Aggregate planning essay example

Aggregate planning:

Aggregate planning is a big-picture approach to planning. It is the planning conducted to match the supply and demand of the product or service by identifying suitable quantities, timing of inputs, conversions and outputs. The decisions in aggregate planning are made for accurate production, inventory, staffing, and backorder levels (Apte, Maglaras, and Pinedo, 2008).

Aggregate planning is related to personnel planning:

In relation of personnel planning with aggregate planning, it is based on the cost and duties of personnel for the assigned project. The duties include (Krajewski, Ritzman, & Malhorta, 2007):
– How many personnel will work on the project?
– How much time is required to complete the project if such numbers of personnel are assigned for the project?

In considering any project the costs of personnel include (Krajewski, Ritzman, & Malhorta, 2007):

– Hiring and layoff cost.
– Overtime and under time cost.
– Subcontracting cost.
– Part time labor cost.

Aggregate planning is related to budgeting:

The relationship of aggregate planning with budget planning is the strong one. Because mostly the budgets are based on the assumptions about aggregate output, purchasing levels, inventory levels, and personnel levels etc. Therefore aggregate planning should be the basis for initial budget design and for budget evaluation as implementation takes place (Schroeder, Goldstein, and Rungtusanatham, 2012).

Aggregate planning is related to market planning:

The market planning is done after the market research along with analyzing the consumer behavior regarding the product or service. The market planning is also based on the assumptions. For example, what should be the price of product/service and what should be the advertising and promotion programs to market the product/service (Schroeder, Goldstein, and Rungtusanatham, 2012).

Scheduling decisions in hospitals:

There are many diversified decisions are making by the hospital management to manage the overall planning. The scheduling decisions made by the management of hospital include:
– Scheduling for operating rooms.
– Scheduling for the surgeries of outpatients and inpatients.
– Scheduling for patient appointments with doctors.
– Assigning duties to staff members.
– Order for the required medicines in the hospital store.
– Scheduling for the different types of test. For example MRI, city scan etc

Scheduling decisions in university:

There are many diversified decisions are making by the university management to manage the overall scheduling. The scheduling decisions made by the management of university include:
– Assigning of class rooms to the students.
– Assigning of faculty members to the classes.
– Assigning duties to staff members.
– Scheduling of day to day sports activities.
– Scheduling for the exams.

Scheduling decisions in moviemaking:

There are many varying decisions are making by the moviemaking management to manage the overall arrangement. The scheduling decisions made by the moviemaking management include:
– The scheduling of day to day movie scenes.
– Scheduling of days of different actors in the movie.
– Scheduling of the places of shooting the scenes.
– Scheduling of food for the week.
– Assigning duties to staff members.
– Searching for the sponsors for the movie.

Scheduling decisions in make-to-order factory:

There are a lot of diversified decisions are making by the make-to-order factory management to direct the overall scheduling. The scheduling decisions made by the make-to-order factory management include:
– Scheduling for the purchasing of raw material.
– Scheduling for the customer demand.
– Assigning the duties to the staff members.
– Scheduling for the resources required to transform the raw material in to final product. For example, fuel of machinery, energy etc.

References

Apte, U., Maglaras, C. and Pinedo, M. (2008). ‘ Operations in the Service Industries: Introduction to the Special Issue’. Production and Operations Management, 17( 2), 235–237
Krajewski, L. J., Ritzman, L. P., & Malhorta, M. K. (2007). Operations management: processes and value chains. New Jersey, USA: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Schroeder, R., Goldstein, S., and Rungtusanatham, M. (2012). Operations management in the supply chain: decisions and cases. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin