Resource Capacity Planning
What Is Resource Capacity Planning?
Resource capacity planning is the operations scheduling process that identifies available resources and capacity and makes sure that these integrate with the forecasted customer demand increases in the future.
As you manage your projects and prepare your facility for growth, your teams will carry out a number of sequential planning and scheduling tasks. Resource capacity planning is one of the earliest phases of planning and scheduling, providing businesses with the insight they need — not only with regard to current capacity but also with regard to scaling this capacity in the future.
This data is then fed into enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, manufacturing execution systems (MES), and material requirements planning (MRP) software. The right resource capacity planning solution will integrate with these different solutions via a centralized management platform to achieve seamless and secure data transfer and collaboration.
What Is the Difference Between Capacity Planning and Resource Planning for Manufacturing?
Resource planning and capacity planning comprises two different approaches for manufacturers as they seek to strategize their projects.
Resource planning refers to the process of analyzing available resources and then outlining a strategy of resource management to ensure that there is no shortfall during the project.
Capacity planning takes a different tack, focusing on understanding the full capacity of the manufacturing facility and attempting to align this with the future requirements of clients and orders.
These two forms of strategic planning are generally deployed together, side by side. Supply chain management teams utilize software that assesses capacity requirements on future orders, and which matches resource capacity and capability directly to these evolving needs.
The 4 Steps of Manufacturing Capacity Planning
Estimating Present Capacity
The first step of resource capacity planning is ascertaining the current levels of production capacity. You can achieve a basic understanding of current capacity by analyzing how many pieces of a certain product you have been able to produce on recent manufacturing projects. A solution such as Excel spreadsheets may be suitable for basic insight.
However, specialized rough-cut capacity planning software provides a more sophisticated level of understanding by taking into account resources, work stations, and personnel that may have been left idling at certain points during recent manufacturing tasks, and factoring these into the capacity calculation. Rough-cut capacity planning will give you a clear idea of what your manufacturing environment is capable of producing at this point in time and will serve as an important benchmark for predicting future capacity requirements.
Forecasting Long-Term Capacity Needs
With the first step complete, your teams now have a reliable understanding of the current production capability at your facility. This represents the first piece of the puzzle — but understanding the second piece requires a more far-reaching approach.
Next, operations management will engage production planners to perform a detailed capacity planning analysis. The planners will extrapolate current production resource needs into the future, using forecasted customer demand to predicting future requirements in staffing, machinery, and workstations. Data points include qualitative data from clients as they outline how their manufacturing needs are likely to grow, as well as quantitative data relating to consumer trends and seasonal demand increases.
Identifying Capacity Resources
Step three of the process relates to accurately identifying and assessing capacity resources. For example, if you find that your raw materials and components inventory is not sufficient to meet the developing capacity requirements of future projects, you can communicate this to your suppliers. They may be able to provide additional resources according to your increased demand.
Another example may be found in taking a look at your staffing. You may find that you need to upskill members of staff to handle specific tasks in a more efficient and effective manner. You are still drawing upon your current manufacturing resources, but you are optimizing resource utilization through a continuous improvement investment.
You may also be able to increase throughput in your factories by minimizing changeovers. During a changeover, machinery sits idle while workers adjust the production line set up or make configuration changes to the equipment.
A production planning and scheduling system, also known as an advanced planning and scheduling system (APS) is able to deploy sophisticated production planning and detailed scheduling to minimize changeovers. This can uncover additional production capacity in your existing manufacturing ecosystem and reduce production costs.
Developing Capacity With Additional Resources
You may find that your existing resources are able to scale and increase their capacity. However, there is a significant risk of stretching these resources too far, resulting in potential shortfalls in production capacity. Step four of the process avoids this risk by identifying additional capacity sources.
For example, if your supplier is not able to provide the materials you need at the right volume, you may need to change a supplier or supplement their support with an auxiliary supply channel. You may also find that the morale of your personnel suffers if they are expected to take on too many additional duties. In this case, it may be necessary to expand your team with new personnel or bring in capabilities from external third-party sources on a temporary basis.
Variables to Consider When Structuring Your Manufacturing Resource Capacity Planning
Capacity potential
This variable refers simply to your maximum capacity across a specific time period. For example, if your shop floor features four identical machines running two eight hour shifts per day, the capacity for this particular resource is 4 (machines) multiplied by 8 (hours in a shift) multiplied again by 2 (number of shifts) to give you 64 hours per day of capacity. Of course, this is a simple calculation and does not take into account elements such as downtime for repairs, or public holidays.
Setup time and run time
The setup time is how long it takes to begin each process during manufacture, and the run time refers to how long equipment is operating before the phase is complete. Both of these values need to be factored into the resource planner.
Efficiency
Efficiency relates to the difference between estimated setup and run time, and actual set up and run time. This needs to be considered when inputting data into your project planning software systems, as your project resource needs may be greater than you initially realized. Factors that are considered during resource capacity planning because they directly impact efficiency include:
- Bottlenecks
- Changeovers
- Machine utilization
- Equipment downtime
- Flow rates
Utilization percentage
Utilization percentage demonstrates the difference between available capacity and the actual capacity that is utilized for project work. For example, if a certain set of machines is running for only four hours out of an eight-hour workday, this gives a utilization percentage of 50%.
Lag-time between processes
In an ideal world, the project timeline would be a smooth one and products would flow from the manufacturing phase to the final product phase without delay. However, in reality, this is often not the case, and you may find that bottlenecks hold products up between phases.
Offset hours
With the right approach to workflow management, you can run different pieces of equipment — and different manufacturing phases — concurrently. This leads to offset hours — for example, if Phase A takes five hours in total, you may be able to offset two of these hours by beginning Phase B two hours early.
Optessa Provides the Project Planning Software You Need for Reliable Resource Capacity Planning
Optessa provides the resource capacity planning manufacturing software your business requires, integrating with existing manufacturing software to provide seamless strategic planning capabilities directly to your team. Reach out to find out more.
