SCHEDULING

SCHEDULING
 Scheduling can be defined as the assignment
and timing of the use of resources, such as
personnel, facilities and equipment for
production, or a job
 Manufacturing has to determine the sequence
in which jobs will be processed at each work
center having different M/C
 Accounting or IT firms must decide which
employee will work on which project
 OBJECTIVES OF SCHEDULING
 Scheduling of operations deals with such
questions as:
 Which work centers will do which jobs
 When should an operation start and when should it
end
 On which equipment should it be done, and by whom

 Sequence in which job/ operations should be done

 Long range scheduling is of strategic
importance to higher management, the short
range scheduling is of immediate significance
to shop floor managers
 Many companies establish daily production and
work schedules. If necessary, the schedules
may be revised during the day
 Ex:airlines have to reschedule aircraft and crew due
to delay and cancellation or re-routing of flights
 ADVANTAGES OF SCHEDULING
 Scheduling ensures more efficient use of
workers and equipment on an on-going basis
 Scheduling lowers the cost of operation and
improves productivity and profitability
 It improves speed and reliability of operations
and ensures customer satisfaction
 SCHEDULING BATCH PRODUCTION
SYSTEMS
 Batch production comprises of job shops, batch
flow and cellular processes. In each of these
cases, a variety of products is normally made
 The time required for each job at each work
station can vary because of set-up costs and
processing requirements of order sizes
 Each batch production has to be scheduled
separately, but coordinated with each other
APPROACHES TO JOB SCHEDULING
 There are two approaches:
a) Static rolling schedule – static daily/ weekly
schedules are made for current jobs in the system
against which there are firm orders. After one week,
a new static schedule is made that takes into
account new orders, the completion of jobs,
production status of jobs in the system
b) Dynamic method – it uses dispatching or priority
rule. Every time a job finishes processing at a
certain stage, a priority rule is used to select the
next job for processing at that stage. Any job in the
queue will be included in the planning
CRITERIA FOR SCHEDULING EVALUATION
1) Minimize average flow time – it is the time from
starting point until its completion
2) Minimize ‘make span’ time – the ‘make span’ for a
set of jobs is the longest flow time for the jobs in the
set or it is the time from when process begins on the
first job until the last job is completed
3) Minimize average no. of jobs in the system – for
a fixed set of jobs, this will be the total time for all
jobs divided by ‘make span’
4) Minimize average tardiness – the tardiness of a
job is the amount of time after its due date that the
job is completed, the tardiness is zero if the job is
completed before the due date
 SCHEDULING RULES
a) Shortest processing time (SPT) – it sequences
jobs in increasing order of their process times,
including set-up costs
b) Earliest due date (EDD) – sequences the jobs in
order of their due dates, earliest first
c) Critical ratio (CR) – sequences jobs in order of
their critical ratios, where the critical ratio is the
amount of time up to the due date divided by the
remaining amount of processing time required
d) Slack time remaining rule (STR) – for a job, it is
the due date minus the remaining process time.
The jobs are sequenced in increasing order of their
STRs
 EXAMPLE
 Following are the estimated work times required to
complete each job and the due dates requested by
customers
Job Processing time Due date (days
in days from present)
A 12 52
B 16 37
C 8 28
D 20 57
E 6 31
 SEQUENCE USING THE SPT RULE
sequence Job Completion Time tardiness
time until due
date
1 E 6 31 0
2 C 14 28 0
3 A 26 52 0
4 B 42 37 5
5 D 62 57 5
TOTAL 150 10
Average flow time per job = 150/5 =30
Make span = 62
Average no. of jobs in the system = 150/62 = 2.42
Average tardiness per job = 10/5 = 2.0
Number of jobs tardy = 2
 SEQUENCE USING THE EDD RULE
Sequence Job Completion Time until Tardiness
time due date

1 C 8 28 0
2 E 14 31 0
3 B 30 37 0
4 A 42 52 0
5 D 62 57 5
TOTAL 156 5
Average flow time per job =156/5 =31.2
Make span = 62
Average no. of jobs in the system =156/62 = 2.52
Average tardiness per job = 5/5 = 1.0
Number of jobs tardy = 1
 SEQUENCE USING THE CR RULE
Sequence Job Critical Completion Time Tardiness
Ratio time until
due
date
1 B 37/16=2.31 16 37 0
2 D 57/20=2.87 36 57 0
3 C 28/8=3.5 44 28 16
4 A 52/12=4.33 56 52 4
5 E 31/6=5.17 62 31 31
TOTAL 214 51

Average flow time per job =214/5 =42.8

Make span = 62
Average no. of jobs in the system =214/62 = 3.45
Average tardiness per job =51/5 = 10.2
Number of jobs tardy = 3
 SEQUENCE USING THE CR RULE
Sequence Job Slack time Completion Time Tardiness
remaining time until
due
date
1 C 28-8=20 8 28 0
2 B 37-16=21 24 37 0
3 E 31-6=25 30 31 0
4 D 57-20=37 50 57 0
5 A 52-12=40 62 52 10
TOTAL 174 10

