ABSTRACT
Most job shop managers operate multiple businesses under one roof. Such high-mix, low-volume operations use the same business strategy, the same suppliers, the same facility layout, the same production scheduling, and the same equipment, all for what amounts to several different businesses. Job shops can process 100’s or even 1,000’s of different products a year, and classifying them can be a monumental challenge. Here, the product mix, quantity, routing, and revenue, time (PQR$T) Analysis can help. Specifically, PQT Analysis relates a product’s quantity and demand repeatability (Q and T) by defining Runners, Repeaters, and Strangers. PQR$T Analysis builds on the traditional Product-Quantity (PQ) Analysis, a method for product mix segmentation that OEMs and top-tier manufacturers have embraced for years to plan their lean implementation. The PQ Analysis method can be used to segment the product mix based on the annual production volume of each product.
