To provide high service level, an organisation must maintain flexibility in production planning. This allows them to react to changes in demand and supply information. Changes in production plan decreases planning stability. Low stability has knock on effect on supply of material. This causes disruptions in production and delivery as well as increased cost due to higher inventory cost, stockout costs, expediting cost and sub optimal setups cost. This study aims to determine the methods to improve planning stability. The factors that influence stability like planning horizon, safety stock, inventory policies are examined in detail in a real world setting. Literature review of existing work on planning stability was carried out. Single case study was used to study this phenomenon in depth at a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Qualitative data regarding planning method, flow of information, interaction between departments, time horizons were studied. Quantitative data includes the production plans across different planning cycles. Existing stability levels were computed to determine the future levels of stability required. The literature was compared with existing working methods to find improvements. Plans away from the frozen period will have low stability due to forecast volatility. But as we move closer to frozen period, higher stability should be achieved. Low planning horizon in the immediate periods are due to material supply uncertainty which can be prevented by having responsible suppliers and increasing safety stocks. Using a stabilisation parameter can prevent rescheduling when small changes in demand occurs. This ensures unnecessary reaction to small changes are prevented.  Increasing the planning horizon will provide suppliers with accurate information regarding quantity and timing which will in turn help them plan better. Lastly, safety capacity in production can help towards handling unexpected production loses and thereby prevent re-planning.

Bicycle leader brands have shift production overseas to reduce the cost of labor and to implement new technologies at lower cost. Bike manufacturer both in Asia and Europe employ a traditional way of production  based on economics of scale that aims cost per unit reduction. Where MRP systems and forecasting are part of their day basis operations. This traditional way of operation offers room for innovation that must be seen as a business opportunity. Thus, alternative management approaches can strengthen strategic goals and improve responsiveness and flexibility. Bicycle brands producing locally should implement alternative management systems to remain competitive, to take the maximum advantage of their location, to improve customer service and to cut operational cost. The course of action followed was a market analys is to understand the nature of the bicyclemarket within European Union. Similarly, a Business Process Reengineering was conducted to identify with the current operational processes and opportunities within the bicycle industry. Based on the Business Process Engineering, an alternative business model was presented. The main proposed solution to improve the current operational processes:  (a) Implementation of Just-­‐in-­‐time management system and relocation of assembly facilities.  (b) Benchmark IKEA core methods, designing products for supply chain and that customer assemble  the future themselves. (c) Benchmark Dell Computer business model of customization and supply chain. Finally, the fundaments for an alternative business concept were established regarding bicycle design concept, strategy planning and production system design.

ITAB Shop Concept är ett multinationellt företag som utvecklar, tillverkar, säljer samt installerar inredningskoncept och produkter till butikskedjor. En del av denna produktion innefattar tillverkning av kassadiskar, vilka består av komplexa produktstrukturer med hundratals ingående komponenter. På grund av att ITAB upplevde att komponenter saknades vid start av kassadiskmontaget, gavs uppdraget att undersöka orsakerna till detta. Studiens syfte var att kartlägga och analysera orsaker till störningar i ledtider som påverkar tillgängligheten på komponenter till monteringsavdelningen på ITAB Shop Concept Jönköping samt ge rekommendationer. Produktionen av kassadiskar var helt kundorderstyrd och produktionsplanering skedde med hjälp av affärssystemet Jeeves Universal. Metoden som användes var materialbehovsplanering, vilket innebär att planeringen av tillverkning och inköp baseras på kassadiskarnas produktstrukturer, lagersaldon och ledtider. ITAB producerade mellan 50-60 kassadiskar vid högsäsong och mellan 30-40 stycken vid lågsäsong. Vid insamlingen av dataunderlaget undersöktes tillverkningsorder som inte var startklara vid planerat startdatum. Detta gjordes genom daglig mätning, där samtliga tillverkningsorder inspekterades för att utläsa vilka komponenter