The effect of supply chain noise on the financial performance of Kanban and Drum-Buffer-Rope: An agent-based perspective

Managing efficiently the flow of products throughout the supply chain is essential for succeeding in today's marketplace. We consider the Kanban (from Lean Management) and Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR, from the Theory of Constraints) scheduling mechanisms and evaluate their performance in a four-echelon supply chain operating within a large noise scenario. Through an agent-based system, which is presented as a powerful model-driven decision support system for managers, we show the less sensitivity against variability and the higher financial performance of the DBR mechanism, which occurs as this mechanism improves the supply chain robustness due to its bottleneck orientation. Nonetheless, we prove the existence of regions in the decision space where Kanban offers similar performance. This is especially relevant taking into account that Kanban can be implemented at a lower cost, as TOC requires a higher degree of information transparency and a solid contract between partners to align incentives. In this sense, we offer decision makers an approach to reach an agreement when the partners decide to move from Kanban to DBR in a bid to increase the overall net profit in supply chains operating in a challenging noise scenario

Theory of constraints (TOC) production and manufacturing performance

This paper is based on an empirical study of the relationship between Theory of Constraints (TOC) production and operational performance in manufacturing plants. The study uses a survey questionnaire to collect data from a sample of 61 European firms which have implemented the TOC approach. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique and regression models have been employed to test the research hypotheses. The results detect many differences and similarities in adoption of TOC practices across the countries and suggest that manufacturing managers should consider adopting some TOC practices instead of others. In particular the Drum-buffer-rope methodology, the development of a Master Production Schedule based on constraints and the use of Non-constraint resources with excess capacity are among the most important practices to enhance competitive performance of manufacturing plants

Materials flow control in hybrid make-to-stock/make-to-order manufacturing

Today’s company competiveness is favoured by product customisation and fast delivery. A strategy to meet this challenge is to manufacture standard items to stock for product customisation. This configures a hybrid environment of make-to-stock and make-to-order. To explore the advantages of this requires good understanding of production control. Thus, we study production under hybrid MTS-MTO, organising the system in two stages. The 1 st manufactures items to inventory, which are then customised in the 2 nd . We analyse how the percentage of tardy orders is affected by the inventory of items required to achieve a given fill rate. The impact of two mechanisms for releasing orders to both stages is also analysed. Results of a simulation study indicate that most of the reduction on the percentage of tardy orders is achieved by a moderate increase in the stock level of semi-finished products. Moreover the percentage of tardy orders decreases if suitable controlled release of orders is exerted.This study had the financial support of FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia of Portugal under the project PEst2015-2020: UID/CEC/ 00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis of Buffer techniques in Lean distribution and theory of constraints in a distribution context

The current era of globalization is characterized by a growing dynamic change in all areas of social and economic life. This ever growing competition is necessary to address the manager to achieve higher performance and efficiency. One of these areas that has an important focus by managers is the distribution side in supply chain. The purpose is to smooth the flow of goods in the distribution network, in order to improve throughput, reduce inventory and make economic profits. In this context, Lean operations and theory of constraints are comprehensive philosophies that have a considerable contribution. This work concentrate on the concept of "buffering" in these approaches and discusses – based on it - the assessment of a new model in distribution networks. The results are about the guidelines of applying buffer management techniques in distribution, putting the first overview of a new model concerning the optimization of flow in distribution networks

The design and implementation of a WLC system incorporating time buffer signalling: an action research study

The purpose of this paper is to explore the particular issues concerning the design and implementation of workload control (WLC) in the management of a customised high touch time MTO (Make to Order) environment involving rotary moulding. The system embraces key workload control features, including order acceptance and controlled release incorporating time buffer management for priority control. The design and implementation over a two year period has offered opportunity to determine the applicability of S-DBR based WLC. The resulting system is integrated with a Sage ERP system and specifically designed to support operational decision making whilst providing visibility to the owner manager

Application of Theory of Constraints (ToC) in Managing Project Information Constraints

The scope of this doctoral project is the non-traditional application of Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) from the area of Theory of Constraints (ToC) in mitigating disruption in distribution facilities during phased upgrades caused by information constraint. The relevance of this project is that industrial equipment upgrades pose a significant risk of disrupting the operation of automated distribution facilities. It is partly due to a very high expected availability rate, as well as tight coupling with other upstream and downstream elements of the larger supply chain network. As a consequence of disruption in this scenario, losses incurred not only within the facility being upgraded but also to the entire supply chain, as well. This project will particularly examine the potential non-traditional application of DBR. It is to mitigate risk brought by unavailable timely information during equipment upgrade by treating the information-time issue as a constraint that can then be elevated among various stakeholders and into the equipment upgrade schedule. This project contributes to the advancement of engineering management and project management practice in obtaining the appropriate information and data to minimize disruption posed by information-time constraint

The Logistic Principles for Fast Flexible Strategy Design of the Company in Crisis Time

The article deals with design of the logistic principles enabling an enterprise to create a strategy flexible in terms of business and marketing and stable and steady in terms of manufacturing. In order to create a strategy model the following principles can be applied: shortening the period of capacity planning combined with flexible planning, SYNCRO – MRP (Material Required Planning) principle, the application of forecasting in capacity planning, creation with partners of one of the cooperation forms such as supply chain, demand chain, lean supply chain, agile supply chain, leagile supply chain, and using the DBR (Drum Buffer Rope), APS (Advanced Planning System) and SCP (Supply Chain Planning) systems. The article describes application of this principle for model design of the flexible strategy for Chemosvit fólie a. s. company, and the results of this application in the crisis time 2009–2011.SYANCRO-MRP, capacity planning, forecasting, supply chain, demand chain