Capacity planning and production scheduling at a syringe production facility

Abstract

This study evaluates different capacity expansion approaches and develops production scheduling approaches accordingly for syringe production lines to meet the increase in demand. The study has shown that resource sharing through de-coupling of the existing dedicated, continuous flow production lines is a more economical approach to increase capacity as compared to investing in a new production line. This approach improves utilization of production lines and provides more flexibility for management in capacity planning. However, the additional demand could only be partially fulfilled and a higher level of WIP is expected. Reducing scheduled downtime by operating on holidays is recommended for production lines which do not have enough additional order to justify a new production line, and no opportunity to share resources with other production lines. Individual schedules are recommended for the injection molding and other downstream processes. Additional quantity is also incorporated for the injection molding process to cater for the loss due to scrap in the downstream processes. The improved synchronization and sufficient quantity from upstream process are expected to reduce the unscheduled downtime due to no material from upstream. A Gantt chart is included to provide better visibility for resource planning and production tracking.