5

Capacity Planning For Products and Services

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Copyright 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives
     Explain the importance of capacity planning. Discuss ways of defining and measuring capacity. Describe the determinants of effective capacity. Discuss the major considerations related to developing capacity alternatives. Briefly describe approaches that are useful for evaluating capacity alternatives
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Capacity Planning
 Capacity is the upper limit or ceiling on the load that an operating unit can handle.  Capacity also includes
  

Equipment Space Employee skills

 The basic questions in capacity handling are:

  

What kind of capacity is needed? How much is needed? When is it needed?

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Importance of Capacity Decisions

1. Impacts ability to meet future demands 2. Affects operating costs 3. Major determinant of initial costs 4. Involves long-term commitment 5. Affects competitiveness 6. Affects ease of management 7. Globalization adds complexity 8. Impacts long range planning
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Capacity
 Design capacity


maximum output rate or service capacity an operation, process, or facility is designed for Design capacity minus allowances such as personal time, maintenance, and scrap rate of output actually achieved--cannot exceed effective capacity.

 Effective capacity


 Actual output


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Efficiency and Utilization

Efficiency = Actual output Effective capacity Actual output Design capacity

Utilization =

Both measures expressed as percentages

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Efficiency/Utilization Example
Design capacity = 50 trucks/day Effective capacity = 40 trucks/day Actual output = 36 units/day

Actual output

36 units/day = 40 units/ day

Efficiency =
90% Effective capacity

Utilization =
72%

Actual output Design capacity

36 units/day 50 units/day =
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Determinants of Effective Capacity

        Facilities Product and service factors Process factors Human factors Policy factors Operational factors Supply chain factors External factors
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Strategy Formulation
    Capacity strategy for long-term demand Demand patterns Growth rate and variability Facilities
 Cost of building and operating

 Technological changes
 Rate and direction of technology changes

 Behavior of competitors  Availability of capital and other inputs

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Key Decisions of Capacity Planning

1. Amount of capacity needed
Capacity cushion (100% - Utilization)

2. Timing of changes 3. Need to maintain balance 4. Extent of flexibility of facilities

Capacity cushion extra demand intended to offset uncertainty

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Steps for Capacity Planning

1. Estimate future capacity requirements 2. Evaluate existing capacity 3. Identify alternatives 4. Conduct financial analysis 5. Assess key qualitative issues 6. Select one alternative 7. Implement alternative chosen 8. Monitor results
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Forecasting Capacity Requirements

 Long-term vs. short-term capacity needs  Long-term relates to overall level of capacity such as facility size, trends, and cycles  Short-term relates to variations from seasonal, random, and irregular fluctuations in demand

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Calculating Processing Requirements

P ro d u c t Annual D em and S ta n d a rd p r o c e s s in g tim e p e r u n it ( h r .) P r o c e s s in g tim e n e e d e d (h r.)

#1 #2 #3

400 300 700

5 .0 8 .0 2 .0

2 ,0 0 0 2 ,4 0 0 1 ,4 0 0 5 ,8 0 0

If annual capacity is 2000 hours, then we need three machines to handle the required volume: 5,800 hours/2,000 hours = 2.90 machines
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Planning Service Capacity

 Need to be near customers
 Capacity and location are closely tied

 Inability to store services

 Capacity must be matched with timing of demand

 Degree of volatility of demand

 Peak demand periods

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In-House or Outsourcing InOutsource: obtain a good or service from an external provider

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Available capacity Expertise Quality considerations Nature of demand Cost Risk

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Developing Capacity Alternatives

1.Design flexibility into systems 2.Take stage of life cycle into account 3.Take a big picture approach to capacity changes 4.Prepare to deal with capacity chunks 5.Attempt to smooth out capacity requirements 6.Identify the optimal operating level
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Bottleneck Operation
Figure 5.2

Machine #1 Machine #2

10/hr

Bottleneck operation: An operation in a sequence of operations whose capacity is lower than that of the other operations

10/hr

Bottleneck Operation
10/hr 10/hr

30/hr

Machine #3

Machine #4

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Bottleneck Operation
Bottleneck

Operation 1 20/hr.

Operation 2 10/hr.

Operation 3 15/hr.

10/hr.

Maximum output rate limited by bottleneck

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Economies of Scale
 Economies of scale
 If the output rate is less than the optimal level, increasing output rate results in decreasing average unit costs

 Diseconomies of scale
 If the output rate is more than the optimal level, increasing the output rate results in increasing average unit costs

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Optimal Rate of Output

Figure 5.4
Production units have an optimal rate of output for minimal cost. Average cost per unit

Minimum average cost per unit

Minimum cost

Rate of output
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Economies of Scale
Figure 5.5
Minimum cost & optimal operating rate are functions of size of production unit. Average cost per unit

Small
plant

Medium plant

Large plant

Output rate

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Evaluating Alternatives
 Cost-volume analysis
 Break-even point

 Financial analysis
 Cash flow  Present value

 Decision theory  Waiting-line analysis

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CostCost-Volume Relationships
Figure 5.6a

Amount ($)

Fixed cost (FC) 0 Q (volume in units)

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CostCost-Volume Relationships
Figure 5.6b

Amount ($) 0

Q (volume in units)
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CostCost-Volume Relationships
Figure 5.6c

Amount ($) 0

BEP units Q (volume in units)

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BreakBreak-Even Problem with Step Fixed Costs Figure 5.7a

3 machines 2 machines 1 machine Quantity Step fixed costs and variable costs.
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BreakBreak-Even Problem with Step Fixed Costs Figure 5.7b

$
BEP2 TC 3 TC 2 1 BEP
3

TC

Quantity Multiple break-even points

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Assumptions of Cost-Volume CostAnalysis

1.One product is involved 2.Everything produced can be sold 3.Variable cost per unit is the same regardless of volume 4.Fixed costs do not change with volume 5.Revenue per unit constant with volume 6.Revenue per unit exceeds variable cost per unit

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Financial Analysis
 Cash Flow - the difference between cash received from sales and other sources, and cash outflow for labor, material, overhead, and taxes.  Present Value - the sum, in current value, of all future cash flows of an investment proposal.

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Decision Theory
 Helpful tool for financial comparison of alternatives under conditions of risk or uncertainty  Suited to capacity decisions  See Chapter 5 Supplement

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WaitingWaiting-Line Analysis
 Useful for designing or modifying service systems  Waiting-lines occur across a wide variety of service systems  Waiting-lines are caused by bottlenecks in the process  Helps managers plan capacity level that will be cost-effective by balancing the cost of having customers wait in line with the cost of additional capacity
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Video: Capacity

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Video: Call Ctr. Cap.

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