The contribution of focus in collaborative planning for make-to-order production situation with large set-up times

This paper investigates circumstances under which the advantages of focus compensate for the loss of pooling synergy in a make-to-order situation with two machines and an even number of identical product families. The results acquired through simulations show that in situation with large set-ups a small increase of the foreknowledge horizon is sufficient to realize the same utilization rate with focus as with pooling. The conclusion is that set-up time reduces the positive effects of pooling and that focus is attractive in situations with large set-ups.