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Work Faster, Work in Parallel, or Work Overtime? An Assessment of Short-Term Capacity Adjustments by Simulation

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  • Nuno O. Fernandes

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, Av. do Empresário, 6000-767 Castelo Branco, Portugal
    Campus de Gualtar, ALGORITMI Research Unit, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal)

  • Matthias Thürer

    (Chair of Factory Planning and Intralogistics, Chemnitz University of Technology, Erfenschlager Str. 73, 09125 Chemnitz, Germany)

  • Federica Costa

    (Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Lambruschini 4/b, 20156 Milano, Italy)

Abstract

Many firms use short-term capacity adjustments to deal with demand changes over time, and a broad literature assesses when and where to adjust capacity. This study highlights that this may be dependent on the type of capacity flexibility used to actually realize the adjustment. By comparing for the first-time capacity adjustments by speeding up processing rates, working in parallel, or using overtime, significant differences in the operational performance are identified, with the latter resulting in the best percentage tardy performance. This provides important insights for the interpretation of the existing literature, guides the future literature, and helps managers to make better decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Nuno O. Fernandes & Matthias Thürer & Federica Costa, 2024. "Work Faster, Work in Parallel, or Work Overtime? An Assessment of Short-Term Capacity Adjustments by Simulation," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-8, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:12:y:2024:i:16:p:2515-:d:1456722
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    References listed on IDEAS

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