Labor, materials, and transport

A family may own enough paint and have a free room, yet still be unable to finish decorating because the one person who can safely use the tall ladder is away. The room, paint, ladder, and skilled time must line up. A production line has the same need. Counting available machines alone misses labor skills and supplies that must be present when work starts, not merely arrive by the end of the week.

Suppose Northstar can run twenty bottles on Monday and twenty on Tuesday by machine time. Qualified labor supports only twelve on Monday and eighteen on Tuesday. Each bottle also needs one cap. Opening caps are eight and a receipt of twenty arrives before Tuesday work. With no initial finished stock, Monday production is limited to eight, despite spare machine and labor capacity. Tuesday can use the twenty received caps, but labor limits production to eighteen. Total production is twenty six, with two caps left.

The daily material balance is opening caps plus receipts minus production use equals closing caps. Do not let physical stock become negative; carry unmet demand as backlog on a separate row. Demand of ten on Monday and twenty on Tuesday gives two units of backlog on Monday and four at the end of Tuesday. These results assume all good production is released before each day’s demand and yield is one hundred percent for this exercise. Different release timing changes service even if total quantities stay the same.

Extra labor is not always the best recovery. Two more qualified labor units on Tuesday raise output to twenty and reduce final backlog to two. Two more caps arriving before Monday raise Monday output to ten and final total output to twenty eight, also leaving two. Both changes together permit thirty total bottles and clear the stated demand. A useful action log therefore records the timing and resource affected, not just the total quantity purchased. Check competence, shift access, and physical receipt before calling the action firm.

Finishing a suitcase after the last train leaves is not the same as being ready to travel. You may have everything you need, but the departure time turns readiness into a hard gate. A dispatch plan behaves in this way. A bottle completed in the afternoon cannot fill a morning truck. Weekly production and weekly transport totals can both look sufficient while the promised delivery remains impossible.

Northstar has eight finished bottles at Monday opening. Production of twelve bottles is released at two in the afternoon. A truck leaves at noon with capacity fifteen, while customer demand of eighteen bottles is due on that truck. Only the eight opening bottles can leave at noon. Ten bottles remain late against that commitment, even though twenty bottles exist by the afternoon. A capacity table without release and departure times would hide this failure.

A second pickup at four in the afternoon has capacity ten. If the customer accepts arrival from that pickup as on time, it can carry the remaining ten and two bottles stay in stock. If the contract requires the noon departure, the second truck improves eventual service but does not erase lateness. Define the service metric before comparing actions. Units shipped, units shipped by cutoff, and units received by the customer on time are different measures with different clocks.

Transport also has units other than bottle count. A vehicle may be limited by weight, cube, pallets, or route hours. For this exercise one bottle occupies one slot and there are no weight or route restrictions. In real planning, a nominal slot count must be translated using the actual packaging and route. Never add morning and afternoon truck space and assume it is freely interchangeable. Capacity belongs to a departure, and each departure needs usable stock before loading closes.

In your lab, trace each day from opening stock to work release and then to truck departure. Keep the old backlog on its own row. Compare the extra pickup with the base plan and show both the final gap and the missed due quantity. These are not the same measure. End with a note that names the person who must confirm each gate. A table is ready to use when another team can follow its dates and its units.

1. Define the case

   Original card shows the two lesson titles, fictional business, and planning goal.

   • Northstar case
   • Explicit scope
   • Check the units
2. Read the inputs

   Original table highlights the first lesson’s supplied quantities with unit and timing labels.

   • Given quantities
   • Usable dates
   • Stated limits
3. Trace the first check

   Original arithmetic flow follows the first lesson’s worked calculation to its checked answer.

   • Calculate load
   • Find the gap
   • State the result
4. Add the second view

   Original paired cards show how the second lesson adds a new constraint or decision policy.

   • New condition
   • Same discipline
   • No hidden assumptions
5. Compare scenarios

   Original three-column table uses the lesson lab baseline, stress case, and response.

   • Baseline
   • Stress case
   • Feasible response
6. Release the decision

   Original decision card links result, uncertainty, owner, and next verification gate.

   • Explain tradeoffs
   • Name the owner
   • Verify before release