Workload balancing in the manufacturing environment: a multicriteria trade-off analysis

We describe an application of a custom-designed model-based decision tool s ystem to analyse the workload balancing problem at an assembly plant of Nok ia Telecommunications, a Finnish manufacturer of highly customized electron ic products. Our system was designed to control effectively and manage the production process of electronic devices for telecommunications link system s and satellite communications systems, among others. It assisted managemen t in determining accurate workload forecasts, in anticipating bottlenecks i n the production process, and in providing recommendations regarding how to distribute the production load optimally over the planning horizon. In par ticular, the system facilitated a trade-off analysis between important comp etitive factors, such as system throughput time and labour costs. Interesti ng side benefits emerged from the study.