Production Scheduling for Automotive Electrical Components

This report examines the production scheduling and supply chain management practices of Ultralights, an automotive electrical components manufacturer. The analysis begins with an overview of the company's current Material Requirement Planning (MRP) strategy and its objectives to modernize the inventory management system. The report then details the demand forecast for the products (Headlamp, Sidelamp, and Side Lens), production charting, and material procurement patterns including lead times, safety stock levels, and lot sizing. A critical aspect involves calculating the material requirements over a six-week period, considering available inventory and lead times. The report also addresses the advantages and disadvantages of MRP systems, such as resource maximization and accurate forecasting, as well as the dependency on accurate input data and the need for proper training. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of optimizing inventory planning through a Just-in-Time (JIT) approach to reduce costs and improve material management, recommending strategies for efficient scheduling and cost control within the supply chain.

Production Scheduling- Supply Chain Management
Introduction
Ultralights (company or firm) is a medium sized firm employing 900 persons and 125
managerial and administrative personnel. The firm is engaged in the business of automotive
electrical components. The company has been planning their inventory through Material
Requirement Planning (MRP) strategy. The company is under the able guidance of Mr.
Johnny Bennet. Recently, the company has faced some issues or to be correct in a spirit to
further innovate and improvise the inventory management strategy, there is a further planning
to modernise the current MRP system of inventory planning based on vies obtained from
different personnel in the organisation,
The report has been prepared with an objective to schedule the inventory for producing the
required product so as to make the inventory available as per the demand of the organisation
which starts from week for two products namely:
(a) Headlamp (HL200E);
(b) Sidelamp (SL 100E)
Further, there is also demand for one spare part namely Side Lens(SL 111P)
Analysis
Demand
The company has forecasted demand for its product starting from week 3, the demand pattern
projected has been presented as under:
Sl No Item Description Quantity Week
1 Head lamp (HL 200E) 120 4
90 5
75 6
2 Side Lamp ( SL 100E) 100 3
80 5
110 6
3 Side Lens (SL 111P) 40 3
35 6
Production charting
Further, each component manufacturing requires a varied of sub products which needs to be
procured timely so as to manage the operations of the company. The current manufacturing
passage or mapping of each product requirement is presented as under:
Sl
No
Item Description and Part
Number
HL
200E
SL
100E
HL
211A
SL
112A
SL
122A
SL
123A
1 SL 111P 1
2 SL 113P 1
3 SL 112A 1
4 SL 121F 1

Sl
No
Item Description and Part
Number
HL
200E
SL
100E
HL
211A
SL
112A
SL
122A
SL
123A
5 SL 122A\ 1
6 SL 123A 1
7 SL 131F 1
8 SL 133F 1
9 SL 132P 1
10 SL 134P 1
11 HL 211A 1
12 HL 212P 1
13 HL 222P 1
14 HL 223F 1
15 C 310P 1 1
16 C 206P 4 2 2
Material Procurement Pattern
The company has material procurement planning wherein fixed lead time and safety stock
has been maintained so as to ensure smooth flow of inventory along the pipeline without
creating any hassles or blockage in the supply chain. For ensuring the said pattern, company
management has prepared the following status of the current availability of raw materials for
meeting the demands starting from week 3.
Sl
No
Item Description and
Part Number
Lead Time
(weeks)
Safety Stock
(units)
Lot
Sizing
On
Hand
Scheduled
Receipts
1 SL 111P 2 0
FOQ=3
50 15
2 SL 113P 1 20
FOQ=1
00 20
3 SL 112A 3 0 L4L 20 80 (Week 2)
4 SL 121F 2 0 L4L 0 80 (Week 2)
5 SL 122A 2 0 L4L 0 80 (Week 2)
6 SL 123A 2 0
FOQ=2
00 0
7 SL 131F 2 0
POQ
(P=2) 0 110 (Week 1)
8 SL 133F 2 0
FOQ=2
50
9 SL 132P 1 25
FOQ=1
00 35 100 (Week 1)
10 SL 134P 1 0
FOQ=4
00 100
11 HL 211A 3 0 L4L 0
12 HL 212P 2 15
FOQ=3
50 15
13 HL 222P 3 10
POQ
(P=4) 10 285 (Week 1)
14 HL 223F 1 0
POQ
(P=4) 0 120 (Week 1)
15 C 310P 1 20 FOQ=1 40 180 (Week 1)

