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Editorial: Capacity Planning - Enterprise resource planning Article
The article entitled: "Editorial: Capacity Planning" is in the Enterprise resource planning Articles section of Operations Management Papers area...
ARTICLE DESCRIPTION: How much do you want? How many are we catering for? Starting when? For how long? By when? All questions that are commonly asked by capacity planners. It could be for booking a youth club coach tour, manufacturing hit CDs, supplying portable loos to a show ground or booking a party at a restaurant... The task requires that a given capacity is used to the best advantage. Does demand exceed, match or fall below the available capacity? Is the capacity constraint raw materials, machines and processes, labour, cash or time? Different scenarios require different solutions.
MORE INFO: Editorial: Capacity Planning How much do you want? How many are we catering for? Starting when? For how long? By when? All questions that are commonly asked by capacity planners. It could be for booking a youth club coach tour, manufacturing hit CDs, supplying portable loos to a show ground or booking a party at a restaurant... The task requires that a given capacity is used to the best advantage. Does demand exceed, match or fall below the available capacity? Is the capacity constraint raw materials, machines and processes, labour, cash or time? Different scenarios require different solutions. A skilled job then, this capacity planning? Certainly! It is basic to the effective running of any production unit, and yet we all do it unconsciously, day in, day out. After work, you have to pick up your brother; take him to collect his car which is being repaired; return three books to the public library; fill up the car's petrol tank ready for the long journey at 6.30 tomorrow morning; collect a suit from the cleaners before they close; and be home for an early tea so that you can take your son and his friend to the cubs tonight on your way to the theatre. You recognise that time is a constraint and work out a plan, a valid plan - one which meets the demands and is feasible. If you can't come up with a valid plan with your present resources, you may subcontract some of the work. You might, for instance, ask your partner to do the cubs run whilst you are having your tea. An alternative might be to defer a task, such as returning the library books. This might be because it is not urgent; later this week will be satisfactory. Of course, returning them after today might incur a financial penalty. In this latter case you will make judgements and balance, say, returning the books today and either missing your tea or being late at the cubs. Recognising the needs, identifying possible solutions, balancing the priorities and arriving at an acceptable solution is all part of our daily round and, generally, we are pretty good at it. So why all the hype about Capacity Planning being a difficult job? Why all the computing power; why the CRP, MRPII, ERP, software etc? Isn't it really a doddle? No! At work the problems are usually much more complex because there are so many more interactions - many customers, many products, many people involved and all to be co-ordinated to meet the demands. On top of all that, the demand and capacity may be constantly changing; customers change their minds about how much they want and when they want it, new orders keep arriving, machines break down, the workforce go on holiday and have training, and so it goes on. So bring in the hardware, the software, the lucky rabbit's foot, the crystal ball and anything else that might help. Juggling ten flaming torches whilst riding a monocycle on a tightrope over the lion's cage starts to become an attractive alternative to being a planner. The Institute recognises the importance of the capacity planner's role and covers the subject in regular public courses and in its qualifications. Whether or not your company needs flaming torch jugglers or other circus acts, the Institute offers some strong words of advice - don't let the clowns do your capacity planning!
PUBLISHER: Institute of Operations Management
Page number: 5 Words: approx. 300
Vol 25 - No 09 - November 1999
The article can be downloaded in full from the publisher's site i.e. the Institute of Operations Management.
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