15-1 Scheduling

Operations Management

William J. Stevenson

8th edition
 15-2 Scheduling

CHAPTER
15

Scheduling

Operations Management, Eighth Edition, by William J. Stevenson

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
15-3 Scheduling

Scheduling

 Scheduling: Establishing the timing of the

use of equipment, facilities and human
activities in an organization
 Effective scheduling can yield
 Cost savings
 Increases in productivity
15-4 Scheduling

High-Volume Systems

 Flow system: High-volume system with

Standardized equipment and activities
 Flow-shop scheduling: Scheduling for high-
volume flow system

Work Center #1 Work Center #2 Output

15-5 Scheduling

Scheduling Manufacturing Operations

High-volume JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN

Build A
Intermediate- A Done
volume Build B

B Done
Low-volume Build C

Service C Done
On time!
Build D
operations
Ship
15-6 Scheduling

High-Volume Success Factors

 Process and product design

 Preventive maintenance
 Rapid repair when breakdown occurs
 Optimal product mixes
 Minimization of quality problems
 Reliability and timing of supplies
15-7 Scheduling

Intermediate-Volume Systems

 Outputs are between standardized high-

volume systems and made-to-order job shops
 Run size, timing, and sequence of jobs
 Economic run size:

2DS p
Q0 
H p u
15-8 Scheduling

Scheduling Low-Volume Systems

 Loading - assignment of jobs to process

centers
 Sequencing - determining the order in
which jobs will be processed
 Job-shop scheduling
 Scheduling for low-volume
systems with many
variations
in requirements
15-9 Scheduling

Gantt Load Chart

Figure 15.2

 Gantt chart - used as a visual aid for loading

and scheduling
Work Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri.
Center
1 Job 3 Job 4
2 Job 3 Job 7
3 Job 1 Job 6 Job 7
4 Job 10
15-10 Scheduling

Loading

 Infinite loading
 Finite loading
 Vertical loading
 Horizontal loading
 Forward scheduling
 Backward scheduling
 Schedule chart
15-11 Scheduling

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.
15-12 Scheduling

Sequencing

 Priority rules: Simple heuristics

used to select the order in
which jobs will be processed.
Everything is
#1 Priority

 Job time: Time needed for

setup and processing of a job.
15-13 Scheduling

Priority Rules
Table 15.2
 FCFS - first come, first served
 SPT - shortest processing time
 EDD - earliest due date
 CR - critical ratio
 S/O - slack per operation
 Rush - emergency Top Priority
15-14 Scheduling

Example 2
Table 15.4
Average
Average Average Number of
Flow Time Tardiness Jobs at the
Rule (days) (days) Work Center
FCFS 20.00 9.00 2.93
SPT 18.00 6.67 2.63
EDD 18.33 6.33 2.68
CR 22.17 9.67 3.24
15-15 Scheduling

Scheduling Difficulties

 Variability in
 Setup times
 Processing times

 Interruptions

 Changes in the set of jobs

 No method for identifying optimal schedule

 Scheduling is not an exact science

 Ongoing task for a manager

15-16 Scheduling

Minimizing Scheduling Difficulties

 Set realistic due dates

 Focus on bottleneck operations
 Consider lot splitting of large jobs
15-17 Scheduling

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
15-18 Scheduling

Cyclical Scheduling

 Hospitals, police/fire departments, restaurants,

supermarkets
 Rotating schedules
 Set a scheduling horizon
 Identify the work pattern

 Develop a basic employee schedule

 Assign employees to the schedule

15-19 Scheduling

Service Operation Problems

 Cannot store or inventory services

 Customer service requests are random

 Scheduling service involves

 Customers
 Workforce
 Equipment
15-20 Scheduling

Service Scheduling

SSU1
Overview—United Airlines