On the value of stable production cycles in multi-echelon supply chains.

摘要

In this research, a policy of stabilizing production cycles is explored within the context of manufacturing environments that have a single, capacity constrained resource producing multiple products in a predetermined sequence, setup times between items are significant, customer demand is highly uncertain, and there are minimum and maximum production limits placed on production cycle lengths. These types of conditions are common to large batch, or process manufacturing environments. Through extensive field research conducted in large batch and process manufacturing environments, we observed the failure of traditional "lean manufacturing" approaches that emphasize producing to inventory targets, and whose focus is primarily on the reduction of processing flow time; overall system uncertainty, as well as inventory holding and backorder costs, increased; and customer service levels went down. A guiding principle underlying the manufacturing philosophy presented in this research is that short, predictable, and repeatable production cycle lengths are highly desirable. We construct a set of integrated, computationally efficient tactical and operational execution models to stabilize production cycle lengths. These models may be used to assess strategic changes in capacity, demand uncertainty, and demand volume.