Chapter 13: Operations Scheduling

The Nature and Importance of Work

Centers
Definition of work center
-It is an area in a business in which
productive resources are organized and
work is completed. It may be a single
machine, a group of machine, or an area
where a particular type of work is done.
-It can be organized according to function in
a job shop; or by product in a flow,
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assembly line, or group technology (GT)
cell.

Organization of a Work Center

In the case of the job-shop, jobs need to
be routed between functionally organized
work centers to complete the work. When
a job arrives at a work center (the drilling
department in a factory) it enters a
queue to wait for a drilling machine that
can be used to drill the required holes.
-Scheduling involves determining the
order for running the jobs and also
assigning a machine that can be used to
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perform the task.

Characteristics of scheduling system

A characteristic that distinguishes one
scheduling system from another is how
capacity is considered in determining
the schedule. Scheduling system can
use either infinite or finite loading.

Finite and Infinite Loading

Infinite loading It occurs when work is assigned to
a work center simply based on what is needed
over time. No consideration is given directly to
whether there is sufficient capacity at the
resources required to complete the work, nor is
the actual sequence of the work as done by each
resource in the work center.
Finite loading This approach actually schedules in
detail each resource using the setup and run time
required for each order. In essence, the system
determines exactly what will be done by each
resource at every moment during the working day.
In the case in which an operation is delayed due to
a part shortage, the order will sit in the queue 4and
wait until the part is available from a preceding
operation.

Forward and Backward Scheduling

Another characteristic that distinguishes
scheduling systems is whether the
scheduled is generated forward or
backward in time. Forward scheduling is
most common.
Forward scheduling It refers to the
situation in which the system takes an
order and then schedules each operation
that must be completed forward in time.
A system that forward schedules can tell
the earliest date that an order can be
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completed.

Backward scheduling It starts from

some date in the future and schedules
the required operations in reverse
sequence. The backward schedule tells
when an order must be started in order
to be done in a specific date.

Machine and Labor Limited Processes

The term resource is commonly used in a
generic sense. In practice, it is needed to
decide what is going to be actually
scheduled.
Commonly,
processes
are
referred to as either machine or labor
limited.
In a machine limited process, equipment is
the critical resource that is scheduled.
In a labor limited process, people are the
key resource that is scheduled.
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Scheduling and Control Functions

The following functions must be performed in
scheduling and control functions.
Allocating orders, equipment, and personnel to
work centers or other specified locations.
Essentially, this is short-run capacity planning.
Determining
the
sequence
of
order
performance.
Initiating performance of the scheduled work.
This is commonly termed dispatching orders.
Shop-floor control involving:
-reviewing the status and controlling the
progress of orders as they are being worked8 on
-expediting late and critical orders.

Objectives of Work Center Scheduling

To
To
To
To
To

meet due dates

minimize lead time
minimize setup time or cost
minimize work-in-process inventory
maximize machine or labor utilization

Job Sequencing
The process of determining which job to start
first on some machine or in some work center
is known as sequencing or priority sequencing.
-Priority rules are the rules used in obtaining a
job sequence.
-These can be very simple, requiring only that
jobs be sequenced according to one piece of
data (processing time, due date, order of
arrival, etc.) or may require several pieces of
information.
-Others, such as Johnsons rule require a
computational procedure to specify the order
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of performance.

Standard Measures of Scheduled

Performance

Meeting due dates of customers or

downstream operations
Minimizing the flow time (the time a
job spends in the process)
Minimizing work-in-process inventory
Minimizing idle time of machines or
workers
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Scheduling n Jobs on 1 Machine

Different priority rules can be used.
First come first serve (FCFS)
Shortest processing/operating time
(SPT/SOT)
Earliest due date (EDD)
Earliest start date (ESD) : start date
= due date normal lead time
Last come first serve (LCFS)
Random order
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Scheduling n Jobs on 2 Machines

The objective of this approach (termed
Johnsons rule) is to minimize the flow
time. Steps are given below:
1. List the operation time for each job on
both machines.
2. Select
the shortest operation time
among all operation times.
3. If the shortest time is for the first
machine, do the job first; if it is for the
second machine, do the job last.
4. Repeat step 2 and 3 for each remaining
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job until the schedule is complete.

Shop-Floor Control
Scheduling job priorities is just one aspect of
shop-floor control. The major functions of shop
floor control are given below:
Assigning priority of each shop order
Maintaining
work-in-process
(WIP)
quantity
information
Conveying shop-order status information to the
office
Providing actual output data for capacity control
purposes
Providing quantity by location by shop order for
WIP inventory and accounting purpose
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Providing measurement of efficiency, utilization,
and productivity of manpower and machines.

Gantt Charts
Smaller
job
shops
and
individual
departments of large factories employ
the Gantt Chart to help plan and
track jobs.
-It is a type of bar chart that plots tasks
against time. It is used for project
planning as well as to coordinate a
number of scheduled activities.
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Tools of Shop-Floor Control

The basic tools of shop-floor control have been given below:
The daily dispatch list tells the supervisor which jobs are to
be run, their priority, and how long each will take.
Various status and exception reports
a. The anticipated delay report, made out by the shop
planner once or twice in a week and reviewed by the chief
shop planner to see if there are any serious delays that
could affect the master schedule.
b. Scrap reports.
c. Rework reports.
d. Performance summary reports giving the number and
percentage of orders completed on time, lateness of
unfilled orders, volume of output, etc.
e. Shortage list.
An input/output control report, which is used by the
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supervisor to monitor the workload-capacity relationship
for each workstation.

Shop-Floor Control
Scheduling job priorities is just one aspect of
shop-floor control. The major functions of shop
floor control are given below:
Assigning priority of each shop order
Maintaining
work-in-process
(WIP)
quantity
information
Conveying shop-order status information to the
office
Providing actual output data for capacity control
purposes
Providing quantity by location by shop order for
WIP inventory and accounting purpose
17
Providing measurement of efficiency, utilization,
and productivity of manpower and machines.