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Production Capacity: Its Bases, Functions and Measurement

In: Planning Production and Inventories in the Extended Enterprise

Author

Listed:
  • Salah E. Elmaghraby

    (North Carolina State University)

Abstract

The concept of capacity in humans and processes is nebulous and is often confused with other notions such as performance, output, throughput, etc. As a consequence, the measurement of ‘capacity’, which is often taken as ‘well known’, has remained uncharted ground. Knowledge of a plant’s capacity is required for the whole gamut of activities that are related to the field of production planning and control, from plant location and sizing to the daily scheduling of operations. This chapter proposes four kinds of ‘capacity’; they are nominal, operational, planned, and realized capacities. It also contends that in the majority of cases one cannot measure capacity, any one of the four types, by a crisp number, but that its proper identification requires distribution of values and a probability statement attached to these values. This view necessitates a different type of analysis (of existing processes) and synthesis (of proposed ones) that is different in methodology as well as conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • Salah E. Elmaghraby, 2011. "Production Capacity: Its Bases, Functions and Measurement," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Karl G. Kempf & Pınar Keskinocak & Reha Uzsoy (ed.), Planning Production and Inventories in the Extended Enterprise, chapter 0, pages 119-166, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:isochp:978-1-4419-6485-4_7
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-6485-4_7
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