Monica, I did throughput planning using MS Project & MS Excel for one of our projects. If you don't already have Project a student ID can get you the 'Educational Discounted' version at a local university. That's how I bought it at my last job. :-) Hans ~~~~~~~~ Hans M. Hinners Materials (& Process!) Engineer Warner Robins - Air Logistics Center/Avionics Production Division Manufacturing Branch (LYPME) 380 Second Street, Suite 104 (Building 640) Robins AFB, GA 31098-1638 912-926-1970 (Voice) 468 - 1970 (DSN) 912-926-7164 (Fax) mailto:[log in to unmask] > -----Original Message----- > From: Monica Mihai [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2000 03:47 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [TN] Capacity Planning Tools. > > Hello Technet, > > I have a question for all manufacturing groups. I am looking at developing > a capacity planning tool with the following functionality: > > * Evaluate capacity by process given a forecasted production plan, > product routings, cycle times, etc.; > * Prioritize work and assign specific product routings based on lead > times to customers (i.e. due dates), batch sizes (volumes), etc.; > * Calculate machine utilization; > * Ability to do "what-if" scenarios. Some examples of such scenarios > would be evaluating whether we have the capacity on each process/machine > to build a new customer demand, how we can maximize resource utilization > or how process improvements affect the overall capacity. > > > Note that I am not looking for an end-to-end inventory/material planning > system such as SAP or BAAN. I am more interested in evaluating whether our > manufacturing processes have the capacity to run the forecasted load and > what is the resulting utilization of our equipment. > > Any ideas on relatively inexpensive "off the shelf" systems that would > accomplish these requirements? I would also be very interested in any > suggestions of how this could be developed "in house" (what software would > work best for this task?). > > Thanks in advance. > > Regards, > Monica Mihai. > ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5365 ##############################################################