Operations Management: Processes and Supply Chains, 12th Edition

Resource Planning for Service Providers

We have seen how manufacturing companies can disaggregate an MPS of finished products, which in turn must be translated into the needs for resources, such as staff, equipment, components, and financial assets. The driver for these resource requirements is a material requirements plan. Service providers, of course, must plan their resources just as manufacturers do. However, unlike finished goods, services cannot be inventoried. They must be provided on demand. In terms of resource planning then, service organizations must focus on maintaining the capacity to serve their customers. In this section, we will discuss how service providers use the concept of dependent demand and a bill of resources in managing ...