Analysis of manufacturing strategies in remanufacturing cells using process activity-based costing

This research study analyzes the impact in a remanufacturing cell environment the following manufacturing strategies: (1) Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP-II) with shop floor control (SFC), (2) MRP-II with kanban control, and (3) MRP-II with drum-buffer-rope (D-B-R) control. The performance measure used to gauge the impact is average product unit cost as calculated by process activity-based costing (ABC) methodology.;This research is a combination of implementation and empirical research phases. The implementation study phase investigated all three manufacturing strategies in the operating environment. As applied to three separate remanufacturing cells (gas turbine compressors, helicopter rotor blades, and hydraulic components shops) at the Naval Aviation Depot at Cherry Point, NC. The implementation process for each strategy included six major categories consisting of 29 activities/events as documented through the implementation phase process mapping. The implementation process for each manufacturing strategy was essentially the same in terms of management orientation, team formation, training, process mapping and other implementation steps. All three implemented manufacturing strategy scenarios statistically demonstrated significantly reduced average product unit costs.;Based on findings from the implementation phase, the empirical research phase tested the significance of the three manufacturing strategies using simulation and ABC models of the three cells to develop product costs to assess the following factors: (1) Three distinct remanufacturing cells representing product and cell characteristics from the implementation phase; (2) The three manufacturing strategies; (3) Four selected levels of capacity utilization; and (4) Two levels of material availability delay. The conclusions from the analysis are: (1) given controlling factors of higher levels of capacity utilization (92-95%) or significant material availability delay, MRP-II with drum-buffer-rope control offered lower average product unit cost than either MRP-II with shop floor control or MRP-II with kanban, and (2) conveyed governing factors of higher levels of capacity utilization (87-95%) or significant material availability delay, MRP-II with shop floor control also offered lower average product unit cost than MRP-II with kanban control.