Supplier capacity analysis for a manufacturing firm with a case study

With today's interconnected manufacturing activities in the supply chain, a manufacturer commonly has many suppliers. The capacity planning function may need to be extended to suppliers in order to ensure supplier capacities are not exceeded for part usage planned by the manufacturer. This paper addresses considerations in expanding capacity planning to tier I suppliers and presents a preliminary design of such a program tool. When infinite capacity analysis is applied, a what- if analysis can be included to help identify an improved master production schedule. A case study in an automobile assembly plant demonstrates the application of such a program tool in better addressing its often encountered problems in capacity overloads associated with suppliers.