Question

Before attacking this week's discussion forum, you will want to read, make notes from, and thoroughly understand several key concepts:

1. Aggregate Planning
2. Supply Chain Management
3. Master Scheduling
4. Inventory Management
5. Demand Forecasting and Lead Times
6. Economic Order models
7. Economic Production Quantities
8. Strategies for managing uneven demand
9. Tools and/or systems used to control inventory, establish EOQs, and forecast demand
10. Day-to-day scheduling methods and systems

IMPORTANT: Once you have a good handle on each of these concepts and how they affect a business, pick any 4 concepts that you want to evaluate where you work. If you are not familiar with planning, supply chain management, inventory management, and order models within your business, find someone who is and gather information as to how your organization manages planning and inventories. If you are in a service related business, you will want to evaluate how the concepts you have selected relate to your business? If you are in the military and not familiar with these concepts, you may have to interview someone who is involved with logistics or planning.

Answer 1

Aggregate Planning

Aggregate planning is the process of developing, analyzing, and maintaining a preliminary, approximate schedule of the overall operations of an organization. Aggregate planning involves developing a general plan for employment, output, and inventory levels. ... Planners attempt to determine the best way to meet forecasted demand requirements within the constraints imposed by long-term decisions. The purpose of aggregate planning is planning ahead because it takes time to implement plans. The second reason is strategic of the company and third aggregate planning help synchronize flow throughout the supply chain; it affects costs, equipment utilization, employment levels and customer satisfaction.

Here are the steps in developing an aggregate plan:

Step 1 Identify the aggregate plan that matches your company's objectives: level, chase, or hybrid.

Step 2 Based on the aggregate plan, determine the aggregate production rate. ...

Step 3 Calculate the size of the workforce. ...

Step 4 Test the aggregate plan.

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management is the management of the flow of goods and services and includes all processes that transform raw materials into final products. It involves the active streamlining of a business's supply-side activities to maximize customer value and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

A supply chain is comprised of all the businesses and individual contributors involved in creating a product, from raw materials to finished merchandise. ... Examples of supply chain activities include farming, refining, design, manufacturing, packaging, and transportation.

The Supply Chain Management Process includes the building blocks of Supply Chain Management are Strategic Planning, Demand Planning, Supply Planning, Procurement, Manufacturing, Warehousing, Order Fulfillment and Transportation business processes

Master Scheduling

A master production schedule is a plan for individual commodities to be produced in each time period such as production, staffing, inventory, etc. It is usually linked to manufacturing where the plan indicates when and how much of each product will be demanded.

They are responsible for creating, executing, and monitoring a schedule management system. Master schedulers work for a variety of organizations, including consulting firms and manufacturing agencies. They usually work in an office setting or production facility, but may travel as needed. Check the quality of products to ensure that they meet client expectations. Ensure that the quantity and specifications of products are correct. Order materials from suppliers. Record production progress daily.

Inventory Management

Inventory management is the supervision of non-capitalized assets (inventory) and stock items. A component of supply chain management, inventory management supervises the flow of goods from manufacturers to warehouses and from these facilities to point of sale.

Inventory or stock is the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the shape and placement of stocked goods.

Inventory Management Techniques

· Economic order quantity. ...

· Minimum order quantity. ...

· ABC analysis. ...

· Just-in-time inventory management. ...

· Safety stock inventory. ...

· FIFO and LIFO. ...

· Reorder point formula. ...

· Batch tracking.