Graphical tools for production planning in small medium industries (SMIs) based on pinch analysis

• Simple graphical tools to address production planning problems in SMIs.
• Address warehouse space allocation and production capacity planning problems.
• Fixed/variable capacity and variable time problems.
• Assessment of rescheduling opportunities.

Small medium industries (SMIs) routinely face supply variations in their production cycle. Such firms are typically characterised by limited resources and insufficiency of funds. Thus, SMIs need simple solutions to cope with the production planning issues. Pinch analysis has been proven as a strategy for planning of efficient use of scarce resources. Recently, it has been extended to various production planning problems. In this paper, a simple novel graphical approach is proposed to address two common production planning problems in SMI's, which are warehouse space allocation and production capacity planning. Two industrial case studies are shown in this paper to illustrate the proposed approach.

Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide