A multiple performance analysis of market-capacity integration policies

A model that uses simulation augmented with Design of Experiments (DOE) is presented to analyse the performance of a Make-to-Order (MTO) reconfigurable manufacturing system with scalable capacity. Unlike the classical capacity scaling policies, the proposed hybrid capacity scaling policy is determined using multiple performance measures that reflect cost, internal stability and responsiveness. The impact of both tactical capacity and marketing policies and their interaction on the overall performance was analysed using DOE techniques and real case data. In addition to the different insights about the trade-offs involved in capacity planning decisions, the presented results challenged the conventional capacity planning wisdoms in MTO about the negative role of the capacity scalability delay time. Finally the analysis demonstrated the importance of inter-functional integration between capacity and marketing policies. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Deif, A.M. and ElMaraghy, H.A. (2011) ‘A multiple performance analysis of market-capacity integration policies’, Int. J. Manufacturing Research, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp.191–214. Biographical notes: Ahmed M. Deif received his PhD and MASc in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University of Windsor in 2006 and 2003, respectively. He received his BSc from The American University in Cairo, 1999. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Regina. His research interests are in manufacturing capacity management, manufacturing planning and control and dynamic analysis of manufacturing systems. He is a Research Affiliate of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), Senior Member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and Member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). 1 Hoda A. ElMaraghy, PhD, PEng is currently Canada Research Chair in Manufacturing Systems, Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Director of the IMS Centre at the University of Windsor. She is a Fellow of the CSME, Fellow of SME, and Fellow of the CIRP and Member of the ASME. Her teaching and research interests are in manufacturing systems design, modelling, flexibility, reconfiguration, control, quality, inspection, assembly, process planning and robotics. She published more than 350 papers, edited two books and contributed to 13 others. She received a Mechanical Engineering Bachelor Degree from Cairo University, Egypt and Master’s and PhD Degrees from McMaster University, Canada.