som hade brist mot lager. Mätningarna visade att egenproducerade komponenter utgjorde drygt hälften av bristerna medan inköpta utgjorde ungefär en femtedel. Resterande brister berodde på så kallade fästelement, vilket är ett samlingsnamn för bland annat skruvar och muttrar. Dessa komponenter är lågvärdesartiklar och med hjälp av en bättre styrningsmetod skulle detta problemet kunna reduceras. Bättre rutiner för snabbinventering skulle behöva införas för att förhindra att minussaldon uppstår. Detta gäller inte enbart fästelement utan för samtliga artiklar i produktionen. För egenproducerade komponenter identifierades i vilka produktionsgrupper en störning i ledtiden först uppstod. För sex av dessa studerades rutinerna mer djupgående för att utreda varför störningar hade uppstått. De problem som identifierades var bland annat bristande rapporteringar och att data i Jeeves inte överensstämde med verkligheten. För två av produktionsgrupperna var den utförda arbetstiden mer än 50 respektive 80 procent längre än planerad. Detta medförde att planerad beläggning inte var tillförlitlig och operatörerna i dessa produktionsgrupper hade svårt att hinna med. För att förbättra detta och få en bättre planering bör regelbunden uppdatering av ställ- och stycktider utföras. Mätningarna visade även på tydliga felaktigheter mellan verkliga lagersaldon och de registrerade i Jeeves. En av anledningarna till detta var bristande rutiner vid kassationer. Då en kassation uppstod rapporterade operatören detta, men det kunde ta lång tid innan det noterades av produktionsplanerna på grund av hur planeringen i affärssystemet var uppbyggt. Eftersom produktionen var direkt kundorderstyrd innebar en kassation att en ny akut tillverkningsorder behövde släppas. Därför är det viktigt att dessa tidigt behandlas för att inte brist ska uppstå. Efter att en akutorder har släppts är det även viktigt att denna prioriteras i produktionen, vilket gjordes genom att produktionsledarna lämnade ut en lista till berörda produktionsgrupper. Detta skulle istället kunna göras med hjälp av Jeeves, eftersom systemet är försett med möjligheten att använda prioriteringskoder. Ett annat problem som identifierades i ett par produktionsgrupper var att körplanen som Jeeves utformat inte följdes. För plockning av material användes istället en lista baserad på när kundorder skulle vara klara. Detta medförde att material plockades samtidigt till monteringen och lackeringen, trots att lackering utförs innan montering. Därför bör truckförarna för kassadiskplocket följa körplanen för att säkerställa att material har plockats fram i rätt tidpunkt till respektive operation. För en av produktionsgrupperna var det svårt att följa körplanen och för att lösa detta behöver bättre förståelse för andras arbetsrutiner utvecklas hos personalen. Genom ett bättre samarbete mellan och inom produktionsgrupperna skulle det vara enklare för vissa produktionsgrupper att genomföra sitt arbete. För inköpta komponenter är det många variabler som påverkar och de problem som datainsamlingen påvisade var att inleveranser ofta blev stående i godsmottagningen. Detta medförde att materialet inte blev tillgängligt i affärssystemet även om det fysiskt fanns tillgängligt i produktionsanläggningen. En annan observation som gjordes var att material ofta beställdes till samma dag som det skulle användas i produktionen. Detta innebar att materialet behövde levereras i rätt tid från leverantörerna för att inte brist skulle uppstå. Eftersom ledtiderna för anskaffning av material var korta ställs större krav, något som inte återspeglades tillbaka på leverantörerna. Utifrån studiens resultat blev det tydligt att ITAB behöver fokusera mer på tillgänglighet av material. Därför kan det vara av intresse att undersöka huruvida det är ett felaktigt fokus i produktionen. Genom ITABs fokusering på leveransprecision och slutdatum uppstod suboptimering och operatörerna hade ingen helhetsuppfattning över tillgänglighet. Därför är det rimligt att fokusering på tillgänglighet och startdatum istället skulle skapa bättre balans i produktionen, vilket skulle kunna leda till ökad produktivitet. / ITAB Shop Concept is a multinational company that develops, manufactures, sells and installs interior design concepts and products to retail chain stores. A part of this production includes manufacturing of checkouts, which have complex product structures with hundreds of components. This thesis came to because ITAB experienced that components were missing at the start of the checkout assembly. The purpose of this thesis was to identify and analyze the causes of lead-time deviations that affect the availability of components to the assembly section at ITAB Shop Concept in Jönköping and give recommendations. The production of checkouts was completely customer-driven and the production planning was done with the ERP-system Jeeves Universal. The method used was material requirements planning, which