Analysis of setup time at constraint resources

The issue of setup time has received a great deal of research effort during the past decade. Most of the related literature has focused on attempts to reduce the setup time, also referred to as quick changeover. First, rather than analysing setup time reductions at all workcentres (resources) to gain improvements, the paper suggests focusing such efforts on bottleneck resources. Second, the results of this study conclude that a critical piece of information needed for finite scheduling is missing from the existing MRP database. The missing data field is a code to represent a setup procedure. Current systems infer that setup time is an independent variable that is different for each manufactured inventory item. The case study suggests that a setup procedure, and the required time, can be the same for multiple inventory items. Identifying these procedures can lead to the preparation of finite schedules that can improve due date performance and/or reduce overtime required to meet promised ship dates.