Average flow time per job =174/5 = 34.8

Make span = 62
Average no. of jobs in the system =174/62 = 2.81
Average tardiness per job = 10/5 = 2
Number of jobs tardy = 1
MASTER PRODUCTION SCHEDULING
 MPS links planning & execution of operations
 MPS makes use of actual customer orders for
capacity planning and resource allocation
 MPS is a process by which dis-aggregation of
varieties is done and this information is used to
assign the required capacity to each variety
 MPS ensures specific material & capacity
availability in a particular time
 MPS involves taking inputs from
a) Order inflow b) aggregate production planning
 Master production scheduling – A planning tool

forecasting Aggregate
Order
production
inflow
planning

market

Master
Materials plan
Production
Capacity plan scheduling

Labor & Actual Vendors

resources production Material
Resource
inflow
availability
 STAGES IN MPS
a) Update the projected demand based on earlier
forecast and current market information
b) Dis-aggregation of product information and relating it
to specific material and capacity requirements
 MARKET INFORMATION FOR
PRODUCTION PLAN
 If the actual orders are less than the forecast, it
is normal practice to work on the basis of
forecast; on the other hand if the orders are
more than the forecast then it is desirable to
incorporate market information planning
 MASTER SCHEDULING
 It is the heart of production planning and control
and determines the quantities needed to meet
demand from all sources
 MS interfaces with marketing, capacity
planning, production planning and distribution
planning
 It enables marketing to make valid
commitments to final customers
 It also enables production to evaluate capacity
requirements
 It provides necessary information to
marketing to negotiate when customer
request cannot be met by normal capacity
 It provides management with the opportunity
to know whether the business plans will be
achieved
 MASTER SCHEDULER
 Master scheduler includes:
a) Evaluating impact of new orders
b) Providing delivery dates for orders
c) Dealing with problems
i. Evaluating the impact of production delays or late delivery
of purchased goods
ii. Revising the master schedule because of insufficient
supplies or capacity
iii. Apprising all concerned the instances of insufficient
capacity
 MASTER SCHEDULING PROCESS
 It indicates the quantity and timing of deliveries
for a product but it does not show planned
production details
 The master production schedule indicates the
quantity and timing of planned production,
taking into account desired delivery quantity &
timing as well as on-hand inventory. The
master production schedule is one of the
primary outputs of master scheduling process
 INPUTS
 Master schedule has 3 inputs, the beginning
inventory, forecasts of each period and
customer orders in terms of quantities
committed to customers
 OUTPUTS
 It determines projected inventory, production
requirements, and the resulting un-committed
inventory which is referred to as available to-
promise inventory (ATP). Knowledge of ATP
helps marketing to make realistic promises
about deliveries to consumers
 PROJECTED INVENTORY
 MS begins with a calculation of projects on-
hand inventory. This reveals when additional
inventory is required which is made through
production
 EXAMPLE
 A company making pumps to make a master
production schedule for June July. Forecast is
140 for June and 160 for July. These have
been evenly distributed, 30 per week in June
and 40 per week in July. Currently, 64 pumps
are in stock and customer orders have been
committed that have to be supplied, economical
production lot size is 70 nos.
Weekly forecast requirements June July
For industrial pumps
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
forecast 30 30 30 30 40 40 40 40

Eight week schedule showing forecasts, June July

customer orders & beginning inventory
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Forecast 33 30 30 30 30 40 40 40 40
Customer orders 33 20 10 4 2
committed

Projected on-hand inventory is computed

Week by week until it becomes negative June July
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Forecast 33 30 30 30 30 40 40 40 40
Customer orders 33 20 10 4 2
committed
Projected on-hand 31 1 -29
inventory
week Inventory requirements Net (70) Projected
from inventory MPS inventory
previous before
week MPS
1 64 30 31 31
2 31 30 1 1
3 1 30 -29 + 70 41
4 41 30 11 11
5 11 40 -29 + 70 41
6 41 40 1 1
7 -1 40 -39 + 70 31
8 31 40 -9 + 70 61
 June July
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Forecast 33 30 30 30 30 40 40 40 40
Customer orders 33 20 10 4 2
committed
Projected on-hand 31 1 41 11 41 1 31 61
inventory
MPS 70 70 70 70

Requirements equals the larger of the forecast

and customer orders in each week
 June July
64
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Forecast 33 30 30 30 30 40 40 40 40
Customer orders 33 20 10 4 2
committed
Projected on-hand 31 1 41 11 41 1 31 61
inventory
MPS 70 70 70 70
Available-to-promise
inventory 11 56 68 70 70

The available to promise quantities have been added to the master schedule