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In saturated markets companies have to produce individualized products at low costs. In order to produce the high-variety of products efficiently and to be able to react effectively to order-variations, the production process structures must be most flexible and sustainable. Therefore adaptability of planning processes within the company and the supply chain is a precondition. Moreover an adaptive, decentralized control is necessary, which ensures a synchronized process by a flexible information network across all sub-processes. High Resolution Supply Chain Management aims at designing the production system according to the needs of the company’s supply chain environment.
To reach this goal a consistent research methodology has been elaborated. Based on the Viable System Model (VSM) developed by Stafford Beer current production systems are analyzed preliminary in terms of integrity.
With the gained knowledge a complete recursive model of a Viable Production System is developed. The recursive character of the approach allows identifying independent units within production systems on a detailed level. These units are meant to be self-optimizing control units, whereas the purpose of a unit is to independently optimize its part of the production system or production planning process. The architecture allows modelling a decentralized production system that meets all requirements of a flexible, adaptable production system. Thereupon, research focuses on the development of process and control loops for each of the identified units.
Each unit requires specific input information to be able to achieve a maximum degree of planning accuracy within its boundaries. For the communication of different units a flexible information flow has to be secured. Consequently an additional hierarchical and consistent set of objectives is necessary. Only consistent superior objectives can secure local optimization which yields to something like an overall optimum.
By integrating all results into a complete model of a Viable Production System, the adaptability of planning processes is reached due to the decentralized control of the different units, the consistent set of objectives and flexible information network.
[Conference paper]High Resolution Supply Chain Management – Enabling adaptable planning processes
(2007)
Increased competition has continuously led to a shift of production locations from high-wage to low-wage countries. To counteract this development the manufacturing of customized goods at the costs of mass production is necessary. This goal can be reached by solving the polylemma of production. High Resolution Supply Chain Management provides an approach to achieve higher planning efficiency and production profitability by increased flexibility and value orientation of inter- and in-company production planning and control systems. High Resolution Supply Chain Management aims for the establishment of information transparency within supply chains which does not exist in today's production networks. This will assure the availability of goods by local, self-optimizing control loops. Prerequisite is the creation of communication interfaces and data standards. By assuring the information flow and defined control loops High Resolution Supply Chain Management leads to an adaptive and self-optimized production system. In the last few years globalization led to a higher stress of competition of producing companies in high-wage countries. Cost advantages in production, like lower wages and social contributions, result in a relocation of production plants from countries as e.g. the United States or Germany to low-wage countries. Besides the lower wages the higher profitability is due to cost-effective mass production through economies of scale. At the same time customers ask for more individualized and lower priced products lined up with the wish of shorter lead times. Thus, companies have to gain the capability to adapt rapidly to customers requests. Short customer response times, high flexibility in production planning and -control (PPC) and manufacturing are necessary. Thereby, one frequently neglected competitive advantage of production locations in high-wage countries is the customer proximity. Industry now realizes this advantage and strengthens its efforts towards individualized production. A competitive advantage for high-wage countries can therefore be gained if individualized products are produced at nearly the costs of mass production. Thus, the resolution of the polylemma of production is underlying condition for saving labor in high-wage countries.
Viable Production System for adaptable and flexible production planning and control processes
(2009)
High Resolution Supply Chain Management (HRSCM) aims at designing adaptable and flexible production planning and control (PPC) processes according to the needs of the company’s supply chain environment. To reach this goal a model for a Viable Production System (VPS) has been elaborated and is presented in this paper. Based on the Viable System Model (VSM) developed by Stafford Beer current production systems are analyzed in terms of integrity. With the gained knowledge a complete recursive framework of a VPS is developed. The framework allows the design of a decentralized production system that meets all requirements of a dynamic environment. Flexible and adaptable PPC processes can be developed for each identified subsystem of the VPS. Hence, further research focuses on the development of process and control loops in order to assure the application of the framework. Exemplarily the decentralised control loop for inventory management is elaborated in a case study.
In a subproject of the cluster of excellence “Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries” at RWTH Aachen University a configuration logic is under development that enables companies to configure their production system according to the dynamic requirements of the market. As a result of this project, a holistic description model for production systems has been defined. With numerous attributes in the sub-models a detailed characterization of the production system is possible.
The sub-model for the design of the supply chain will be depicted in detail in this paper. Representative for the design of a supply chain, the spare parts logistics of the wind energy industry is analyzed in depth. Designing this supply chain is not only one of the most challenging tasks in logistics. Only a responsive but also cost efficient design of the spare parts supply chain guarantees high productivity, extended life spans of the wind turbines as well as the expected profit for all companies in the supply chain.
Within each of the three design fields numerous design elements exist (e.g. degree of centralization, number of warehouses etc. in the field network design). Hence, the interdependencies of all design elements have to be analyzed to allow optimal decisions for the design of an efficient and effective spare parts logistics. Nevertheless, the complexity among all interdependencies can hardly be understood. Therefore it is necessary to reduce the complexity of design decisions by focusing on the most important design elements according to the logistical requirements of different spare part categories. In order to achieve this goal, a classification of spare parts in terms of their key characteristics has been developed. For different spare part categories only a smaller set of design elements and their interdependencies has to be taken into account. The reduced number of key design elements per spare part category can be analyzed and understood in depth. Thus a Systems Dynamics approach is used to allow a better configuration of network design, cooperation concepts and inventory management in spare parts Supply Chains on the basis of specific logistics requirements of different spare part categories.
In dynamic markets flexible and efficient production systems are the main success factor for companies. The production system in this context includes all five phases of the SCOR-Model: Source, Make, Deliver, Plan and Return. In a subproject of the cluster of excellence "Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries" at RWTH Aachen University, a configuration logic is being developed that enables companies to configure their production system according to the dynamic requirements of the market. As a major intermediate result, a holistic description model for production systems has been defined. In combination with numerous attributes in the sub-models, a detailed characterization of the production system is possible.
The sub-model for the design of the Supply Chain (mainly Deliver) will be depicted in detail in this paper. Representative for the design of a Supply Chain, spare parts logistics - as one of the most challenging tasks in logistics planning - is analyzed in depth. For this purpose spare parts logistics is divided into three design fields: network design, cooperation concepts (e.g. with logistics providers, customers, suppliers) and inventory management. Decisions in the design fields are highly interdependent, any spare parts logistics configuration has to take these interdependencies into account.