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Economies of scale require many industries to use the concept of creating batches at one or more steps in their manufacturing process. An example of this would be a paper mill that needs to mix a vat of a specific pulp from which orders belonging to a certain product group can be made. It is not economically feasible to mix a vat for each customer order.
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Preactor International, the UK's leading specialist advanced production planning and scheduling software company, announces the results of a comprehensive research project into the widespread extent of APS myths, undertaken at its annual global partner event, held in Chippenham, UK, in June 2006.
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Lean manufacturing is currently one of the buzz words in industry and quite rightly so. Most companies are under pressure to produce more products in shorter delivery times, without visibility of future demand and with fewer inventories. That’s quite a feat to achieve. The question always arises as to whether there is a place for IT in lean manufacturing initiatives
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This paper is a short resume of various optimization techniques and their application to production scheduling. Descriptions of four different optimization techniques are given. The use of each technique is described in the context of real-world production scheduling decision-making environments.
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One of the fastest growing sectors of business over the last few years has been in the production of fresh and pre-processed foods for the large multiples. Everything from fresh salads to pizza, pre-prepared meals, soups, sauces etc are experiencing bumper demand.
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Is the fresh food sector showing us the way to be truly Lean and Agile?
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As part of a project sponsored by the DTI-funded e4C Programme, the viability was investigated of using finite capacity scheduling techniques to manage production in accordance with the COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) regulations. It has been proven that such techniques can be applied, particularly to SMEs in the chemical industry cluster, and that benefits are achievable.
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The term Supply Chain Scheduling (SCS) may be new to you, but I'm sure you will be aware of some of the other technologies that have been used to try and improve the efficiency of supply chains, such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems, etc. So where, you may ask, does SCS differ from these other techniques, and why should you want it if you haven't found a use for EDI and SCM.
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An interview with Mike Novels, Chairman & Managing Director, Preactor International.
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Most of the proponents of lean manufacturing suggest that it removes or substantially reduces the need for IT support. In this paper we examine the case for pursuing IT (in the form of APS) as the only way to create a truly lean factory.
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More powerful, low cost computing systems and software development tools that allow creation of fast, easy-to-maintain software have driven the cost of sophisticated software down with no compromise in performance. For manufacturing, the most visible example of enhanced price/performance software is finite capacity scheduling (FCS) systems. As with any tool, the real value in understanding what the results have to say.
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It is not uncommon for people to assume that project planning and finite scheduling software perform the same task. You can see why this happens from a cursory review of these types of software, since both feature Gantt charts to show visually the work that has to be completed.
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In today's environment of 'lean' manufacturing and supply chains, you can no longer treat your company as an 'island' when it come to making delivery promises to your clients. You have to take into account your suppliers, sub-contractors, logistics contractors, etc., when you answer an Available to Promise (ATP) enquiry.
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The ever increasing pressures from the market place has caused companies to re-assess how the production planning function is carried out and to look for tools that will support the decision making process and generate achievable schedules in a timely manner. This paper describes the use of a graphical, finite capacity scheduling package that can be linked with existing systems such as MRP software to provide the user with a rapid decision support tool that balances demand with capacity.
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In companies all over the world there is a trend that seems to be common. Competition is increasing both from both the company's traditional competitors and from new entrants to the market place, often from overseas. Their customers are looking for a faster turn-round and on-time delivery and this, rather than price, is becoming a key differentiator.
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Well the straight answer to this is yes of course it does and in fact when it uses the SBS engine it does very similar things to what a traditional discrete event simulator does with a number of important differences.
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