2.

Group Layout (or Cellular Layout)

There is a trend now to bring an element of flexibility into manufacturing system as regards to variation
in batch sizes and sequence of operations. A grouping of equipment for performing a sequence of
operations on family of similar components or products has become all the important

The application of group technology involves two basic steps; first step is to determine component
families or groups. The second step in applying group technology is to arrange the plants equipment
used to process a particular family of components. This represents small plants within the plants. The
group technology reduces production planning time for jobs. It reduces the set-up time.

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6. AGGREGATE PLANNING STRATEGIES

There are two pure planning strategies available to the aggregate planner: a level strategy and a chase
strategy. Firms may choose to utilize one of the pure strategies in isolation, or they may opt for a
strategy that combines the two.

LEVEL STRATEGY.

A level strategy seeks to produce an aggregate plan that maintains a steady production rate and/or a
steady employment level. In order to satisfy changes in customer demand, the firm must raise or lower
inventory levels in anticipation of increased or decreased levels of forecast demand. The firm maintains
a level workforce and a steady rate of output when demand is somewhat low. This allows the firm to
establish higher inventory levels than are currently needed. As demand increases, the firm is able to
continue a steady production rate/steady employment level, while allowing the inventory surplus to
absorb the increased demand.

A second alternative would be to use a backlog or backorder. A backorder is simply a promise to deliver
the product at a later date when it is more readily available, usually when capacity begins to catch up
with diminishing demand. In essence, the backorder is a device for moving demand from one period to
another, preferably one in which demand is lower, thereby smoothing demand requirements over time.

A level strategy allows a firm to maintain a constant level of output and still meet demand. This is
desirable from an employee relations standpoint. Negative results of the level strategy would include
the cost of excess inventory, subcontracting or overtime costs, and backorder costs, which typically are
the cost of expediting orders and the loss of customer goodwill.

CHASE STRATEGY.

A chase strategy implies matching demand and capacity period by period. This could result in a
considerable amount of hiring, firing or laying off of employees; insecure and unhappy employees;
increased inventory carrying costs; problems with labor unions; and erratic utilization of plant and
equipment. It also implies a great deal of flexibility on the firm's part. The major advantage of a chase
strategy is that it allows inventory to be held to the lowest level possible, and for some firms this is a
considerable savings. Most firms embracing the just-in-time production concept utilize a chase strategy
approach to aggregate planning.

Most firms find it advantageous to utilize a combination of the level and chase strategy. A combination
strategy (sometimes called a hybrid or mixed strategy) can be found to better meet organizational goals
and policies and achieve lower costs than either of the pure strategies used independently.

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7.What is the Master Production Schedule?

As the name implies, the MPS decides what products are manufactured and when. The required raw
materials are then identified by the finished goods BOM, the data from which is then integrated with
current inventory data to create the MRP for raw materials procurement.

The Master Production Schedule forms the basis of communication between sales and manufacturing.
Using the MPS as a contract between sales and production means that sales can make valid order
promises. the MPS is not a rigid plan. MPS is a dynamic plan and can be changed when there are
changes in demand or capacity.

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8.MRP

In manufacturing, developing a plan for your resources is vital to your operation. Without resource
planning, your operation will have a much more challenging time managing various areas within your
supply chain such as inventory, production, and output. This is why utilizing a materials requirement
planning (MRP) system can efficiently manage materials within production, making it much easier for
project managers to order and organize materials waiting to be assembled

What Is Manufacturing Resource Planning?

Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) is an integrated information system used by businesses.
Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) evolved from early Materials Requirement Planning
(MRP) systems by including the integration of additional data, such as employee and financial needs.

The system is designed to centralize, integrate, and process information for effective decision making in
scheduling, design engineering, inventory management, and cost control in manufacturing.
9.Using Metrics to Influence Planning and Scheduling Behaviors

Improvement is one reason. For improvement, we need to know where we have been and hopefully,
where we want to go. Another is that people like to get a score or feedback on how the organization
sees their work. That said, while metrics reflect individual performance, the focus of metrics should be
to identify issues with the business processes associated with the work and not the individual
themselves. From the metrics, we can identify trends and patterns. Adding to that, consider: "What gets
measured gets done. What gets celebrated, gets done well."

