Time lag effects - operations function, Operation Management

Assignment Help:

Time Lag Effects - Operations Function

Feedback control in complex systems can bring its own problems, due to time lag between measuring the output deviation and realising the effects of the corrective adjustments. A well-known illustration of this phenomenon was presented by Jay W Forrester in his book, Industrial Dynamics. He had been consulted by a white goods manufacturing concern which had been experiencing wildly fluctuating production levels over a period of years; despite the best efforts of the company's management they had been unable to keep production output in reasonable balance with customer demand. Forrester and his team studied the operations of the company's distribution chain (shown in simplified form in the figure) and formulated a computer simulation model of the factory - warehouse - distributor - retailers.

1355_Time Lag Effects – Operations Function.png

The figure below (adapted from Forrester, 1965) shows the results obtained when a 10 per cent step-increase in demand at the retail outlets was introduced. This chart is necessarily 'cluttered', to show how the various order, inventory and production levels changed in response to the initial increase in sales.

1964_Time Lag Effects – Operations Function 1.png

For our purposes it will be sufficient if you locate the two lines labeled 'Retail sales' and 'Factory production output'. It was found that, because of a series of time-lags in the chain, the feedback signal was greatly amplified by the time it reached the factory, resulting in over-reaction. Note that the production level climbs by 45 per cent, creating an excessive build up of inventories. In response the production level falls to 3 per cent less than the original level, and so on. It takes about 18 months for the fluctuations to be damped out.


Related Discussions:- Time lag effects - operations function

Explain the logistics manager of the future, Thinking back upon this course...

Thinking back upon this course's content, please discuss the authors' assertion: "The logistics manager of the future will be much more of a change leader and much less of a techni

Describe why is it vital to pay more attention to firms roe, Explain why is...

Explain why is it important to pay more attention to the firm's ROE if you are the firm's shareholder (investor) and explain how to use the DuPont equation to see how the ROE can b

Describe why operational efficiency is so important, Explain why operationa...

Explain why operational efficiency is so important to Net Income, Return on Capital and Income.

Explain what is the value of the coefficient, Forecasting 1. Briefly des...

Forecasting 1. Briefly describe when qualitative versus quantitative forecasting methods would be used? 2. Linear Regression. a. Describe what linear regression is and how

Explain what charles schwab & pfizer works, Read the Ask Chuck & a New Kind...

Read the Ask Chuck & a New Kind of Structure Case Applications on pages 283 & 284. Describe what Charles Schwab & Pfizer Works are doing. Discuss what role organizational structure

Explain how does safety management address fatigue issues, Fatigue is a maj...

Fatigue is a major safety concern in the aviation industry. How does safety management address fatigue issues yet accomplish the job without incurring more costs in the company. We

Explain mamdouh finally sued for national origin, Mamdouh El-Hakem was empl...

Mamdouh El-Hakem was employed by BJY, Inc., for more than a year. His manager repeatedly called Mamdouh, an Arabic employee, "Manny" or "Hank", instead of his given name. His manag

Explain average performance of the system, Refer to the results from the Si...

Refer to the results from the SimQuick simulation model below to answer the following 5 multiple-choice questions. You will see that the results are similar to the two-teller, bank

Explain what is the formula for calculating duration, Answer the following ...

Answer the following questions (use MS Project help if necessary)- Define effort-driven? Under what circumstances would you turn off effort driven scheduling? Use a real-w

Total productive maintenance, Identify the ways in which Total Productive M...

Identify the ways in which Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) could be applied as part of a manufacturing organisation's quality programme.   Organisational quality program

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd