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

Find the net present value, The company is considering a capital expenditur...

The company is considering a capital expenditure of $480,000. It has an estimated life of 4 years and no salvage value. The estimated net income and new cash flow from the project

Explain what remedies are available to him, Kristina places an order for a ...

Kristina places an order for a cake on Flowers bakery's web site. She then calls the baker to tell him that she will pay him $1000 for the specially designed cake if he will guaran

Explain what is the hourly production rate, An assembly line currently has ...

An assembly line currently has five workstations and the time required for each is shown below. 1: 48 seconds, 2: 38 seconds, 3: 44 seconds, 4: 56 seconds, 5: 42 seconds what is th

Explain what does business intelligence mean to a business, What does busin...

What does business intelligence really mean to a business? What are the negative impacts of business intelligence? How does a database and data warehouse support business intellige

Explain fairly complex for job shops, Why is scheduling fairly simple for r...

Why is scheduling fairly simple for repetitive systems but fairly complex for job shops?

Theory of constraints -toc, Theory of constraints -TOC The theory of c...

Theory of constraints -TOC The theory of constraints was first proposed in 1986 by Dr Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his widely read book The Goal. The theory of constraints is the pr

What is collective bargaining process, What are three cost-containment meas...

What are three cost-containment measures that were implemented through the collective bargaining process in 1985? Why were these considered milestones in curtailing health benefit

Explain how many days is a required production run, Johnson Plastics makes ...

Johnson Plastics makes and sells, among many other things, specialty plastic display cases for retail stores. Johnson's expected demand for the display cases is 1,000 units, and av

Communication skills, whether writing, listening, speaking, or attending me...

whether writing, listening, speaking, or attending meetings, communication skills are critical to your success in university and work place.

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