Recognize that there are two types of metrics, leading and lagging. Both are useful. To better
understand the difference, ask yourself if you are operating within the organization as doctors or
coroners? Are you taking a pulse of the organization or performing a postmortem on last month's
performance? In most organizations, the reality is that everyone is focused on the postmortems. Often,
the reason for the postmortem focus is those numbers are the most readily available from current
reports. They are easy to identify and it is the quickest way to satisfy the demand for metrics. Lagging
metrics are like looking in the car's rearview mirror; they only tell you where you have been and not
where you are headed.

10. How can one improve Customer Service Levels without increasing cost in a manufacturing

organization?

Customer service is the golden key to any successful business – if you don’t have it, act fast and make it
a priority. Customer service has evolved over the past years; instead of just one-on-one private
interaction in person or via phone call, it is now evolved around social media as well. Social media
platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instconsumer purchase for consumers to connect with their
favorite brands almost instantly, making customer service much crucial than ever before. Want to
improve your customer service and increase sales performance? The following will help you gain insight
on what to do in order to improve your customer service and increase your sales performance:

1. Clarify Your Mission and Break the Mission into Specific Goals

2. Solicit Feedback From Customers

3. Respond Quickly

4. Cross-Sell at Every Turn

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11. Application of Theory of Constraints in Operations Scheduling.

The ultimate goal of a manufacturing company is simply to make a profit. All other objectives arising are
just components that lead to the ultimate goal eventually. Any complex production process, including
job shop manufacturing, consists of several activities that are linked and that depend on each other.
According to the Theory of Constraints, a management philosophy developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, to
effectively contribute to the ultimate goal you have to maximise the throughput. But how can we
actually check on the efficiency of the whole production line in regard of throughput?

The TOC offers one quick and simple solution: Looking at the weakest link in the chain, which
exceptionally affects the performance of the whole production line. In short, the production is only as
effective as its weakest link is. Therefore, it is essential to identify the limiting factor, the so-called
constraint or bottleneck. Once the bottleneck is revealed it can be changed, developed or replaced,
which will simultaneously increase overall throughput. This should be the top priority when seeking
rapid improvement. As aforementioned, eliminating a constraint along the assembly line will
automatically result in an improvement for the whole production chain

13. Product Layout, Process layout.

Process Layout

The process layout, also called the functional layout, is designed to keep everything organized in a
manner so that everything has its place. Think about an auto mechanic's shop. New tires are stored in
one section, whereas wrenches and other tools are stored in another section. The cans of oil are stored
together, as are other groupings of supplies or power tools.

Although this is an organized layout in which everyone always knows where all supplies and tools are
located, it isn't the most efficient for production lines, where the same job is performed every single
time. The process layout is effective when each job is a custom situation. The mechanic's shop illustrates
this well. One customer may come in needing only an oil change, but another may come in needing the
entire transmission overhauled.

Product Layout

The product layout is the opposite of the process layout. Rather than have a specific section for each
group of tools and supplies, the product layout is an assembly line. The required tools and supplies are
located at each section of the assembly line, based on where the product is in production. This is
common in auto manufacturing where the car being made is moved down the line and stops at stations
where different things are assembled. One section might be where doors are attached, whereas another
section inserts the engine.

This is an efficient system when the same product is being made without variation. Workers don't need
to search or collect tools or supplies to perform their job. Giving workers one job to perform repeatedly
reduces potential mistakes in the product assembly.
15. Tools of Process improvement.

Process improvement plays a very vital role in organizations. Lean Six Sigma is one means for creating a
deployment that is to improve the business. Through this effort there should be an upbeat task of
determining, analyzing and enhancing an organization’s business processes to achieve optimization and
new quality standards. Process improvement efforts should entail a systematic approach that adheres to
a certain methodology, where the specific approaches to accomplish this task may differ.

When undertaking a process improvement endeavor, more efficient outcomes are expected. Process
improvement may involve a sequence of actions to attain new objectives and goals, like improving
performance, reducing costs and elevating profits. Such actions may follow a particular technique or
methodology to increase the odds of achieving successful results.

