Production Planning and Cost Analysis on a Microcomputer

Bethlehem Steel Corporation now uses a microcomputer model for production planning and cost analysis. Based on an optimization of product flows through a steel-making plant, the model uses Lotus' 1-2-3 software package on an IBM PC-XT microcomputer to assess the impact of changes in product demands, facility capacities, and costs. Questions such as, How many turns (eight-hour shifts) per week would the plate mill run if this year's demand for steel plate products were 500,000 tons? and, How would the final costs of products be affected if the price of natural gas increased by 20 percent? are easily and quickly answered. In short, the model provides a fast and user-friendly approach for investigating a variety of scenarios more efficiently than would be possible on a mainframe computer.