The production process begins at Sales. Orders are registered twice a week and determine production needs for the coming
five days. Once ordered, Sales expect products to be delivered to end-customers within 2–3 weeks. Sales make two types
of orders: forecast orders and direct orders, usually the former. While disruptive, flexibility for direct orders is needed: serving
customers is key.
Once orders are registered and matched against pre-produced stock to generate replenishment needs, Planning creates a
trim plan: an optimized, detailed plan of all products to be produced in the coming production period. For each production
period, several tambours are produced at a standardized weight of 38 tons and moved to the winder (Fig. 3), where they are
cut into reels with product-specific width and radius.
Once cut, reels are automatically transported to pre-designated ramps at the Loading bay. The bay has a storage capacity
of 100 reels, used primarily during the night when shuttles are not in operation. Once a shuttle arrives, truck drivers load
the shuttle, scan the loaded reels and send a load-accomplished order. At this point, the shuttles transport the reels to the
Shipping terminal, located at a nearby port, where they are eventually loaded for transport and shipped.
The production process incurs several types of losses e.g. trim losses resulting from the quilt-like pattern of products
placed on the tambour and length losses resulting from fluctuations in quality as the paper grade is changed. Losses are also
incurred post-production – e.g. during handling of products – and pre-production – e.g. as a result of the non-uniform quality
of the tambour. To optimize production, trim planners thus need to take into consideration not only how to make best use of
the tambours, but also how trim plans affect other units within the process. While a complex plan allows for greater flexibility
towards customer demand, for example, it also reduces manufacturability and adds complexity for Winding and Loading.
Most issues observed in our initial study stemmed from these complex interdependencies. Against this backdrop, it is
imperative that the entire process is integrated not only technically, but also organizationally and socially