Capacity Planning & Scheduling System

The primary purpose of the Capacity Planning & Scheduling System (CPSS) is to determine if sufficient capacity is available (in terms of equipment) to satisfy the stated demand. The user can vary the following operating parameters to conduct "What-If" analysis:

	The time period to simulate up to 365 days
	The number of shifts per day, and hours per shift
	The job numbers to be produced – CPSS has the capability to handle up to four hundred (400) different job numbers
	The consolidation period, unit sales price, engine, stage, customer, and cluster size
	The production forecast for each quarter
	The production shipments for each quarter
	The production requirements for each quarter
	The in-process inventory
	The type of station used to process the parts (these stations can be either manual or automatic) - CPSS has the capability to handle up to eighty (80) different station types
	The station capacity
	The operating sequence for each part type – this defines the sequence of operations (by station) for each part type up to sixty (60) processes
	The pass rate by job number and process
	The cycle time by job number and process
	The setup time by job number and process
	The rework station for each job number
	The Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) and Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) for each station - this is referred to as "Failure, Repair Times" in the user interface screen. CPSS uses an exponential distribution when assigning a value for MTBF and a normal distribution when assigning MTTR.
	The furnace approvals by job number

CPSS will simulate production according to the specified operating parameters. CPSS will then create a production schedule based on the results of the simulation. The production schedule is based on the due date and the operating parameters defined by the user (i.e., production quantity, product routing, setup/cycle times, downtime, etc.). All output units in this system are in minutes. The results are divided into four categories:

	Average part process time
	Station utilization, which would include the percent of time the resource was busy, idle, inactive, or down
	Station queue sizes
	Simulated production

CPSS can be used as often as is needed, based on the business/operating environment. This will allow the analyst to evaluate future business and operating scenarios to optimize the utilization and throughput of the Process Area.