Practice Summary: Capacity Planning in the Presence of Sequence-Dependent Setups at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals

We implemented a capacity planning tool for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP(AZPLP), a U.S. subsidiary of a global innovative biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of prescription medicines. In this paper, we discuss the challenges of estimating capacity in this setting and use them to bring attention to the importance of minor setups. To aid capacity planning in this environment of nonlinear sequence-dependent setup times, we solve a linearized formulation of the problem using a Microsoft Excel-based optimization tool that we developed. The tool has contributed to significant reductions in planning time at AstraZeneca and greater confidence by management in any particular capacity plan’s efficiency and feasibility.