Master Planning and Scheduling, 4th Edition

16Supply Management and Aggregate Master Planning

Don't change the plan and/or schedule faster than the real world can respond.

Imagine a company that manufactures two families of computer equipment, Quantum and Phaser. Lightning Computer Company has hundreds of suppliers and thousands of customers in different parts of the world. Its six assembly plants are located on three continents.

While corporate has a couple of master (supply) planners requesting production volumes (approved through the integrated business planning [IBP] or sales and operations planning [S&OP] process) from each of its six plants, each of the plants has a master (supply) scheduler whose responsibilities include balancing the planned supply of material and capacity with anticipated customer and stock orders expected to come into the plant. If Lightning Computer is well managed, it is because someone above the plant level has taken responsibility for understanding overall demand for the company's different computers and has optimized the way in which that demand will be satisfied.

Lightning Computer Company has two Asian assembly plants, one in Malaysia and another in Taiwan. These plants are near some important component suppliers but are far away from others. The Asian plants are the company's newest and most productive, but the fact that most of their finished goods must be shipped to North America and Europe offsets part of their cost‐effectiveness.

Of the company's other four assembly plants, two ...