Loading and Scheduling Techniques

Chapter 3
LOADING AND SCHEDULING

TECHNIQUES
‘The purpose of life is a life of purpose.’

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II
Course outline
 Gantt chart
 Critical path method (CPM)
 Program evaluation and
review technique (PERT)

By: Khem Gyanwali, Thapathali Campus, IOE,TU 2
Loading and scheduling techniques
Scheduling can be considered as a typical queuing problem
with following criteria:
i. Each job joins the end of the queue with first in first out
priority.
ii. Job/activity with the longest duration always goes first.
iii. Jobs may be ranked according to earliest delivery date.
The schedules based on above criteria can be prepared with

the help of following techniques:
1. Gantt chart
2. CPM
3. PERT

By: Khem Gyanwali, Thapathali Campus, IOE,TU
3
1. Gantt chart
The Gantt chart is actually a
modified bar chart in which
horizontal bars are drawn for
each activity in proportion to the
time required for completing it.
A cursor attached to the Gantt
chart can be moved across the
chart to compare between
actual progress and planned
work till any particular date.
There are basically two types of
Gantt charts.
i. Order/activity control chart. Henry L. Gantt
ii. Machine load chart

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1. Gantt chart

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1. Gantt chart
Advantages Limitations
• Different activities to be
performed. • Limitation of the size
• Time required for each • Showing many
activity for its completion. activities become
• Dates on which different complicated.
labors, materials and
equipment are needed. • Not able to show
• Progress of each item interrelationships &
• A picture of plan and its interdependencies
comparative progress • Critical activities are
• Bar chart has also difficult to identify
advantage of preparing it for
different levels of authority • Floats are not known.
as per requirements. • Not useful for time
uncertainty projects
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1. Gantt chart
Linked bar chart

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1. Gantt chart
Milestones chart

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2. Critical Path Method (CPM)
The Critical Path Method or Critical Path

Analysis, is a mathematically based algorithm
for scheduling a set of project activities.
It is an important tool for effective project
management .
It is commonly used with all forms of projects,
including construction, software development,
research projects, product development,
engineering, and plant maintenance, among
others.
Any project with interdependent activities can
apply this method of scheduling.

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The essential technique for using CPM is to

construct a model of the project that includes
the following:
 A list of all activities required to complete
the project (also known as Work Breakdown
Structure)
 The time (duration) that each activity will
take to completion
 The dependencies between the activities.
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 CPM calculates
 The longest path of planned activities to the end of the
project
 The earliest and latest that each activity can start and finish
without making the project longer
 Determines “critical” activities (on the longest path)
 Prioritize activities for the effective management and to
shorten the planned critical path of a project by:
 Pruning critical path activities
 “Fast tracking" (performing more activities in parallel)
 “Crashing the critical path" (shortening the durations of
critical path activities by adding resources)

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Definitions
Event
An event is a specific instant of time which indicates the beginning or
end of the activity. Event is also known as a junction. It is represented
by a circle and the event number is written within the circle. Unlike
activity, an event consumes neither time nor resources.
Activity
Every project consists of number of job operations or tasks which are
called activities. An activity is any time or resource consuming part of
the project which has definable start and finish. It may be process such
as moulding, finishing, cutting etc.; a material handling or material
procurement cycle.
An activity is represented by an arrow in the network diagram. It begins
in start event which is also known as ‘tail event’, and ends in
completion event or ‘head event’.

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Network Diagram
It is pictorial representation of a project plan showing
the inter-relationship and interdependencies between
the various activities in a sequence; in which they are
to be performed to complete the project.

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14

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Earliest Start Time (EST): It is the earliest possible time at which an activity can
start, and is calculated by moving from first to last event in the network
diagram.
Earliest Finish Time (EFT): It is the earliest possible at which an activity can
finish.
EFT = EST + duration of that activity
Latest Start Time (LST): It is the latest possible time by which an activity can
start without delaying the date of completion of the project.
LST = LFT – duration of the activity.
Latest Finish Time (LFT): It is the latest time by which the activity must be
completed so that the scheduled date for the completion of the project may
not be delayed. It is calculated by moving backwards i.e. from last event to first
event of the network diagram.