base the production planning for purchasing and self-production on the product structures of the checkouts and also on inventory levels and lead times. ITAB produced between 50-60 checkouts at peak season and 30-40 in the off-season. To collect data material, every manufacturing order, which wasn’t ready to the planned start, was examined. This was done by making daily measurements, where all manufacturing orders were inspected to deduce which components had a shortage of stock. The measurements showed that self-produced components contributed to slightly more than half of the shortages while purchased components constituted of approximately one-fifth. The remaining shortages were due to screws and brackets. These components are low-cost products and by using a better inventory control method, the risk of shortages for these could be reduced. Better procedures for rapid update of inventory would also be necessary in order to prevent the occurrence of negative inventory balance. This applies not only to screws and brackets but for all components in the production. For self-produced components, production groups could be identified where a disturbance in lead-time first emerged. For six of these, routines where examined in more detail to investigate why the disturbance had occurred. The problems that were identified were for instance lack of reporting and that the data in Jeeves didn’t correspond to the reality. For two of the production groups, the reported work time was more than 50 percent and 80 percent longer than planned. This meant that scheduled availability was unreliable and the operators of these production groups had a hard time keeping up. To improve this and get a better production plan, planned work time and setup time should be regularly updated. The measurements also showed clear errors between actual inventory levels and the levels registered in Jeeves. One reason for this was found to be inadequate procedures for wasting. When wastage occurred, the operator reported this but then it could take a while before the production planner noted this because of how the planning was structured in the ERP-system. Since production was directly customer-driven, a new urgent manufacturing order had to be released. Therefore it’s important that these cases are noted early to avoid that shortages occur. When an urgent manufacturing order has been released, it’s also important that this order is prioritized within the production. At the time of this thesis, this was done by the production managers who gave out a list of urgent orders to the production groups. This could instead be performed with the help of Jeeves, as the system already is equipped with the ability to use priority codes. Another problem that was identified in a few productions groups was that the dispatch list that Jeeves generated wasn’t followed. Instead the operators in charge of transporting components to the assembly section and painting area used a list based on the orders completion date. This meant that the components were delivered at the same time to both these production groups, even though the painting should be done before the assembly takes place. Therefore, truck drivers for checkout components should follow the dispatch list in order to make sure that materials are transported to the correct operation at the correct time. Although, for one of the operations, it would be difficult to follow the dispatch list because many orders are combined. To solve this, personnel need to have better understanding of each other’s work routines. Through better collaborations between and within the productions groups, a better work situation could evolve. For purchase components, there are many variables that influence and one of the problems that were identified was that deliveries often were left standing in the receiving area. This meant that the material wasn’t available in the ERP-system even though the material was available within the production plant. Another observation that was made was that materials often were ordered to the same day it would be used in the production. This meant that the material had to be delivered on time from suppliers in order to avoid that shortages would occur. Given that the lead times for procurement of materials were short, it requires higher demands. These demands were not reflected back to the suppliers, which should be the case. Based on the results of this study, it became clear that ITAB has to focus more on the availability of materials. Therefore, it may be of interest to investigate whether right focus is used or not. While ITAB is focusing on delivery precision and completion dates, the operations were sub-optimized and the operators didn’t have a whole view of the material flow. It is therefore reasonable to believe that focus on availability and start date instead would create a better balance in the material flow, which could lead to increased productivity.

