In-plant material buffer sizes for pull system and level-material-shipping environments in the automotive industry

In-plant material buffer sizes for pull system and level-material-shipping environments in the automotive industry

0.00 Avg rating0 Votes
Article ID: iaor1998671
Country: United Kingdom
Volume: 35
Issue: 5
Start Page Number: 1213
End Page Number: 1228
Publication Date: May 1997
Journal: International Journal of Production Research
Authors: , ,
Keywords: manufacturing industries, inventory
Abstract:

Traditionally automotive assembly plants operate with at least two weeks of frozen vehicle orders enabling them to calculate the amount of material needed for the next two weeks. Implementing a pull system between the plant and its customers, and level-material-shipping between the plant and its suppliers, changes the amount of material buffer needed within the assembly plant. The pull system eliminates the frozen vehicle-order schedule, without which plants cannot calculate the material needed, but must use inventory to buffer the line from random demand. Level-material-shipping, a just-in-time principle that provides suppliers with a constant shipping schedule, forces plants to use material inventory to buffer the line from un-level demand for parts resulting from un-level production or an un-level model mix. We model these effects to derive formulae for the buffer needed to provide a given service level in the face of demand variability, un-level production, and un-level model-mix.

Reviews

Required fields are marked *. Your email address will not be published.