Process Selection and Monique Food Processing Company and Capacity
clw0dq8
Week4WeekGuidance.docx
(Chapters 7 and 8)
NOTE: If you did not start on your final project last week, then start this week (please read the directions and the grading rubric CAREFULLY). Go to week 6 and read about the final project. You will analyze a case/company using several pages (10-12 for the body only, you will need a title page & reference page and they should be perfect). You need to think about how you will present all information in this paper. Do you know how to add first and second level headers to your paper? You should have at least 5 or more outside readings (scholarly--not all material from the library is scholarly) to go along with the book material (how many sources are you to use?) The more outside readings you have the easier it will be to put the paper together. If you used scholarly sources on the discussion board, reuse them if necessary. You will put as much new material (5-6 or more new items of material from this class like forecasting, productivity, strategy, SWOT, etc.) in your paper as possible. Please try to stay within the length guidelines. If you have question please let me know. Waiting until the last week of class to put this paper together is not a wise move! Remember, it cannot be late. Please follow all directions carefully; it is worth a large portion of your total grade for the six weeks. I will grade hard, but that should not be a problem for anyone because I hope I have you trained well in this area.
Chapter 7
Video: https://youtu.be/_GkxWZF_Kwc
Facility Location refers to the location of a service or manufacturing facility with respect to customers, suppliers and other existing facilities such that it allows the company to gain a competitive and/or strategic edge. In making a location decision, both tangible costs such as the cost of operating the facility, cost of land (if it applies), cost of labor, taxes, utilities and the cost of inbound and outbound transportation, and intangible costs such as availability of qualified labor, and labor climate must be considered. Since the location decision usually involves making a large capital investment, it not only influences the firm’s ability to compete but also has long-term strategic implications. Therefore, in making the location decision, we should consider issues related to marketing, production, transportation and other relevant costs as well as the strategy of the organization. The importance of various factors in relation to the location decision will vary between service and manufacturing organizations but from industry to industry as well.
Chapter 8
Video: https://youtu.be/_GkxWZF_Kwc
Capacity is an upper bound on the road that a facility or a plant can serve or manufacture. We measure the capacity of a plant, machine department, worker, hospital, etc., either in terms of output (number of units or number of pounds manufactured) or in terms of input (number of machine hours or machines needed to satisfy demand).
Capacity planning refers to the activities of the firm in determining the capacity of a plant or a facility in terms of equipment, machines, space, workers and processes based on the resource constraints of the facility. In other words, a major function of capacity planning is to match the capacity of the machine or facility with the demand for the products of the firm.
Capacity planning can be classified into three planning horizons:
1. Long range
2. Medium range
3. Short range
The amount of time covered by each of the above planning horizons can vary from industry to industry. Therefore, the lines of demarcation between the three different levels of planning horizons can be very imprecise. Nevertheless, the long range planning generally considers planning horizons of one year or longer. A time period of one year or longer is needed to provide sufficient time to build a new facility, to expand the existing facility or to move to a new facility due to foretasted changes in demand.
Medium range capacity planning horizon ranges approximately from one month to six months. At this level of planning, decisions or activities include acquisition of a major piece of machinery and subcontracting.
Short range planning horizon covers capacity planning activities on a daily or a weekly basis and are generated as a result of dis-aggregation of the long or medium range capacity plans. These activities include machine loading and detailed production scheduling.
The main quantitative technique covered is cost-volume analysis.
