Capacity Planning; Enforce, Track or Ignore Constraints

The FAST scheduler enforces all resource constraints as the normal default situation.  However, in some cases you may want to see what happens if a constraint is ignored.  So instead of having to erase the constraint, you can merely turn it off.  Then you can turn it back on at any time without having to re-enter data.  This is especially useful for investigating different operational scenarios, sometimes called “What-If” analysis.  For example, what if we purchased another work station so that work stations were no longer constraining?  What will happen when our new employees show up and we are not limited by staff shortages?  The ability to turn off constraints and then turn them back on easily is not only a convenience but allows users to do operations analysis.

But there is an even more useful capability in FAST!  Users can also turn any resource requirement to a “Track” setting.  In this mode, the logic will keep track of resource requirements, but schedule activities even if they violate the availability limits.  Using this mode, users can see the profile of the resource demands , identify the times when availability goes negative and see the exact quantity of extra resources needed.  This is capacity planning!  Users can define a nominal availability for all resources, run schedules against these availability profiles and then see when additional resources may be needed.  This is like running simulations.  But most simulators don’t pack timelines efficiently, they merely  run an assumed sequence of activities earliest to latest.  This does not show the true capacity requirements.

Here are a few examples that illustrate the utility of the “TRACK” option in the FAST scheduler.  Suppose you were doing event planning and you have 300 chairs and 50 tables available.  You try to schedule several events and find that some do not schedule because there aren’t enough chairs.  You turn the chairs requirements to “TRACK” and determine quickly that you will need 37 more chairs on a particular date.  You can rent or acquire more chairs and save the event.  You know exactly how many you need and when you need them.

Or perhaps you are planning a promotional event for a product and anticipate a greater-than-normal demand on your production facility.  What extra machines and/or people should be obtained to satisfy the expected surge in production?  Using the “TRACK” feature, these questions are easily answered.

Also, in both growth and down-sizing business scenarios, the “TRACK” feature  is what you need to determine the specificsacquisition or layoff details.

The FAST system is a tool you need for industrial engineering, operations management, capacity planning, what-if analysis, and of course finding unique scheduling solutions!