Planning An Operation Around Demand - 1078 Words

In the Littlefield Project, our team utilized various methods learned in class and group analysis of the data in order to come up with the optimal solution. Through our analysis, as well as our trial and error, we learned several important lessons when planning an operation around demand. In order to outline how we came to learn those lessons, we will explore the simulation, how it played out, our reactions to it, and what worked as well as what did not. To begin, we will cover our analysis of the data available. In order to estimate a general slope of demand, we needed to figure out the average demand recorded as of the first 50 days. Once that was determined, we had to analyze the data presented and make an educated estimate on how†¦show more content†¦As we noticed a trend of higher lead times per increased order delivery schedule, we began to understand the nature and relation of machine utilization and our job completion rate. It was clear that we needed to focus our efforts on keeping utilization rates as high as possible without max them out. Our contract allowed us three days maximum for delivery, otherwise our entire revenue of $1000 would be forfeit. However, we quoted a lead time of one day, so we focused heavily on managing machine utilization because we wanted to maintain high service levels and capture revenue. Originally, we focused on Station 1 since its utilization was the first to approach maximum capacity; we decided that was an issue that needed to be resolved immediately. Since the demand was consistently going up for the first five months, we knew that the utilization of the entire facility, not just Station 1, would be steadily increasing. As we solved the capacity issues of a particular station by purchasing more machines, we would focus on the next station in which utilization was near its limit. In order to balance the flow of the process, we established a specific strategy for buying and selling machines. One aspect of our strategy was to examine each station’s capacity utilization. For instance, if capacity utilization was high and we needed to send more product through that station, we’d add another machine. However, if that station’s capacity utilization was low and thus not