Improve system efficiency

Efficiency: It is the ability of an engineering system (product, equipment, production line, etc.) to achieve higher performance within the limits of its engineering design. Thus, this efficiency can be increased by introducing simple improvements to the engineering system or one or more of its components.

The components of the engineering system whose performance can be improved include many elements such as the highest speed, the least time to reach, the largest distance traveled, the largest load, the least operating energy, the quality and capabilities of operating personnel, reducing the preparation time, improving safety elements and other targeted elements of the design, or what the organization seeks to achieve.

Improving the efficiency of the engineering system

It means studying and employing all industrial engineering techniques and activities within a framework of collective (or individual) work aimed at increasing the performance efficiency of an existing engineering unit or system.

It is a main heading from which many sub-headings branch out, each of which includes one or more industrial engineering activities that work in an integrated way to achieve this goal.

It is based mainly on the creations of the human mind in re-reading basic engineering and physical concepts and employing them to achieve higher added value.

It does not necessarily mean simplifying the existing engineering elements, but may sometimes be based on adding new engineering elements to the system that lead to improving the existing efficiency or improving one of its elements.

It does not include changing the basic engineering design of the system (it is the responsibility of the design authorities), but it is the introduction of limited improvements that do not affect the origin of the system.

It is based on various engineering studies such as value analysis, added value, simplification, profiling, waste reduction, continuous improvement, …..etc.

It is an endless journey of individual or collective human creativity that sometimes achieves huge leaps of achievement that may exceed any planned ambitions or goals, and may even change the course of some events, or lead to overcoming severe crises (energy or other).

This page will display some examples to improve various elements in some engineering and industrial systems. The purpose of reviewing the examples in general is to serve as fuel for brainstorming and launching intellectual creativity, which is the backbone of this activity. Managers of industrial facilities and managers of training centers are required to provide an information base rich in this knowledge to support the energies of Creativity among engineers, technicians and managers, and there are many Japanese references (in English) full of various applications and examples that need someone to read, teach and publish them. You can review PRODUCTIVITY PRESS as an initial example.

Value Engineering

A systematic analysis that includes every element and every process involved in the manufacture of a product or an engineering system and aims to compare its function and benefit with its cost in order to reach the same benefit but at a lower cost or improve its efficiency and increase the added value.

Readings in some value-added activities ADDED VALUE

Hydraulic accumulators (stored energy)

It is a type of energy storage device, which is containers of different sizes for storing compressed hydraulic oil, which is re-pumped into the hydraulic circuit at specific times to increase the speed of movement of some of its parts, and when used in some injection machines, for example, it helps to increase the speed of the cycle and reduce the total time of the cycle .
It was mainly used to open bridges over rivers, in some countries, due to the speedy opening of these bridges for the passage of ships.
Accumulators are also used in aircraft carriers to quickly lift aircraft from the bottom of the carrier to the top in one minute.
The size of the accumulator depends on the amount of energy to be stored.
The accumulator can move an object from rest and release it in a fast motion in a very short time, or increase the speed of a moving object.

External heating and vacuum units

Some injection and molding machines need a process of heating the mold or deflating it from the air as a basic stage of preparing the equipment for operation. When preparing units outside the equipment, they heat or empty the mold before installing it on the equipment, which leads to a significant and effective reduction in the preparation time.

Another simple example of a computer that everyone uses, as it consists of physical components such as the device (main board, processor, memory, etc.), screen, and a group of speakers for sound output, in addition to various software and applications.
Where it is sometimes possible to increase the efficiency of one of the units and thus the performance of the device as a whole by adding one of the latest software and applications, without the need to change the physical components, and it is also possible to increase the efficiency by adding a modern material component that helps to improve the efficiency of one of the device’s units or increase the overall efficiency. For example, in the field of multimedia, sometimes some audio and video files have a low sound that is difficult to hear through headphones and is also weak through external speakers when playing it using most of the popular media players, which represents a big problem for the computer user, but by installing another player (program It increases the volume (strength) to 200% of its basic level, for all audio and video files (like most modern players), so the sound efficiency doubles without the need to add or change any physical components.

Another example is what mobile companies have done by introducing some electronic technologies (electronic sensors) to the mobile device, such as touch screens, speed limiters, and gyroscopes (a device for locating an object in space and determining its movement, which is used to control the movement of aircraft, missiles, and ships), which led to the development of the performance of mobile devices and tablets. (tablet computer) in simulation applications, games, 3D images, and others.

There are many engineering systems that can improve their performance and increase their efficiency by developing their operating systems (software) or adding simple physical components such as some sensors,(SENSORS), which leads to improving its management and thus controlling its efficiency.