In MTA environments there is a need to hold protective capacity. The problem is that in order to use the protective capacity when needed, this capacity is on average idle. In the previous nugget (“light blue 1″, no. 11) we discussed a way to directly exploit the protective capacity; to use this idle capacity to satisfy more sales. The first light blue method is based on the use of protective capacity to produce to stock, which is then offered in segmented markets – dumping markets. The nugget ended with a warning not to use this method if the company cannot find suitable dumping markets. In cases where the company can’t find enough such markets, and consequently a part of the protective capacity is left unutilized, there is another possible method that can enable exploitation of the remaining free protective capacity. This method is based on processing clients’ orders by the protective capacity and therefore it is applicable only in mixed MTA+MTO environments.

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Light Blue - a Buffer Management concept Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt Share this video Dr. Goldratt talks about a relatively new Buffer Management concept called "Light blue". The details of this concept can be found in his Golden Nuggets articles published in his blog (http://blog.eligoldratt.com). 3 min, English

To fully enroll the Rapid Response (RR) offer, without taking a risk of deteriorating Reliability, it is required to shrink the production buffer to less than one quarter of the industry lead time. Reaching that stage takes substantial time. Much before that stage – when load control is implemented – the lead time is shorter than half the industry lead time. Since the financial benefits of getting even a fraction of the orders in RR prices are so significant, the S&T tree recommends to start offering RR on a limited volume (less than ten percent of the capacity) immediately after load-control is put in place. We know that the company can safely offer lead times which are half the industry lead time as rapid service, but what can the company offer, at that early stage, as super-rapid service?…Click here to continue reading