PRODUCTION SCHEDULING

Module 04
Production Planning
 Production Scheduling
• Scheduling is the process of arranging, controlling and optimizing work and
workloads in a production process or manufacturing process. Scheduling is used
to allocate plant and machinery resources, plan human resources, plan production
processes and purchase materials.

• It is an important tool for manufacturing and engineering, where it can have a

major impact on the productivity of a process. In manufacturing, the purpose of
scheduling is to minimize the production time and costs, by telling a production
facility when to make, with which staff, and on which equipment. Production
scheduling aims to maximize the efficiency of the operation and reduce costs.
 Production Scheduling
• Scheduling is the process of arranging, controlling and optimizing work and workloads in a production process. Companies
use backward and forward scheduling to allocate plant and machinery resources, plan human resources, plan production
processes and purchase materials.

• Forward scheduling is planning the tasks from the date resources become available to determine the shipping date or the
due date.
• Backward scheduling is planning the tasks from the due date or required-by date to determine the start date and/or any
changes in capacity required.
• The benefits of production scheduling include:
• Process change-over reduction
• Inventory reduction, levelling
• Reduced scheduling effort
• Increased production efficiency
• Labour load levelling
• Accurate delivery date quotes
• Real time information
 Components of Production Planning
• Facility Location
• Facility Layout
• Process Layout
• Product Layout
• Cellular Layout
• Fixed Position
• Material-Requirements Planning (MRP)
• Just-in-Time (JIT) Manufacturing
 Gantt Chart
• A Gantt chart—named after the designer Henry Gantt—is an easy-to-
use graphical tool that helps operations managers schedule the
activities and determine the status of projects. Devised by Gantt in the
1910s, this chart illustrates the start and finish dates of the elements of
a project. Modern Gantt charts also show the dependency relationships
between activities. Although now regarded as a common planning
technique, Gantt charts were considered revolutionary when they were
first introduced.
 Gantt Chart
• A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule.
This chart lists the tasks to be performed on the vertical axis, and time
intervals on the horizontal axis. The width of the horizontal bars in the
graph shows the duration of each activity. Gantt charts illustrate the
start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements
of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements constitute
the work breakdown structure of the project. Modern Gantt charts also
show the dependency (i.e., precedence network) relationships between
activities. Gantt charts can be used to show current schedule status
using percent-complete shadings and a vertical "TODAY" line.
 Objectives of the Production Scheduling

• Making efficient use of the labor.

• Making best possible use of the equipment's that are available for the use.
• Increasing the profit.
• Increasing the output.
• Improving the service level.
• Maximizing the delivery performance i.e. meeting the delivery dates.
• Minimizing the inventory.
• Reducing the manufacturing time.
• Minimizing the production costs.
• Minimizing the worker costs.
 Functions of the operations scheduling
• Allocation of the resources.
• Shop floor control.
• Making maximum use of the plant at minimum possible cost.
• Ensure that the needs of the manpower are optimum.
• Determination of the sequence of the jobs.
• Specifying the start and the end time for each job (actively scheduled).
• Getting quick feedback from the shops regarding the delays and the various interruptions.
• Possess up – to – date information for the availability of the materials, expected delivery
dates etc.
• Possess up – to – date data on the machine regarding its breakdown, servicing etc.
• Keep itself abreast of the hiring, dismissals, holidays etc. of the work force.
 Scheduling Environment and Constraints
• Increased production capacity and reduced total production costs are frequently
used as a justification for applying advanced technology construction equipment.
Frequently new equipment comes with its requirements and production data that
management are not familiar with.
• Therefore, planning and scheduling of construction activities using automated
equipment needs to look at the equipment requirements and production data more
than the conventional equipment.
• Applying Critical Path Method (CPM) for planning and scheduling of
construction projects starts with identifying the list of activities by using Work
Breakdown Structure(WBS). Then, the activities' logical constraints or
relationships and duration need to be defined in order to identify the work
sequences and start and completion dates'. Activities' duration is normally
assigned by an experienced engineer familiar with the operation or by using the
historical equipment performance record.
• The work duration is normally comprised of productive, supportive,
and nonproductive time. Basically, the duration of supportive time
(scheduled maintenance, resetting machine, etc.) and non-productive
time (unscheduled downtime, delays, etc.) is not well documented.
However, for activities requiring conventional construction
equipment, the work duration can be subjectively and realistically
estimated based on the equipment availability, past performance data
and experiences of engineers or operators. From all steps listed in
figure 1, defining logical relationships between activities is the most
critical step regarding the commonly found mistakes that make the
schedule unrealistic.
 Constraints and Limitations

• For construction activities employing automated equipment or machines to

perform specific tasks, an imposed condition or constraints regarding their
availability and productivity should be seriously considered at the early stage. The
constraints on the limited number of automated equipment and machines,
productivity rates, weather conditions, etc. can have a major impact on the
sequences, inter-relationships, and duration of activities. These types of
constraints may not be major criteria when the tasks are performed by
conventional equipment or machines. Therefore, construction activities performed
by automated equipment or machine must have the above mentioned constraints
clearly defined as early as possible. Three types of constraints imposing
conditions affecting the start and completion date of activities are discussed in the
context of planning and scheduling of automated construction equipment. They
are technological, managerial, and external constraints.
 Production Scheduling Software uses

1.Generating meaningful, high quality production schedules instantaneously whenever

needed (without resource overloading)
2.Doing fast and extensive what-if analysis of schedules and proactive capacity
planning
3.Identifying and managing bottlenecks efficiently
4.Fixing rational lead times and right start times for new orders for low WIP and high
on-time delivery
5.Handling rush orders and unexpected changes in order priorities
6.Incorporating vendor operations and uncertainty in the schedule appropriately
7.Planning raw material procurement for inventory control
8.Having intelligent decision support for efficient production management.