Scheduling

• Scheduling: Establish the timing of the use of equipment, facilities and human activities in an
organization

– efficient utilization of staff, equipment, and facilities, and

– minimization of customer waiting time, inventories, and process times.

Scheduling Manufacturing Operations

 High-volume
 Intermediate-volume
 Low-volume
 Service
operations

High-Volume Systems

• Characterized by standardized equipments and activities that provide identical or highly similar
operations on customers or products as they pass through the system.

• Goal: high utilization of labor and equipment.

– Many of the loading and sequence decisions are determined during the design of the
system.

• Flow system: High-volume system with Standardized equipment and activities

• Flow-shop scheduling: Scheduling for high-volume flow system

– Line balancing

– Flow system design

High-Volume System Success Factors

• Process and product design

– cost, manufacturability, and smooth flow

• Preventive maintenance

– minimize breakdowns

• Rapid repair when breakdown occurs

– require specialists as well as stocks of critical spare parts

• Optimal product mixes

– achieve desired outputs at minimal costs

• Minimization of quality problems

• Reliability and timing of supplies

– shorten supply lead times, develop reliable supply schedules, and carefully project
needs

Intermediate-Volume Systems

• Outputs are between standardized high-volume systems and made-to-order job shops.

• Three basic issues:

– run size of jobs, the timing of jobs, and the sequence in which jobs should be processed.

Low-Volume Systems

• Products are made to order.

• Orders usually differ considerably in terms of

– processing requirements, materials needed, processing time, and processing sequence

• Impossible to establish firm schedules priori to receiving the actual job orders.

Scheduling Low-Volume Systems

• Loading - how to distribute the workload among work centers

• Sequencing - what job processing sequence to use

Gantt Load Chart

• Gantt chart - used as a visual aid for loading and scheduling

– Load chart

– Schedule chart

Load Chart

• Depict the loading and idle times for a group of machines or a list of departments. The chart
shows when certain jobs are scheduled to start and finish, and where to expect idle time. If all
centers perform the same kind of work, the manager might want to free one center for a long
job or a rush order.

– Infinite loading

• Vertical loading

– Finite loading

• Horizontal loading
Schedule Chart

• Forward scheduling

– How long will it take to complete this job?

• Backward scheduling

– When is the latest job can be started and still be completed by the due date?

Gantt Chart Summary

• Need to repeatedly update a chart to keep it current.

• Does not directly reveal costs associated with alternative loading.

• A job's processing time may vary depending on the work center.

– Certain work stations or work centers may be capable of processing some jobs faster
than other stations.

Sequencing

• Sequencing: Determine the order in which jobs at a work center will be processed.

• Workstation: An area where one person works, usually with special equipment, on a specialized
job.

Sequencing: Priority Rules

• FCFS: first come, first served

• SPT: shortest processing time

• EDD: earliest due date

• CR: critical ratio of time remaining until due date to processing time remaining

• S/O: slack time per operation

• Rush: emergency

Sequencing: Priority Rule Assumptions

• The set of jobs is known.

• Setup time is independent of processing sequence.

• Setup time is deterministic.

• Processing time is deterministic.

• There will be no interruptions in processing.

• Job flow time: The length of time that begins when a job arrives a shop and ends when it leaves
the shop.

• Job lateness: The length of time the job completion date is expected to exceed the due date.

• Makespan: The total time needed to complete a group of jobs.

• Average number of jobs: Total flow time / makespan.

Two Work Center Sequencing

• Johnson’s Rule: technique for minimizing completion time for a group of jobs to be processed
on two machines or at two work centers.

• Minimizes total idle time

• Several conditions must be satisfied

Johnson’s Rule Conditions

• Job time must be known and constant

• Job times must be independent of sequence

• Jobs must follow same two-step sequence

• Job priorities cannot be used

• All units must be completed at the first

Johnson’s Rule Steps

1. List the jobs and their times at each work center.

2. Select the job with the shortest time. If the shortest time is at the first work center, schedule
that job first; if the time is at the second work center, schedule the job last. Break ties
arbitrarily.

3. Eliminate the job and its time from further consideration.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3, working toward the center of the sequence until all jobs have been
scheduled.

Johnson’s Rule Example

A group of six jobs is to be processed through a two-machine flow shop. The first operation involves
cleaning and the second involves painting. Determine a sequence that will minimize the total
completion time for this group of jobs. Processing times are as follows:

Johnson’s Rule Example

a. Select the job with the shortest processing time. It is job D with a time of 2 hours.
 b. Since the time is at the first center, schedule job D first. Eliminate job D from further
consideration.

c. Job B has the next shortest time. Since it is at the second work center, schedule it last and
eliminate job B from further consideration. We now have

Service Operation Problems

• Cannot store or inventory services

• Customer service requests are random

• Scheduling service involves

– Customers

– Workforce

– Equipment

Scheduling Service Operations

• Appointment systems

– Controls customer arrivals for service

• Reservation systems

– Estimates demand for service

• Scheduling the workforce

– Manages capacity for service

• Scheduling multiple resources

– Coordinates use of more than one resource