The following five tools should be included in these process improvement execution roadmaps:

1.Process Baselining and Process Comparisons

2. Flowcharting

3. Value-Stream Mapping

4. Cause and Effect Analysis

5. Hypothesis Testing

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17. Causes and Remedies for ‘Bull Whip Effect’ in Supply chains.

CAUSES OF THE BULLWHIP EFFECT

Originally, the bullwhip effect was ascribed mainly to the irrational behaviour of individuals Forrester
and Sterman both assigned behavioural causes to the bullwhip effect. Later, since Lee et al. much
research focussed on the operational causes of phenomena.

Behavioural causes

Operational Causes

Demand forecast updating

Order Batching

Price Fluctuation

Rationing and Shortage Gaming

REMEDIES TO THE BULLWHIP EFFECT

Lee et al. described four operational causes of the bullwhip effect. This section is concerned with
proposed remedies to counteract these four causes

Collaboration

Remedies to Order Batching

Remedies to Price Fluctuation

Section II
Generally, inventory types can be grouped into four classifications: raw material, work-in-process,
finished goods, and MRO goods.
RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are inventory items that are used in the manufacturer's conversion process to produce
components, subassemblies, or finished products. These inventory items may be commodities or
extracted materials that the firm or its subsidiary has produced or extracted. They also may be objects
or elements that the firm has purchased from outside the organization. Even if the item is partially
assembled or is considered a finished good to the supplier, the purchaser may classify it as a raw
material if his or her firm had no input into its production.

WORK-IN-PROCESS

Work-in-process (WIP) is made up of all the materials, parts (components), assemblies, and
subassemblies that are being processed or are waiting to be processed within the system. This generally
includes all material—from raw material that has been released for initial processing up to material that
has been completely processed and is awaiting final inspection and acceptance before inclusion in
finished goods.

FINISHED GOODS

A finished good is a completed part that is ready for a customer order. Therefore, finished goods
inventory is the stock of completed products. These goods have been inspected and have passed final
inspection requirements so that they can be transferred out of work-in-process and into finished goods
inventory. From this point, finished goods can be sold directly to their final user, sold to retailers, sold to
wholesalers, sent to distribution centers, or held in anticipation of a customer order.
TRANSIT INVENTORY

Transit inventories result from the need to transport items or material from one location to another,
and from the fact that there is some transportation time involved in getting from one location to
another. Sometimes this is referred to as pipeline inventory. Merchandise shipped by truck or rail can
sometimes take days or even weeks to go from a regional warehouse to a retail facility.

2nd Question theory

Safety stock is a term used by logisticians to describe a level of extra stock that is maintained to mitigate
risk of stockouts (shortfall in raw material or packaging) caused by uncertainties in supply and demand.
Adequate safety stock levels permit business operations to proceed according to their plans.[1] Safety
stock is held when uncertainty exists in demand, supply, or manufacturing yield, and serves as an
insurance against stockouts.

Safety stock is an additional quantity of an item held in the inventory to reduce the risk that the item will
be out of stock. It acts as a buffer stock in case sales are greater than planned and/or the supplier is
unable to deliver the additional units at the expected time

1. Protect against unforeseen variation in supply

For example, if your supplier is unexpectedly closed for a week or if there is a disruption of your order in
transit, you don’t waste time fulfilling orders to your customers with safety stock. Supply chains are
longer and more globalized, with more forces causing disruptions than ever before.

2. Compensate for forecast inaccuracies (only when demand exceeds the forecast)

Perhaps you have a consistent demand for a certain item but one month you sell more than you
forecasted; with safety stock inventory in place, you don’t sacrifice your customer service level while
you replenish.

3. Prevent disruptions in manufacturing or deliveries

The purpose of safety stock is to make sure your customer service levels stay high – and your supply
chain runs smoothly. With safety stock in place, your workers are not running around trying to
constantly locate and reorder parts – they’re fulfilling orders to your customers.

4. Avoid stock outs to keep customer service and satisfaction levels high

The real goal of safety stock? Keeping customers happy. While safety stock also helps to keep your
warehouse and supply chain running smoothly, the end goal is to make sure that your customers will be
satisfied and keep coming back.