T7: Resource planning and control (Ch10)
Key elements (see Fig 10.2 p.327)
- The customer interface
- The core mechanics of planning and control #
- The supply/supplier interface
- The decision mechanisms of planning and control
Scheduling (when)
Sequencing (what order)
Loading (how much)
Monitoring and control (going to plan?)
Information systems
Planning and control staff
Other functions of the business
Should reflect the operations objectives
Acts as a trigger function
Defines the customer experience
Communication and negotiation
flexibility, adaptability and learning
Integration
Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) (p.354)
- Master Production Schedule (MPS)
Inputs
Outputs
Customer orders
Forecast demand
Materials requirement planning (MRP)
Additional inputs
Outputs
Bills of Materials (BOM)
Inventory records
Purchase orders
Materials plans
Works orders
Based on 'chase' or 'level' demand schedules
Available to Promise (ATP) information - i.e. what is available that can be sold
MRP netting process - calculating stock/demand/orders
Back-scheduling of component parts
Lead-times for ordering
Order quantities
When they are needed
Stock-on-hand
MRP capacity checks
All but the simplest MRP systems have closed-loop systems to ensure against over capacity issues
Methods
Resources requirements plans (RRPs) - long-term
Rough-cut capacity plans (RCCPs) - short- to medium-term
Capacity requirements plans (CRPs) - day-to-day
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) (p.331)
Developed and sold by companies such as SAP / Oracle / Baan
Integrates all functions of the organisation to align their resource requirements, i.e. finance / accounting / HR / Marketing / Sales / etc
Grew out of MRP and MRPII but a much broader system
Aimed at planning and control of all resources across the organisation, i.e. inventory, capacity , cash, personnel, facilities, capital
Benefits
Force process improvements
Improved control
Greater visibility across the whole business
More sophisticated, accurate and timely communication with customers and supply chain partners
Integration with supply chain partners
Web-integration
Supply network integration
Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) (p.334)
Goal is to have more cross-functional strategic cohesion, rather than little silos with their own agendas
Considers a 18-24 mth period to fit between short and long-term planning
Generally reviewed monthly by senior management level
Four concepts of short-term process capacity management
Sequencing
Scheduling
Loading
Monitoring and controlling
Finite (elevator)
Infinite (escalator)
CGC examples
Relevant where:
It is necessary to limit load
It is not cost prohibitive to limit load
It is possible to limit load
Tee bookings
7-Day memberships
Relevant where:
CGC examples
It is not necessary to limit load
It is cost prohibitive to limit load
It is not possible to limit load
Clubhouse services
Proshop services
Overall memberships
Some predefined rules
Customer priority
Due date (DD)
Last in, first out (LIFO)
First in, first out (FIFO) or First come, first served (FCFS)
Longest operation time first (LOT)
Shortest operation time first (SOT)
Due to complexity of the number of possible schedules in even simple organisations, scheduling aims for 'acceptable' not optimal
Gantt charts (p.339)
Push control
Pull control - triggered by the customer only
Comparing outputs to the plan to identify variations
Assess and adjust accordingly based on changes needed to the plan
Difficulties with control:
Is there consensus over what the operation's objectives should be?
Are the effects of interventions into the operation predictable?
Are the operations activities largely repetitive?
Types of control
Routine control
Expert control
Trial-and-error control
Intuitive control
Negotiated control
Ambiguous situations
Needs 'political' skills
Unambiguous / Process knowledge incomplete / Not repetitive
Needs decision skills
Needs knowledge-building skills
Unambiguous / Process knowledge incomplete / Repetitive
Needs networking skills
Unambiguous / Process knowledge complete / Not repetitive
Needs systematisation skills
Unambiguous / Process knowledge complete / Repetitive
Bottleneck concepts
Theory of Constraints (TOC) (p.341)
OPT principles outlined on p.341
Focus on bottlenecks as the only part of the process that can really make a difference
Based on Optimised Production Technology (OPT) principles
Drum, buffer, rope concept (p.343)
Buffer - Inventory around the bottleneck to mitigate delays
Rope - the line of communication to stay on top of buffers and drums (bottlenecks), anticipating and addressing problems
Drum - the bottleneck sets the drum beat for the process