Sushil Kumar
30th September 2006, 03:49 AM
Does any one has the Ramp-up procedure for manufacturing process. i.e. production demands increased by customer suddenly.
|
*Please be aware that SOME RECENT forum threads may not yet be indexed by Google. |
|
View Full Version : Ramp-Up Procedure for Manufacturing Process - Needed Sushil Kumar 30th September 2006, 03:49 AM Does any one has the Ramp-up procedure for manufacturing process. i.e. production demands increased by customer suddenly. Jim Wynne 30th September 2006, 11:41 AM Does any one has the Ramp-up procedure for manufacturing process. i.e. production demands increased by customer suddenly. I may be wrong, but I doubt that you can get anything here that will be helpful. Efficient ramp-up is dependent on the type of processes involved, the capacity of the line or plant, the available personnel and other resources, and a number of other factors that can't be generalized. There are also potential cascading capacity issues. For example, if your customer suddenly asks for x more units per week and you need to expand your capability for that product, it could mean that someone else's product gets bumped temporarily, so you also have to have a plan in place for that as well. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Wes Bucey 30th September 2006, 05:18 PM I may be wrong, but I doubt that you can get anything here that will be helpful. Efficient ramp-up is dependent on the type of processes involved, the capacity of the line or plant, the available personnel and other resources, and a number of other factors that can't be generalized. There are also potential cascading capacity issues. For example, if your customer suddenly asks for x more units per week and you need to expand your capability for that product, it could mean that someone else's product gets bumped temporarily, so you also have to have a plan in place for that as well. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Jim is on the right track, here. I've dealt with this issue at a number of clients, customers, and suppliers over the years. The basic consideration in EVERY application has been the economics of the various "plateaus" of the ramp up, tempered by considerations of whether ramp up is temporary spike or long-term increase in real requirement. Following is a mini-essay which may be more than you think you need to know, but I consider it important. For example, short term ramp up may be handled with current equipment and space capacity by merely adding overtime or an additional shift for personnel. Considerations include cost of overtime versus straight time or cost for hiring and training temporary workforce to staff additional shifts. Extending a short-term rampup to long term may play havoc with maintenance and depreciation of production machinery. Consideration has to be given to the supply chain to determine if raw materials can be available and at what price. Extremely long term ramp up or very large ramp up may entail capital expenditure for more or larger process equipment, more or larger production or storage space, additional sources of raw material, etc. Some clever operators "game" the system by arranging a "pool" of subcontractors with excess capacity and periodically test their capability with orders for an entire lot of production. This requires the diplomacy and tact of a veteran statesman. The primary consideration is knowledge and compliance of customer, secondarily, protection against losing prime contract to a subcontractor and willingness to give up profit on the rampup to keep the customer from running to a larger capacity supplier with the entire order. Downside consideration is always the fact that profit generally depends on reaching plateaus of production that make optimum use of all resources and having excess capacity is often a drag on overhead that cuts profit to zero. Often it is impossible to obtain exactly enough excess capacity to handle a rampup and the cost of overcapacity may negate all profit on the rampup, and may even erode the profit on the original order quantity. |
|