Re: Scheduling Mixed Rates

This exact situation is the main reason Method codes were established.

As an example if you work with PCB board insertion, you might set up
automated machinery for doing most of your insertion but for a very small
run it may be cheaper to do manual insertion.

Your normal assembly process should be your blank or default method. Then
you can have one or more alternate methods such as AU for auto, MN for
manual, ND for no direct labor.

When you create a routing for an alternative method code, it can have
differing machine usages, rates etc.

 Planned orders will then be generated making the assumption that the blank
method will be used. However you can manually change the method code to be
used by an individual order, the assigned method code will then be used in
all capacity calculations involving that order.  In fact this is usually
the daily nuts and bolts of capacity planning, deciding which orders are
going to be scheduled on what machines to achieve maximum throughput. These
decisions are reflected in BPCS by the assigning of method codes to orders.

Furthermore you can now generate engineering variances (due to a change in
manufacturing methods) as well as manufacturing variances (due to not being
able to execute the order at standard rates). All of this costing effort
does  require a lot of work extending standard BPCS cost reporting, but my
point is that it is possible.




                                                                                
              
                    MacWheel99@aol.                                             
              
                    com                    To:     BPCS-L@midrange.com (BPCS 
Users Discussion 
                    Sent by:               Group), jcoop@midwest.net (Jerry 
Cooper),          
                    owner-bpcs-l@mi        krm@evansville.net (Kevin Martin)    
              
                    drange.com             cc:                                  
              
                                           Subject:     Scheduling Mixed Rates  
              
                                                                                
              
                    12/07/1999                                                  
              
                    09:56 AM                                                    
              
                    Please respond                                              
              
                    to BPCS-L                                                   
              
                                                                                
              
                                                                                
              




Al Macintyre 405 CD AS/400 Mixed Mode v4r3

We generate custom turn-around job tickets to track raw material & direct
labor consumption but do not yet factor in setup time or indirect labor.
In
some departments we have machines to handle most of the work very
efficiently, with the excess done by hand which is very slow.  The
supervisor
keeps the machines busy with whatever they can accept out of our highest
priority work, then keeps direct labor busy with the excess work that is
not
right now on any machine, then when the supervisor has time also pitches in
with indirect labor.

This was clarified for me because periodically they want me to adjust the
job
printing program which predicts volume of job tickets appropriate to print
based on standard time to product the order quantity, crew size, and some
supervisor estimated needs by work center, a formula which needs tuning.
However, there is a larger issue of scheduling work efficiently through our
factory & capturing correct costs,

The operations are routed a particular way, but sometimes the work occurs
on
the fast machines, sometimes on the slow by hand direct labor, sometimes
via
indirect supervisor, with the selection which made after the shop order
paperwork hits the shop floor.  If the costs were correctly captured on any
given part, the variances would not make any sense to anyone after the
fact.
We also have a work force that is cross-trained to the point that when
there
is underload in one work center, some of the workers can be moved to
another
work center.

It seems to me that I have described a level of work center rates depth
that
is beyond BPCS comprehension.  Ideally capacity planning should know that
we
have a cluster of high rate machines that can handle work volume up to some
load within first shift, and a mobile work force that can perform in any
number of work centers on machines that are not automatic unmanned
(actually
we have some humans who service several machines concurrently) once setup
completed, and give a fair estimate of how long some work volume should
take
to get through the mixed rate operations and when impending volume dictates
advance warning reccommendation of overtime or 2nd shift work force on the
higher speed machines,

Am I expecting too much of BPCS planning, or should we be able to hold CAP
to
the same standards of accuracy & precision & ability to back track to which
we hold INV?

Al
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