Planning a business process involves the way the business decides how it will produce for a given period. Such decisions include deciding what to produce, how many units to make, and what raw materials to put to use. Scheduling involves taking the information from planning and putting in place a series of steps that are needed to take the raw materials across the manufacturing floor to get the finished products. Integration aims to combine planning and scheduling to the best possible level. Integrated planning and scheduling become necessary due to the need to make business processes more efficient. In manufacturing processes, this integrated planning and scheduling also allows the business to save valuable resources, such as money, time, and labor. For example, a business involved in manufacturing may plan to receive raw materials in a certain area of the factory, so during the scheduling production stages, the specific equipment that uses this raw material will be located near the receiving area. This will reduce labor and save time.
Simulation-based evaluation
Simulation involves imitating the actual process with an aim of seeing how the process takes place. A simulation-based evaluation of integrated planning and scheduling will involve creating a representation of the combined planning and scheduling processes, as well as assessing it for efficiency and possible improvement.
How simulation-based planning is done
In the case of a production process that has planning and scheduling integrated, you may need to make plans as if you were in a real manufacturing situation—that is, decide what you are producing, how many units you will use, and what raw materials you will need. You will then need to schedule the production process by setting up the various stages, like receiving raw materials, verifying the quality of the raw materials, weighing the inputs as per the planned level of production, and getting the material into the production equipment for the commencement of the production process.
As you work on such a simulation of the production process, you could employ some software that can simulate the process on the computer, as opposed to setting up the process on the ground. You can get great software from a reputable company that offers solutions, which you can learn more about by visiting https://www.grs-cors.com.
Advantages of simulation-based evaluation
Provides practical feedback
A simulation-based evaluation of combined planning and scheduling processes allows the entrepreneur or other stakeholders to get practical feedback from the system, as the real system and processes are being imitated. The people involved in coming up with the integrated planning and scheduling are able to gauge the correctness and efficiency of the system, and improve where necessary before the system is actually set up.
Performs an “if” analysis
Simulation-based evaluation will allow investigations to be done to answer “if” questions, for example, if the level of production is doubled, will the cost per unit be halved?
Saves money and other resources
Simulation-based evaluations save money, as models and computer software are used rather than the costly real system, which requires technical skills in order to operate.
Conclusion
The idea of using a simulation-based evaluation to assess integrated planning and scheduling has many great benefits, such as offering practical feedback, saving resources, and allowing for an advanced analysis. As such, it is a great way to evaluate business processes.
