies are being
suitable to different types of operations, not solely because they transformed resources,
but it goes as well to the creation with different levels of volume and variety.
Wherein:
Ø High variety, low volume - process technology that can perform wide range
of processing activities that high variety demands.
Ø High volume, low variety - using technology that is more dedicated to its
narrower range of processing requirements.
To illustrate more, there are:
Three dimensions in particular that tend to vary with volume and variety.
a. The degree of automation of technology
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It is an inarguable fact that technology needs human intervention. And we can call
the ratio between the technological to human effort as the capital intensity of the
process technology.
Generally speaking, the processes that contain a high variety and low volume area
could produce process technology with lower degrees of automation compared to those
with higher volume and lower variety.
b. The scale/scalability of the technology
In simple saying, this talks about the advantages that large scale technologies and
small-scale technologies have:
Advantage: By using large scale technologies, it can absolutely provide and serve its
market a cheaper price of their products as their production produces more compared
to those small-scale technologies. It is perfectly coated with low varieties, high volume.
Advantage: In small-scale technologies, it is the best option to have, if one’s production
focuses on high-variety, lower-volume processing.
Scalability = the ability to shift to a different level of useful capacity quickly and costeffectively.
c. The coupling/connectivity of the technology
Coupling is described as a process where those separate activities are created to
be together within a single process technology to create a kind of processing system
that are connectedly with each.
Advantages:
Ø Tight coupling gives fast process throughput.
Ø Tight coupling contains a flow that is simple and predictable.
Ø Coupling is most suited with relatively low variety and high volume.
Disadvantage:
Ø Coupling can be both expensive and vulnerable.