Sl
No
Item Description and
Part Number
Lead Time
(weeks)
Safety Stock
(units)
Lot
Sizing
On
Hand
Scheduled
Receipts
80
16 C 206P 1 30
FOQ=2
500 270
Material Requirement for the period
Further based on demand of the organisation, one needs to plan the inventory required over
the 6 week period based on data and facts available. Further, one needs to eliminate the
inventory whose product is available. Based on above the inventory requirement of the
organisation is presented as under:
Sl
No
Item Description and Part
Number
HL
200E
SL
100E
HL
211A
SL
112A
SL
122A
SL
123A
Extr
a
tot
al
1 SL 111P 0 290 0 0 0 0 75 365
2 SL 113P 0 290 0 0 0 0 0 290
3 SL 112A 0 290 0 0 0 0 0 290
4 SL 121F 0 0 0 290 0 0 0 290
5 SL 122A 0 0 0 290 0 0 0 290
6 SL 123A 0 0 0 290 0 0 0 290
7 SL 131F 0 0 0 0 290 0 0 290
8 SL 133F 0 0 0 0 0 290 0 290
9 SL 132P 0 0 0 0 290 0 0 290
10 SL 134P 0 0 0 0 0 290 0 290
11 HL 211A 285 0 0 0 0 0 0 285
12 HL 212P 285 0 0 0 0 0 0 285
13 HL 222P 0 0 285 0 0 0 0 285
14 HL 223F 0 0 285 0 0 0 0 285
15 C 310P 0 0 285 290 0 0 0 575
16 C 206P 1140 580 570 0 0 0 0
229
0
However, some of the items are available in the fold of the company, hence the said materials
are required to be eliminated to optimise the inventory process.
Material Requirement Planning based on lead time and available inventory
The company has major inventory procurement under fixed order quantity which increases
the cost for the company as company must recognise the concept of just in time and avoid
holding costs provided the order cost is much lower than holding cost of inventory. Based on
the current procurement policy and lead time consideration, the material requirement
planning has been planned as under:
Week
Sl No Item Description and Part Number 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 SL 111P 350
2 SL 113P 100 100 100

Week
Sl No Item Description and Part Number 1 2 3 4 5 6
3 SL 112A 80 110
4 SL 121F 110
5 SL 122A 110
6 SL 123A 200
7 SL 131F 0
8 SL 133F 0
9 SL 132P 0
10 SL 134P 0
11 HL 211A 120 90 75
12 HL 212P 350
13 HL 222P 0
14 HL 223F 165
15 C 310P 180 180
16 C 206P 2500
On perusal of the above, it may be inferred that though demand for product starts from week
3 material planning needs to be initiated from week 1 and before in certain circumstance so as
to ensure a smooth flow of inventory. Further for production scheduling it has been assumed
that material has been procured on first day of week otherwise the inventory will not be
available to meet the demand and all the goods planned for week 1 needs to be shifted to
week 0.
In addition to above, the management should further optimise the inventory planning and cost
management though entering contracts with supplier to establish warehouse in their vicinity
so as to reduce the cost and easy access the materials as per requirement.
Further, all schedule receipts of goods must be scheduled for the 1st day of every week or on
the last day of previous week so as to ensure timely availability of materials and quality
planning.
The goods that may be required later on in the production process may be drifted to next
week namely HL 222P whose demand is scattered over three weeks and company may take
action to optimise the same based on requirement.
Advantage and Disadvantage of MRP
The principal advantages of Material Requirement Planning systems are here in below:
 Maximization of resources with MRP systems: Properly knowing the lead time of
delivery, production time, sales demand it makes easier for the management of the
company to develop more efficient process in order to maximize resources. For example.
If seasonal items are manufactured than one access the spare production capacity
allowing one to spread the workload.
 Accurately forecast with MRP software: Analysing the trend through MRP software can
helps one to benefit with monetary reward and saving in time and also improve
efficiency.

 Management of inventory cost -effectively: A good MRP system will manage the
inventory and will eliminate all the items lying around the warehouse unused. Through
this process inventory level can be easily check and can be re order before it runs out of
stock.
 Identification of Purchasing trends: The MRP also keep an eye or track on the items that
is not being sold or uses less cost.
 Integration with other ERP software for comprehensive resources management: Having
ERP as a part of the integrated ERP solution will lead to improvement in accuracy of
data -making this MRP as a more powerful tool. (Davies, 2020)
The principal dis advantages of Material Requirement Planning systems are here in below:
 Material Requirement Planning is highly dependent on input it receives from the other
department of the organization. If the input information is not correct than the output for
the same will also not be correct.
 It also requires maintenance of robust database with all the required information which
pertain to inventory record and production schedule. (Materials and Resource
Requirement Planning, 2020)
 Material Planning system also require a proper training need to be provided to the
ultimate end user of the system so as to take maximum benefit out of it.
Conclusion
Company should further optimise the inventory planning process through Just in time concept
so as to reduce the cost of ordering and holding the inventory in a phased manner and
material planning requirement should be managed in a better manner through just in time
optimisation.

References
Davies, J. (2020, April 16). Five Key Advantages of MRP system. Retrieved from www.winman.com:
http://www.winman.com/blog/five-key-advantages-of-mrp-systems
Materials and Resource Requirement Planning. (2020, April 16). Retrieved from
www.managementstudyguide.com: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/materials-
and-resource-requirement-planning.htm