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Chapter 17: Operations Scheduling

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

Operation 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 for example, the drilling
department in a factory that makes custom printed circuit boards it enters a queue (
) to wait for a drilling machine which can be used to drill the required holes.
Scheduling, in this case, involves determining the order for running the jobs, and also
assigning a machine that can be used to perform the task.

Characteristics of Scheduling System:

i.

ii.

A characteristic that distinguishes one scheduling system from another is how capacity is
considered in determining the scheduled. Scheduling systems can either infinite or finite
loading.
a. Infinite Loading:
Infinite loading 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.
b. Finite Loading:
A finite loading 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 (s) shortage, the order
will sit in queue and wait until the part is available from the preceding operation.
Another characteristic that distinguishes scheduling systems is whether the scheduled is
generated forward or backward in time. For this forward backward dimension, forward
scheduling is the most common.
a. Forward Scheduling:
Forward scheduling is a method for determining the production schedule by
working forwards from the current date (or time) to find the date when the work
will be completed.
A system that forward schedules can tell the earliest date that an order can be
completed.

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LEVEL 04; TERM 01

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b. Backward Scheduling:
Backward scheduling is a method for determining the production schedule by
working backwards from the due date (or time) to the start date (or time), and
computing the materials and time required at every operation or stage.
A system that backward schedules can tell when an order must be started in order
to be completed by 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 Machine Limited process, equipment is the critical resource that is scheduled.
In Labor Limited process, people are the key resource that is scheduled.
Most actual processes are either machine limited or labor limited but, luckily, not both.

Typical Scheduling and Control Functions:

The following functions must be performed in scheduling and controlling an operation:
Allocating orders, equipment and personnel to work center or other specified locations.
Essentially, this is short run capacity planning.
Determining the sequence of order performance (that is, establishing job priorities).
Initiating performance of the scheduled work. This is commonly termed dispatching (
) of orders.
Shop floor control (or production activity control) involvinga. Reviewing the status and controlling the progress of orders as they are being worked on.
b. Expediting ( ) late and critical orders.

Objectives of Work Center Scheduling:

The objectives of work center scheduling are:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

To meet due dates;

To minimize lead time;
To minimize setup time or cost;
To minimize work in progress inventory;
To maximize machine and 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, only requiring that jobs be sequenced according to one piece of
data (such as processing time, due date, or order of arrival, etc.), or may require several pieces
of information.
Other rules, such as Johnsons rule requires a computation procedure to specify the order of
performance.
Ten of the more common priority rules are shown in Ten Priority Rules for Job Sequencing
on the next page.

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LEVEL 04; TERM 01

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Standard Measures of Scheduled Performance to evaluate Priority Rules:

The following standard measures of scheduled performance are used to evaluate priority
rules: Meeting due dates of customers or downstream operations;
Minimizing the flow time (the time a job spends in the process);
Minimizing work in progress inventory;
Minimizing idle () time of machines or workers.

Scheduling n Jobs on One Machine:

Different priority rules can be used for scheduling n jobs on one machine. They are as
follows:i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

FCFS (first come, first serve):

Orders are run in the order they arrive in the department.
SOT (shortest operating time):
The job is run with the shortest completion time first, next shortest second and so on. This is
identical to SPT (shortest processing time).
DD (due date):
The job is run with the earliest due date first.
DDate when referring to the entire job; OPNDD when referring to the next operation.
SD (start date):
This is calculated as the difference between the due date minus the normal lead time. The job
is run with the earliest start date first.

ESD (earliest start date)=Due datenormal lead time

v.

STR (slack time remaining):

This is calculated as the difference between the time remaining before the due date minus the
processing time remaining. Orders with the shortest STR are run first.

STR ( slack time remaining ) =timebefore due dateremaining processing time

vi.

STR/OP (slack time remaining per operation):

Orders are run with the shortest STR/OP first.

STR
Slack
time until due date processingtime
=
=
OP No . of remaing operations
No .of remaining operations

vii.

CR (critical ratio):
This is calculated as the difference between the due date and the current date divided by the
number of working days remaining. Orders are run with the smallest CR first.

CR(critical ratio)=
viii.

QR (queue ratio):
This is calculated as the slack time remaining in the schedule divided by the planned
remaining queue time. Orders are run with the smallest QR first.

QR (queue ratio)=
ix.
x.

due datecurrent date

No . of remaining working days

slack time remainingthe schedule

the planned remaining queue time

LCFS (last come, first serve):

This rule occurs frequently by default. As orders arrive they are placed on the top of the stack;
the operator usually picks up the order on top to run first.
Random order or whim:
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The supervisors or the operators usually select whichever job they feel like running.

Scheduling n Jobs on Two Machine:

The objective of this approach (termed as Johnsons rule or method) is to minimize the flow
time, from the beginning of the first job until the finish of the last. Johnsons rule consists of the
following steps:i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

The operation time is listed for each job on both machines;

The shortest operation time is selected among all the operation times;
If the shortest operation time is for the first machine, the job is done first; if it is for the
second machine the job is done last;
Steps (ii) and (iii) are repeated for each remaining job, until the schedule is complete.

Shop floor control (Production activity control):

Scheduling job priorities is just one aspect of shop floor control (now often called
production activity control). The ACIPS Dictionary defines a shop floor control system asA system for utilizing data from the shop floor as well as data processing files to maintain
and communicate status information on shop orders and work centers.
The major functions of shop floor control are:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.

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 purposes.
Providing measurement of efficiency, utilization, and productivity of manpower and
machines.

Gantt Charts:
Small job shops and individual departments of large factories employ Gantt Chart to help
plan and track jobs.
A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that plots tasks against time.
Gantt charts are used for project planning as well as to co ordinate a number of scheduled
activities.
Example, as shown in below, indicates that Job A is behind schedule by about four hours, Job
B is ahead of schedule, and Job C has been completed, after a delayed start for equipment
maintenance.
Whether the job is ahead of schedule or behind schedule is based on where it stands compared
to where we are now.
In example, we are at the end of Wednesday, and Job A should have been completed, and Job
B has already had some of Thursdays work completed.

Tools of Shop Floor Control:

The basic tools for shop floor control are given below:
i.
ii.

The daily dispatch list, tells the supervisors which jobs are to be run, their priority, and how
long each will take.
Various status and exception reports, including-

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iii.

a. The anticipated delay report, made out by the shop planner once or twice in a week
and reviewed by the chief shop planner if there are any serious delays that could
affect the master schedule.
b. Scrap reports.
c. Review reports.
d. Performance summery reports giving the number and percentage of orders completed
on schedule, lateness of unfilled orders, volume of output, and so on.
e. Shortest list.
An input/output control report, which is used by the supervisor to monitor the workload
capacity relationship for each workstation.

MD. HABIBUR RAHMAN

NAME; BUET
LEVEL 04; TERM 01