El sector metalmecánico en el Perú está incrementando su participación en el mercado generando mayor venta y mayor volumen de exportación a otros países, sin embargo, las empresas del sector muestran un nivel bajo de eficacia en la producción respecto a la demanda del sector ya que no se llega a satisfacer la demanda total. Esta ineficacia se debe que la mayoría de las empresas son informales y no realizan una planificación adecuada para la producción basándose, dando como resultado que produzcan basándose en su experiencia, su instinto y su intuición, lo cual genera mucha improvisación en las empresas. Para resolver esta problemática propusieron un modelo de planificación de la gestión de la producción utilizando las herramientas material requirement planning (MRP) y Heijunka con el fin de tener un control del proceso de producción y del inventario de la empresa, así como poder tener niveladas las diferentes líneas de producción para reducir el sobre stock y los sobrecostos. Realizaron un caso de estudio en una empresa Mype del sector metalmecánica especializada en la producción de cajas galvanizadas donde implementaron el modelo propuesto y scompararon los resultados del proceso actual y del proceso con la implementación de la solución, dando como resultado una mejora en la productividad de 30%. / The metalworking sector in Peru is increasing its participation in the market, generating greater sales and greater volume of exports to other countries, however, the companies in the sector show a low level of efficiency in production compared to the demand of the sector since they do not the total demand is met. This inefficiency is due to the fact that most companies are informal and do not carry out adequate planning for production based, resulting in that they produce based on their experience, instinct and intuition, which generates a lot of improvisation in companies. To solve this problem, they proposed a production management planning model using the material requirement planning (MRP) and Heijunka tools in order to have control of the production process and the company's inventory, as well as to be able to level the different production lines to reduce overstock and cost overruns. They carried out a case study in a Mype company in the metalworking sector specialized in the production of galvanized boxes where they implemented the proposed model and compared the results of the current process and the process with the implementation of the solution, resulting in an improvement in the productivity of 30%. / Trabajo de investigación

La presente investigación realizada tiene como objetivo principal mejorar el nivel de servicio para la entrega de los productos terminados en una empresa manufacturera de cables eléctricos. Por ende, se aplicó la metodología de Planificación de Requerimiento de Materiales (MRP), cuya herramienta y método permitirá desplegar una propuesta de solución sólida, científica y aplicada a la problemática actual. En primer lugar, se realizó la revisión bibliográfica, citando fuentes y artículos científicos que sustenten y avalen la investigación. Seguidamente, se realizó el análisis de la problemática actual y determinación de causas, para ello se aplicaron métodos y herramientas de ingeniería industrial para la obtención de las causas raíz del problema, las cuales estaban ligadas a los métodos de la empresa. En consecuencia, se formula la hipótesis que la aplicación del MRP, a través del registro de inventario, lista de materiales y el plan maestro de producción (PMP), permitirá mitigar el impacto operativo y económico del problema principal, el cual son los retrasos en la entrega de producto terminado a los clientes. Dicha hipótesis es materia de estudio del siguiente capítulo, donde, en primer lugar, se sustenta que el MRP es la propuesta de mejora que mejor se ajusta a la descripción y la naturaleza de la presente investigación; para luego desplegar propiamente la metodología en sí. Dicho despliegue se realizó a través de la aplicación de la herramienta del MRP antes mencionadas, estructurada bajo un diseño de propuesta basado en planear, ejecutar, verificar y actuar. Finalmente, para la comprobación y verificación de la solución al problema, se realizó una simulación de la propuesta a través de un software, donde se comprobó que efectivamente, luego de la aplicación de la propuesta, se lograría reducir los retrasos en la entrega del producto terminado a los clientes. Además, se realizó una evaluación económica de la propuesta para comprobar la viabilidad del proyecto, respaldando así la presente investigación. / The main objective of the present investigation carried out is to improve the level of service for the delivery of finished products in an electrical cable manufacturing company. Therefore, the Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) methodology was applied, whose tool and method will allow the deployment of a solid, scientific solution proposal applied to the current problem. In the first place, the bibliographic review was carried out, citing sources and scientific articles that support and endorse the research. Next, the analysis of the current problem and determination of causes was carried out, for this, industrial engineering methods and tools were applied to obtain the root causes of the problem, which were linked to the company's methods. Consequently, the hypothesis is formulated that the application of the MRP, through the inventory record, the list of materials and the master production plan (PMP), will mitigate the operational and economic impact of the main problem, which are the delays in delivery of finished product to customers. This hypothesis is the subject of study in the next chapter, where, firstly, it is argued that the MRP is the improvement proposal that best fits the description and nature of the present investigation; and then properly deploy the methodology itself. Said deployment was carried out through the application of the aforementioned MRP tool, structured under a proposal design based on planning, executing, verifying and acting. Finally, for the verification and verification of the solution to the problem, a simulation of the proposal was carried out through software, where it was verified that effectively, after the application of the proposal, it would be possible to reduce the delays in the delivery of the product finished to customers. In addition, an economic evaluation of the proposal was carried out to verify the viability of the project, thus supporting the present investigation. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional