Abstract
The industrial trend toward the production of a wide variety of products in small lot sizes that has become pronounced in recent years has resulted in the replacement of economies of scale with economies of scope. The concept of relative annual profit is proposed as a generally comparable economy for process capability and capacity itself, and attempts made to theoretically establish the standard relationship between this and operation rate (utilization). This paper grasps the economy of process capability and capacity planning that will address the problem of product diversification, as the idea of relative annual profit, and presents discussions on the questions inherent in the search for such plans. Two conclusions have resulted from this discussion. First, the optimal searching direction is sought based on the "profitability of capability" and the "operation rate" that constitute this relative annual profit. Second, it has become clear it is possible to establish the aspiration level leading toward this direction through the use of the aforementioned standard relationships.
