Project objectives often require a more detailed look at manufacturing
capacity. Supply Chain Guru has powerful capabilities to model
the supply chain production processes in detail [figure1].
Although many supply chain strategy projects are focused on inventory
or transportation issues, there are many projects that require
an accurate model of manufacturing to achieve the project's objectives.
For example, in this model, a company was planning to open a new
manufacturing facility in Mexico. The location had already been
determined, but there were important, network level questions
that needed to be answered in order to ensure a smooth start up
and transition.
Supply Chain Guru was used in stages to optimize the medium and
long term manufacturing plan to lower network costs without sacrificing
service.
First, a more detailed production process was modeled using Guru’s powerful manufacturing model elements:
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Bill of Materials: model the material requirements generated in order to produce various products
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Work Centers: model individual capacitated work centers with realistic shift schedules, fixed or variable cycle times
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Work Center Changeover Tables: model product specific major and minor changeovers to capture the impact of scheduling on capacity
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Routings: multi-step production processes are defined using intuitive production routing rules when parallel work centers are available
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Work Resources: shared tools, machinery, or even human resources can be modeled to represent additional constraints
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Production Planning Logic: Guru's pre-assembled production planning rules capture a wide variety of standard production planning approaches, such as build-to-order, mixed (hybrid) production systems, fixed or variable lot size, rotating product schedules, periodic production runs, batching and make vs. buy decisions
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However, even with this power, it is sometimes necessary to model
your company production planning process in detail. Supply Chain
Guru has an easy to use production planning script builder that
allows you to customize rules, access external data and spreadsheets,
perform complex capacity calculations and schedule production
according to your own rules.
As you can see in the screen shot, Guru has an extensive and powerful
language for you to model your planning process [figure 2]. With
Guru’s flexibility, you don't have to write your own production
planning logic unless you want to!
First, you can set up the cost
of opening work centers at various capacity levels, inputting
the costs of different throughput thresholds. After running the
optimization engine, Guru will select the optimal capacity configuration
and investment mix in order to minimize costs and maximize profits
[figure 3].
Simulation is used to predict the effects of time and variance
on the system. Although we have optimized the investment in production
capacity at the aggregate level, it is essential to run a detailed
simulation to predict the day to day effects of finite capacity
and variability.
After examining the results of the simulation, you can determine
whether or not additional capacity is necessary to deal with the
peak times [figure 4]. It is ultimately a business decision whether
or not additional investment is necessary to improve the service.
But at least with the power of Supply Chain Guru you can quantify
the costs and benefits of each alternative, providing data for
a fact based approach to strategic planning decisions.
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