Capacity And Resource Planning For An Engineering Technology Department

In the business world, capacity and resource planning involves the management of production and service resources such that the enterprise is able to respond to the needs of its customers. Choices regarding the quantity, location, type and organization of these resources have a direct impact on the financial success and survival of the corporation. As markets, competition and customer requirements change organizations are often faced with reinventing their production and service systems to adapt to these needs. Contemporary production systems such as lean manufacturing and classical industrial engineering efforts have created many tools and techniques to address the issues of capacity and resource planning. These tools and techniques can be adapted, some more successfully than others, to the management of resources in engineering technology academic operations. Variability in freshman and transfer enrollment, online learning technology, laboratory and project intensive coursework, retention efforts, the demands of sponsored research and a variety of other issues create a challenging environment for those responsible for providing the resources necessary for effective and efficient operation of an engineering technology department. This paper outlines the use of capacity and resource planning tools and techniques to manage the current operations of an academic department and to plan for likely future scenarios. Techniques and topics include hoshin planning, production strategy options, aggregate planning, Monte Carlo simulation, capacity/flow models, theory of constraints, and heijunka production leveling. This variety of classical and contemporary production tools and techniques are presented and adapted to use in academic operations. Sample applications are presented and findings include highlights of techniques found to be particularly effective as planning and management tools.