Factory Physics Scheduling

C-Suite's Factory Physics Scheduling is designed using the Factory Physics scientific principle of CONWIP.

CONWIP pull protocol is a method for achieving pull production in a wide range of production environments and is key to flow management. This mechanism maintains a nearly constant level of WIP needed to keep bottleneck processes busy by starting a new job only when the WIP level has fallen below a given maximum level. Understanding the relation between throughput (output), WIP, and cycle time is vital to an effective schedule. The result is predictable cycle times, smoother flow, and higher throughput than would be seen in an equivalent push (e.g., MRP) system. The CONWIP mechanism also isolates the variability inherent in demand from disturbing the flow. This is accomplished using the virtual queue. If demand goes up, WIP does not but the virtual queue does and the projected service levels begin to fall. Likewise if demand begins to fall, the virtual queue falls but WIP stays constant and projected inventory levels begin to rise.

This straight-forward framework is used to create a new and more effective way to schedule production. The key is to simplify the values and controls that planners must monitor. Instead of providing a detailed schedule indicating where each job is scheduled on a machine during a given time slice, Factory Physics Scheduling determines a set of control variables that will dynamically and automatically determine the schedule as the system evolves. Factory Physics Scheduling simplifies the scheduling process while monitoring projected inventory and projected service levels along with reorder points and/or lead times, production quantities (lot sizes), installed capacity, “make-up” capacity, WIP level and the virtual queue.

Factory Physics Scheduling establishes lot sizes that minimize WIP and finished goods subject to the available capacity and constraints on on-time delivery. Factory Physics Scheduling includes C-Suites Inventory Optimization to optimize inventory policies, such as safety stock while considering the tradeoffs between service and inventory levels and incorporating the error in the demand forecast. In addition, Factory Physics Scheduling leverages C-Suites Flow Optimizer to determine the least amount of WIP needed to meet demand with minimum cycle times and maximum throughput. With minimum cycle times, jobs can move through the flow in a “first in system first out” (FISFO) order without the need for a detailed schedule. Thus, once these parameters are set (reviewed periodically perhaps once per month), the planner need only monitor the projected inventory and service levels.

Using Factory Physics Scheduling simplifies supply chain management with a planning and scheduling application that can automatically respond to random changes in demand and supply without the need to reschedule.