Operations planning

Intro

• Production decisions cannot be made independently of rest of firm If operations managers said 1 day his department would increase output by 50% over next 6 months without coordinating this decision with other departments. Some of the problems
• Not enough capital to pay for stocks, machines and labour since finance department wouldn't know about decision
• Too few workers as HR had not been asked to add this output increase in workforce plan
• Not enough customers
• Most important link is between marketing and operations management

Operations decisions

• Operations decisions we decisions taken by operations managers that can have significant impact on success of firm
• Decisions are influenced by
• Marketing factors
• Availability of technology
• Resources
• Operations planning - preparing input resources to supply products to meet expected demand
• Link with marketing
• Mostly key information needed by operations manager when planning future production levels is estimated or forecast market demand.
• A crucial link trying to match supply to potential demand
• Process is -> sales and operations planning
• If sales forecasts are reasonably accurate operations managers should be able to:
• Match output closely to demand levels
• Keep inventory to minimum efficient levels
• Reduce wastage of production
• Employ and keep busy stable appropriate number of staff
• Produce right product mix
• 2. The availability of resources
• production of all goods and services requires resources
• availability of these resources or lack of them can influence a number of important operations decisions
• examples ;
• location - firm might locate in country or region that has abundant supply of necessary raw materials
• nature of production method - if there is a good supply of suitable employees and wages are also low firm might go for labour intensive
• automation - if costs of automated computer controlled equipment is falling then firm could decide to change production methods in favour of IT BASED SYSTEMS

3. Technology

• PRODUCTION METHODS IN SERVICE PROVISION AND GOODS MANUFACTURING HAVE CHANGED DRAMATICALLY
• RECENTLY BECAUSE OF CHEAP DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IT HAS BEEN POSSIBLE TO APPLY IT THROUGHOUT OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT
• 2 MOST IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
• CAD - COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN -USE OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS TO CREATE 2D/3D GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF PHYSICAL OBJECTS
• CAM - COMPUTER AIDED MANUFACTURING - USE OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE TO CONTROL MACHINE TOOLS AND RELATED MACHINERY IN MANUFACTURING OF COMPONENT OR COMPLETE PRODUCTS

CAD

• CAD SOFTWARE MAY BE SPECIALIZED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS LIKE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS, WIDELY USED FOR ANIMATION AND SPECIAL EFFECTS IN MOVIES,ADVERTISING AND OTHER APPLICATIONS WHERE GRAPHIC DESIGN ITSELF IS FINISHED PRODUCT ,ALSO USED TO DESIGN PHYSICAL PRODUCTS IN WIDE RANGE OF INDUSTRIES, IN PRODUCT AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGN CAD IS USED MAINLY FOR CREATING OF DETAILED 3D MODELS . USED THROUGHOUT ENGINEERING PROCESS FROM DESIGN OF PRODUCTS THROUGH ANALYSIS OF COMPONENT ASSEMBLIES TO STRUCTURE OF MANUFACTURING METHODS WHICH ALLOWS ENGINEER TO BOTH INTERACTIVELY AND AUTOMATICALLY ANALYSE DESIGN VARIATIONS TO FIND BEST DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING WHILE MINIMIZING COSTLY PHYSICAL VERSION OF PRODUCT
• BENEFITS
• LOWER PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT COSTS
• INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY
• IMPROVED PRODUCT QUALITY
• FASTER TIME TO MARKET
• GOOD VISUALIZATION OF FINAL PRODUCT AND ITS CONSTITUENT PARTS
• GREAT ACCURACY SO ERRORS REDUCED
• EASY RE-USE OF DESIGN DATA FOR OTHER PRODUCT APPLICATIONS
• DISADVANTAGES
• COMPLEXITY OF PROGRAMS
• NEED FOR EXTENSIVE EMPLOYEE TRAINING
• LARGE AMOUNT OF COMPUTER PROCESSING POWER REQUIRED WHICH CAN BE EXPENSIVE ,HIGH COST OF SOFTWARE AND RELATED ACCESSORIES

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