Business Commons^™

The manufacturer's ability to respond quickly and with great flexibility is crucial. The future belongs to the manufacturer of high tech, high-value products who can compress not only component and assembly process times, but design and tooling cycles as well. Master production scheduling provides a road map for production requirements. This article reports the results of a simulation study that compares alternative procedures for determining master production scheduling (MPS) techniques utilizing the superbill and covering set MPS. The performance criterion for the study is the available-to-promise (ATP) lead time (customer service). The results of the simulation experiment support the superiority …

There has been a great deal of interest recently in the Japanese approach to manufacturing, growing out of a concern for finding ways to reduce inventories and increase productivity. At this project's inception, its objective was to assess whether the kanban system could perform well in the manufacturing environments found in this country. Based on observations from managers visiting Japan, the project was enlarged to also assess which factors in a production environment have the biggest impact on performance—regardless of the system in use. Guided by a panel of production and inventory managers from diverse plant environments, a comprehensive list …