low use of factory capacity even with demand

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thiarcher
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low use of factory capacity even with demand

Post by thiarcher »

Here's the problem:

I have a fully stocked car manufacturing plant using half of its production capacity that is set to pull production to the warehouse.

The warehouse is indicating to the factory that there is no demand from the retail stores, but there is a lot of unmet demand at the stores, as shown in the picture below. (All stores configured to pull from the warehouse.)

The question is: What is going on?


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thiarcher
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Re: low use of factory capacity even with demand

Post by thiarcher »

The stores are all in shopping malls, could there be a bug in this regard?

Editing this post, I did a test and added the same factory to a second entrance of the same warehouse, and this seems to have solved the problem.

The final question that remains is: Shouldn't a warehouse entrance be able to connect to a factory, even a large one?

Is this a bug or was it coded to be this way?
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Stylesjl
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Re: low use of factory capacity even with demand

Post by Stylesjl »

It looks like your warehouse input is too small for the factory. Your factory has two sales units but the warehouse has only one input so that is a sign that the supply/demand is mismatched. Still those two sales units are handling the entire manufacturing input of a single large factory.

I guess one large warehouse could not handle an entire factory if it is only using part of the warehouse's capacity (i.e only one input unit). That seems realistic to me.

You may also want to check the shop as well. The shop might not be able to sell units fast enough, in which case you may need more sales/purchase units. Selling cars is a much slower process than simply moving them from a warehouse.
thiarcher
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Re: low use of factory capacity even with demand

Post by thiarcher »

Stylesjl wrote: Tue Apr 22, 2025 12:51 am It looks like your warehouse input is too small for the factory. Your factory has two sales units but the warehouse has only one input so that is a sign that the supply/demand is mismatched. Still those two sales units are handling the entire manufacturing input of a single large factory.

I guess one large warehouse could not handle an entire factory if it is only using part of the warehouse's capacity (i.e only one input unit). That seems realistic to me.

You may also want to check the shop as well. The shop might not be able to sell units fast enough, in which case you may need more sales/purchase units. Selling cars is a much slower process than simply moving them from a warehouse.
Could you suggest a good layout for the car factory so that the factory can reach 100% production and export all production?

Both of the factory's sales units are not using 100% of their capacity and the warehouse's input unit is also not using 100% of its capacity, they are all around 50% of their capacity.

So I think something is wrong with this...
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Stylesjl
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Re: low use of factory capacity even with demand

Post by Stylesjl »

thiarcher wrote: Tue Apr 22, 2025 1:09 am
Stylesjl wrote: Tue Apr 22, 2025 12:51 am It looks like your warehouse input is too small for the factory. Your factory has two sales units but the warehouse has only one input so that is a sign that the supply/demand is mismatched. Still those two sales units are handling the entire manufacturing input of a single large factory.

I guess one large warehouse could not handle an entire factory if it is only using part of the warehouse's capacity (i.e only one input unit). That seems realistic to me.

You may also want to check the shop as well. The shop might not be able to sell units fast enough, in which case you may need more sales/purchase units. Selling cars is a much slower process than simply moving them from a warehouse.
Could you suggest a good layout for the car factory so that the factory can reach 100% production and export all production?

Both of the factory's sales units are not using 100% of their capacity and the warehouse's input unit is also not using 100% of its capacity, they are all around 50% of their capacity.

So I think something is wrong with this...
That configuration seems to be the most optimal one. It needs two sales units to cover all 3 manufacturing units and since it needs 3 inputs (and the engine needs two inputs to supply all three manufacturing units). So in that regard you will see that the main bottleneck for the factory is the manufacturing speed (i.e all three units will be 100% but everything else will be less than 100% as manufacturing cannot work fast enough).
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Re: low use of factory capacity even with demand

Post by TheOscar »

The input on your warehouse shows 100% utilization. So that’s the bottle neck you resolved by adding the same factory to a second input in the warehouse.

Do that until there is enough inventory building up in the warehouse. Then you will start to see the outputs start sending cars to your shops. The warehouse outputs show high demand from stores but low supply because the warehouse does not have inventory.

Once you resolve the above, I think you will start to see inventory move into retail. In my experience, your retail layout is good for most goods, but for cars, I had to match it to production speed. I did not use a warehouse, instead I used an inventory slot at the dealership. I started with one purchasing unit connected to an retail inventory unit and then a sales unit. I kept adding sales units until I maxed the purchase utilization. This may not be correct but it worked for me.
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Re: low use of factory capacity even with demand

Post by 13thscholar »

The small warehouse is ok for light turnover semi products like rubber or flax, but struggles with rapid turnover unless a level 6+ unit.

If you want to build up the capacity, and you only have one factory, connect all the warehouse inputs to create the flow, then duplicate the factory and connect it. I find this the best way to balance out supply/demand using a factory and growing your retail footprint simultaneously.
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