Production Planning

Current information technologies like bar codes or transponders offer an enormous potential to logistics of producing companies. But with these technologies the provision of information on processes or components along the value-adding chain is neither possible in real-time nor consistently. Future components should be able to store information on themselves, so that additional transponders are no longer required. This opens up new possibilities for a real-time production planning and control as well as for the segmentation and planning of factories.

The production 2020 must live up to a variety of expectations - lean, efficient processes, maximum flexibility and a high degree of adaptivity are in the focus. These expectations result in new, complex planning requirements for production systems. The actual strong fragmented and inhomogeneous information architecture has to be transferred into an integrated concept, generating an overall view on business processes, methods and systems. Furthermore the planning process must be designed flexible and adaptive. Thus a fast reaction to fast changing boundary conditions and requirements can be guaranteed. This article gives practical design recommendations, how to plan the future of production.

Although the relocation trend has slightly decreased during the last five years, nowadays more companies plan to shift abroad in the near future. In particular small- and medium-sized companies plan the relocation of parts of their value chain. The disadvantage of the German location can only be compensated by a combination of cost optimization and an increase of productivity. A systematic procedure and the application of sophisticated evaluation tools support the company in its process of decision making. Considering the type of business, guidelines for competitive value chain management can be developed.

The present article reports the results of a methodical approach to the implementation of the Digital Factory in the aircraft industry. At first the initial conditions are surveyed with regard to selected company departments. Subsequently an application concept for integrating computer aided tools in production planning processes is presented and assessed. Eventually, in order to achieve an optimal introduction of the Digital Factory, the main organisational challenges are debated.

Contrary to a make-to-stock production where standard products are manufactured based on sales forecasts the assembly or manufacturing of final products in a make-to-order production starts only after an appropriate customer order has been made. The reason may be, e.g., a high number of product variants that would lead to unacceptable high inventories if pre- or semi-products were stored at all production stages. In such a situation it is often difficult to determine reasonable due dates for new incoming customer orders. A workable solution approach with short computation times can be established by a reactive planning based on a list scheduling.

Due to shortening product life cycles and to the continuous enlargement of product ranges the ramp-up of production systems has become a significant criterion for innovation dynamics of producing companies. Besides the in-creasing technical complexity, a growing number of different parties are involved with different targets and interests. The result is a rising number of possible disturbances for the ramp-up process. In order to better control and shorten ramp-up projects, methods and tools have to be developed to manage the project along the complete value chain. The article gives an outlook on the ramp-up of the future by describing an approach that is the basis for a research project supported by the German ministry of research and education.

The efficiency in manufacturing can be increased by using new local control methods in combination with situational working plans. New degrees of freedom and additional reaction possibilities are generated in manufacturing, if the resource allocation and the processing order of the working steps are not predetermined anymore. The following article describes a new planning chain, consisting of production planning, closed loop production control and process planning, that is able to make use of these degrees of freedom. New material flow requirements are pointed out.