Integrating Cost, Capacity, and Simulation Analysis

Authors:

Frank Chance
Jennifer Robinson
FabTime Inc.

Abstract:

In this article, we discuss the integration of cost, capacity, and simulation analysis. Cost analysis is often treated as a separate task from capacity and simulation modeling activities. Several important factory-level cost performance measures, however, rely on detailed capacity analysis calculations. In fact, much of the difficult groundwork for making these calculations has already been completed in existing capacity and simulation analysis tools. We argue that these activities fit quite naturally together, and give a more complete picture of factory performance than isolated analyses. Also, capacity and simulation analysis tools are increasingly used to support strategic and tactical business decisions. These decisions are most often framed in terms of their impact on the bottom line. Therefore, effective decision-support tools must speak not only in terms of capacity and cycle time, but also in terms of dollars.

Published in the WWK Newsletter in May, 1997. This paper is available in Adobe PDF format. You can download it (45 KB) by right-clicking on this link. If you like this paper, you might want to subscribe to FabTime’s Cycle Time Management newsletter, a free monthly email publication.