A review of the production planning process at Renault Sweden

Abstract

In todays global market it is more important than ever to be able to produce the right amount, at the right time, at the right quality in order to meet, and perhaps even exceed the expectations of the customer. This places a heavy burden on the production planning process and in the case of Renault Sweden there has been a wish to improve this aspect of the company. The purpose of the master thesis is to first do a complete documentation of the production request process and to study its components. Included is also to study, review and update the management tool used in the production planning process in order to aid the management in its decision making process. The first step was to form a clear image of the structure of Renault Sweden. This included all aspects of the company from production planning, to production, transport, sales, the different roles of the employees, and a full review of the management tool. Having established the workings of Renault Sweden focus was turned on updating the management tool according to said specifications. • Change the time-scale of the tool from quarterly reports to monthly. • Change the focus of the information presented from Retail Delivery to Registrations. • Review the values of the parameters used in the model to secure that they are still accurate. • To add an automatically generated wholesale report and to present it in a clear fashion. Analysing the benefits of these changes a few conclusions could be drawn. Given a greater degree of detail and added information it becomes easier for the management to make more accurate decisions concerning production planning. The new automated wholesale report also provides the financial manager a new tool with which he can influence planned production levels. However, there are still improvements that can be made on many levels. A recommendation was issued to do a full review of all parameter values used in the management tool to further improve the accuracy and also a remainder of the importance of following established processes.