Sprint capacity definition
/What is Sprint Capacity?
Sprint capacity is an excess amount of production capacity that is assembled in the work stations positioned upstream from the constraint operation. Sprint capacity is needed when the inevitable production failure occurs, and the flow of parts to the bottleneck is halted. During this period, the bottleneck instead uses parts from its inventory buffer, which is therefore depleted. The extra sprint capacity is then used to produce an extra-large quantity of parts to rebuild the inventory buffer, in preparation for the next period of production downtime.
The Sprint Capacity vs. Inventory Tradeoff
If there is a large amount of sprint capacity incorporated into a production system, then there is less need to invest in a large inventory buffer, since the extra capacity can rebuild the buffer in short order. If there is less sprint capacity, then a larger inventory buffer is needed. This represents a tradeoff between investing in more sprint capacity or a large inventory buffer.
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The Need for Excess Capacity
A key point in regard to sprint capacity is that a business should maintain excess capacity in its upstream work areas, rather than paring down its production capacity to a level that just meets its ongoing needs. This means that selling off what may appear to be excess equipment is not always a good idea. Instead, keep this inventory in reserve and in operating condition for the occasional instances when it will be needed to replenish the inventory buffer in front of the bottleneck operation.
A request may involve an increase in the capacity of workstations located upstream from the constrained resource. If so, review the request to see if the size of the capacity increase is reasonable, based on the company’s expectations for the amount of sprint capacity needed to recover from a large penetration of the inventory buffer. This review may result in a reduced investment to bring the sprint capacity level up to a reasonable level, rather than a larger capacity level that is unlikely to ever be used.