3. Need For the Study?
• Largest contributor in manufacturing sector
• Problems with manual planning
– Constraints not properly defined
– No optimal decision on quantity of output
produced.
– size/type of loom dictated more by past
convention than on any economic basis.
– Economics of some important options like buying
of yarn cannot be evaluated.
4. Collection of data: MIS in predesigned forms which facilitated
task of punching
• Weights of different types of yam needed
• Number of machine shifts of pre-weaving centers required
to produce the yam computed in (1)
• Meters of grey cloth produced per loom shift
• Number of machine hours required to process meters of
grey cloth computed in (3) on processing centers (crude
approximations, because setup times are fixed)
Simplifications:
• As number of looms is an integer, rounding off of the
solution is done which doesn’t lead to a large error.
5. Defining Problem in OR terms
• Objective function: Maximize contribution per loom
• Decision variables: Number of loom shifts allocated to a
fabric:1200 ( 50 x 4 x 6 )
– 50 different styles
– 4 different fabrics
– 6 different loom types
• Constraints: 280 ( 50 + 200 + 30 )
– 50 production centers
– 200 marketing constraints
– 30 buy/sell options
• LP size: 3,36,000 = ( 1200 x 280 )
6. software packages & computing technologies used:
FORTRAN IV to run on IBM/DEC machines.
IBM's MPS package.
COMPLAST
Management Information Systems (MIS)
7. Difficulties faced:
• Fixed costs have increased sharply
• Contribution per loom shift doesn’t cover the fixed
costs.
Solutions:
• Spread fixed labor costs over a seven-day week
provided the answer.
8. Conclusion
Benefits Received: Contribution/loom increased.
Undesirable Outcome: Fixed costs also increased.
Advice offered by researchers: The package should be
used continuously, if not every month, at least when
the season changes.
