The encyclopedia · Engineering & Operations · Operational decision · 1998–2000
Queueing plus finite scheduling lifted Spicer Brugge's productivity 27 points
Dana's transmission plant tested redesigns with queueing, then ran the shop with a finite scheduler — productivity up 27.3 points, lead times cut to a third.
Dana Corporation (Spicer Off-Highway)
The solution
Spicer Off-Highway Products Division, part of Dana Corporation, ran a powershift transmission plant in Brugge, Belgium, that was missing due dates and carrying long manufacturing lead times.
Researchers built a queueing model of the plant to test improvement schemes — layout changes, product-mix decisions, lot sizing and lead-time estimates — before committing capital or floor changes.
With the design chosen, a finite scheduler produced detailed shop-floor schedules. The combination lifted productivity by 27.3 percentage points, cut manufacturing lead times by a factor of two to three, and supported a 41 percent workforce increase; the division returned to profitability.
Why it worked
- Queueing analysis exposed structural causes, not just symptoms
- The finite scheduler made the new design executable day-to-day
- Analysis and scheduling reinforced each other instead of conflicting
- Operators got plans that respected real shop constraints
What can be applied
Model first, schedule second: queueing analysis finds which structural change matters, and a finite scheduler turns it into a plan operators trust — either alone misses half the gain.
Aftermath
The Brugge case became a reference in production-planning teaching for combining queueing theory with finite-capacity scheduling, and Dana continued using the toolkit as the plant grew.
Sources
- Spicer Off-Highway Products Division–Brugge Improves Its Lead-Time and Scheduling Performance
- Spicer Off-Highway Products Division–Brugge Improves Its Lead-Time and Scheduling Performance (abstract)
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