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Sequoia can help you implement the right mix of scheduling approaches, to create a stable, asset sweating production environment that routinely hits your stock service policy.

Scheduling Approach
Did you know that Re-Order-Point isn’t the only way to schedule? Cycle scheduling could bring big benefits!

There are three possible approaches to scheduling in the face of varying demand and each has a different effect on capacity and stock.

     
Re-Order-Point (ROP) – fixing the quantity and varying the frequency of makes. ...more
     
Cycle-Based-Scheduling (CBS) – fixing the frequency and varying the quantity of makes. ...more
     
Chaos – varying both the timing and the quantity to be made is an insoluble scheduling problem.

The 'right' scheduling approach will depend on:
     
  • The relative cost of capacity and stock
  • The number of SKUs and variability of demand
  • The significance of scheduling sequences
  • The physical batch size constraints

  • In practice a mixture of ROP and CBS can co-exist in a site, but not a production line. We usually find that most FMCG manufacturers are already cycle scheduling. They may well be doing it in an informal half-hearted way as they don’t really know that they are doing it or why … but it is driven by the fact that they have a strong sequence or product family logic with long changeovers.

    Once you have selected the correct scheduling approach for your business, you should then run an optimisation of the scheduling.
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