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Float (slack): It is the amount of time that a task can be delayed without
causing a delay to:
 subsequent tasks (free float = EFT - EST)
 project completion date (total float = LST – EST = LFT - EFT)
Critical path: It is the sequence of activities which add up to the longest overall
duration. It is the shortest time possible to complete the project. Any delay of
an activity on the critical path directly impacts the planned project completion
date (there is no float on the critical path). A project can have several, parallel,
near critical paths. An additional parallel path through the network with the
total durations shorter than the critical path is called a sub-critical or non-
critical path.
Critical activity: It is an activity with zero float
Resource leveling: It is an iterative process of assigning crews to activities in

order to calculate their duration

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Steps in CPM
1. Break the project into various activities.
2. Arrange all the activities in a logical sequence considering
the pre-operations, post operations and concurrent
operations.
3. Construct the arrow diagram.
4. Number all the events and activities.
5. Mark the activity times on the arrow diagrams.
6. Calculate EST, LST, EFT, LFT for each activity.
7. Tabulate various times and mark EST and LFT.
8. Calculate total float and for each activity.
9. Identify the critical activities and mark the critical path on
the arrow diagram.
10. Calculate the total project duration.
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Consider the following project:
Immediate
Activity Predecessor time (days)
A -- 6
B -- 4
C A 3
D A 5
E A 1
F B,C 4
G B,C 2
H E,F 6
I E,F 5
J D,H 3
K G,I 5

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Backward LF
ES
6 20
Forward
6 19
D
2 5 5
J
1 6
0 A 3
6 E 13 H 23
1 C 3
4 7
0 4 F 5
13 5
B 4 I 23
K
2
3 6
G
9 18
9 18

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Earliest/Latest Times
Activity time ES EF LS LF Slack
A 6 0 6 0 6 0 *critical
B 4 0 4 5 9 5
EF = ES + t C 3 6 9 6 9 0*
D 5 6 11 15 20 9
LS = LF – t E 1 6 7 12 13 6
Where t is the F 4 9 13 9 13 0*
Activity time G 2 9 11 16 18 7
H 6 13 19 14 20 1
I 5 13 18 13 18 0*
Slack = LF – EF
= LS - ES
J 3 19 22 20 23 1
K 5 18 23 18 23 0*
– The estimated project completion time is the Max EF at node 7 = 23.

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3. Program Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT)
PERT gives a way of identifying critical activities right at

the planning stage so that management is aware of these
potentially troublesome areas and exercise proper control
over them, so as to complete the project within the
scheduled time.
PERT, actually developed as a research and development

planning tool where activity timings could not be
estimated with enough certainty. It can be employed at
those places where a project cannot be easily defined in
terms of time or resource required.
PERT is mainly concerned with events and it is thus event-

oriented system.

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Estimation of activity time

1. Optimistic time (to): It is the shortest time in which an activity can
be completed assuming that everything goes exceptionally well. It
has low probability of occurrence.
2. Most likely time (tm): It is the most likely time required to
completer the activity taking into consideration all favorable and
unfavorable elements. This estimate of time lies between the
optimistic and pessimistic time.
3. Pessimistic time (tp): it is the time which an activity will take to
complete if everything turns out to be against expectation (i.e.
under adverse conditions). Similar to optimistic time it has low
probability of occurrence.
4. Expected time (te): The three time estimate to, tm, tp are
combined statistically to develop the expected time te. It is given
by
Te = (to + 4tm + tp)/6

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PERT simplifies the calculation of standard deviation of the time and

given by
Estimates, σt = (tp – to)/6 and variance, V = σt2
If the time required for an activity is highly variable – if the range of our
estimate is very large – then we will be less confident of the average
value we calculate than if the range is narrower.
Case 1: Case 2:
• to = 5 • to = 8
• tp = 17 • tp = 10
• tm = 8 • tm = 9
• te = 9 • Te = 9
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Benefits of CPM/PERT Limitations of CPM/PERT

• Useful at many stages
of project
• Clearly defined,
management. independent and
• Mathematically simple. stable activities
• Give critical path and • Specified precedence
slack time.
relationships
• Provide project
documentation. • Over emphasis on
• Useful in monitoring critical paths
costs.

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Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II 26

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Chapter 3

LOADING AND SCHEDULING

‘The purpose of life is a life of purpose.’

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

The schedules based on above criteria can be prepared with

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

ii. Machine load chart

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

The Critical Path Method or Critical Path

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

The essential technique for using CPM is to

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Critical activity: It is an activity with zero float

Resource leveling: It is an iterative process of assigning crews to activities in

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

PERT gives a way of identifying critical activities right at

PERT, actually developed as a research and development

PERT is mainly concerned with events and it is thus event-

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

Estimation of activity time

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

PERT simplifies the calculation of standard deviation of the time and

Benefits of CPM/PERT Limitations of CPM/PERT

Industrial Engineering and Management, BME III/II

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