What is capacity planning?
Capacity planning is any strategy used to identify the amount of production needed to meet the demand for goods and services created by the company. The aim is to balance the purchase of resources, maintenance of production equipment, hiring work and final performance so that consumers have a stable supply of products they want. At the same time, capacity planning is also trying to increase profits by removing unnecessary waste, including overproduction of any goods or services.
The actual capacity planning process will differ somewhat from one industry to another. Although there are unique factors for each industry that help shape access to effective planning, there are several basic elements that tend to use in any situation. Many of them have to do with the adjustment of the amount of production based on the expected demand for products, now and in the upcoming production periods.
A simple formula for capacity planning in manufacturing situations involves identifying the number of machinesThey used in the production process together with the work needed to operate these machines. This number is then multiplied by the number of working shifts that the device works constantly. For example, if the idea was to determine capacity planning daily and the plant works continuously using eight -hour shifts, the number of working shifts used would be three. Finally, factors such as the use of raw materials and the efficiency of the production process will also have an impact on the overall capacity planning process.
In most attempts to plan capacities, various approaches to maximize the efficiency of the production process will be adopted. One approach is known as the leader's strategy. This is simply a process of adding capacity, because there are indicators that demand will increase the witenký given time frame. The idea here is to prepare for increased demand by producing goods that can be stored and used to satisfy higher demand as it begins. If the expected increase in demand does not deteriorate, the company will be left with a high inA vent, which in turn increases its operating costs.
Another approach to capacity planning is called a delayed strategy. Here is the idea of satisfying increased demand, as it happens, rather to prepare for it in advance. This can be achieved by operating multiple machines or expanding production efforts from five days a week to operation on Saturdays and Sundays. Although there is a possibility to increase large stocks that do not move, there is a reduction, there is a chance that they will lose customers to competition if production cannot meet in time.
The match strategy is the third approach to capacity planning and sometimes considers a compromise between Lag and lead strategy. With the struggle strategy, the idea is to gradually increase the capacity of how demand begins to increase. If this approach is processed very carefully, it allows the supplier to always remain slightly before the demand and immediately meets the orders. At the same time, it minimizes the potential for the accumulation of unnecessarily large inventory.