# A Novel Methodology for Assessing and Modeling Manufacturing Processes
## 3 A Novel Methodological Model for Manufacturing Processes
### Design of a Novel Methodological Model for Assessing and Modeling Manufacturing Processes
#### 3.3.2 Manufacturing Process Model
High operating costs due to high energy costs or high maintenance costs can also trigger investments [13]. 2. Information flow: Parameters are related to the availability of input, process, and output data related to the product, the manufacturing process, or the information and communication technology infrastructure. The availability of information flow depends on oral communication, paper or e-mail communication, or today's more usual communication systems information. For the latter, availability depends on the capability to transmit, receive, and gather data, and those activities normally depend on the network signal in use for these activities. 3. Material flow: Material efficiency in raw materials, consumables, and supplies is an important factor, as the cost of materials is considerable within the profit and loss account of a company in the manufacturing sector, accounting for around or even over 40% of the total manufacturing costs. In a German study, manufacturing companies surveyed estimated their potential for material savings to be an average of 7%. A large part of the material saving potential can be found within the production processes, and specifically in the material losses during launching processes. Overproduction has enormous material efficiency potential [13]. Indicators in this flow are related to two areas: 1. Input material: the quality of material properties, stock levels, availability of materials, logistics flow reliability, replenishment times, etc. 2. Output material: the quality of material properties, availability of materials, material losses, etc. 4. Energy flow: Indicators in this flow are related to the production, consumption, and use efficiency of energy in the manufacturing process. Efficiency in the use of energy is an important factor, as energy consumption for industry in an industrialized country is considerable, accounting, for instance, for 30% of final energy consumption in Germany, making the industry the largest consumer of final energy [13]. Personnel resource flow: Parameters such as punctuality, availability, the absence rate, the illness rate, the accident rate, the motivation rate, and the divergence between the target and as-is personnel quantity are factors relevant to the manufacturing process. The working person will continue to be the focus in the production of the future, but the requirements will shift [35]. Future qualification requirements for specialists in production are an important factor in order to guide knowledge [32]. * Maintenance area: This refers to maintenance in the sense of condition monitoring of the process and the manufacturing assets and operating material used during the process. In this sense, parameters such as mean time 'til repair (MTTR) or mean time between failures (MTBF), and reaction times for any disturbance are factors that are important to the stability of the manufacturing process. Moreover, maintenance does not only refer to hardware but also to software and data elements, as well as the maintenance of IT systems and communication technologies that provide information to execute, control, and monitor the process. * Manufacturing process area: The stability of the processes is also a prerequisite for low rejection rates. Optimizing cutting processes, thereby reducing waste, for instance, is another method by which efficiency can be increased [13]. * Capital equipment flow: Quantity of machine groups, number of machines, acquisition of new machines, tools in use, etc. OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) is the main indicator composed of availability, performance, and quality. Capacity utilization is an additional factor. The condition of the manufacturing asset components and the related maintenance activities in terms of time, quality, adherence to plan, etc. are also important. This factor encompasses the operational material means; these are the quantity, availability, and condition of the tools, shelves, etc. used within the manufacturing operations.