2022 Volume 73 Issue 2E Pages 136-144
Long lead times are a recurring problem in highly customized manufacturing environments such as High-Mix Low-Volume production systems. Analysis of data from a manufacturer indicated problems in the planning function of the production process as a major cause for the long lead times. This research aimed to assist the strategic and operation managerial staff of a similar production process in decision making process involved in determining the resource allocation. Data synthesized by referencing actual data from the manufacturer is subjected to a simulated product flow. The simulated production environment is based on an actual workshop of the manufacturer. The results are statistically analyzed to determine the relationship between different variables describing the production environment and the lead time of the given product. The behavior and results of the simulation model were validated using historical data for 3 days, which showed a Maximum Absolute Error of 1.47%. Multiple regression analysis was used to develop a relationship between the variables and the lead time. The results from the regression analysis indicated a strong relationship between machine allocation, total number of parts processed and the workload with the lead time of a given product. Response Surface Methodology is used to visualize the variation of lead time under different resource allocation policies.
