Chapter 15 – Scheduling
Operations Management
by
R. Dan Reid & Nada R. Sanders
3rd Edition © Wiley 2005
PowerPoint Presentation by R.B. Clough – UNH
M. E. Henrie - UAA
© Wiley 2007
Scheduling Operations
Companies differentiate based on product
volume and product variety
Differentiation affects how the company
organizes its operations
Each kind of company operation needs
different scheduling techniques
Scheduling has specific definitions for routing,
bottleneck, due date, slack and queue
© Wiley 2007
Scheduling Definitions
Routing:
The operations to be performed, their sequence, the work centers,
& the time standards
Bottleneck:
A resource whose capacity is less than the demand placed on it
Due date:
When the job is supposed to be finished
Slack:
The time that a job can be delayed & still finish by its due date
Queue:
A waiting line
© Wiley 2007
High-Volume Operations
High-volume, also called flow operations, like
automobiles, bread, gasoline can be repetitive or
continuous
High-volume standard items; discrete or continuous with
smaller profit margins
Designed for high efficiency and high utilization
High volume flow operations with fixed routings
Bottlenecks are easily identified
Commonly use line-balancing to design the process
around the required tasks
© Wiley 2007
Low-Volume Operations
Low-volume, job shop operations, are
designed for flexibility.
Use more general purpose equipment
Customized products with higher margins
Each product or service may have its own
routing (scheduling is much more difficult)
Bottlenecks move around depending upon the
products being produced at any given time
© Wiley 2007
Scheduling Work - Work Loading
Infinite loading:
Ignores capacity
constraints, but helps
identify bottlenecks in a
proposed schedule to
enable proactive
management
Finite loading:
Allows only as much
work to be assigned as
can be done with
available capacity – but
doesn’t prepare for
inevitable slippage
© Wiley 2007
Other Scheduling Techniques
Forward Scheduling – starts processing immediately
when a job is received
Backward Scheduling – begin scheduling the job’s last
activity so that the job is finished on due date
© Wiley 2007
Monitoring Work Flow
Input/Output Control
I/O control is a capacity-control technique used to
monitor work flow at individual work centers
Monitors how well available capacity is used and provides
insight into process problems
Figure 15-6 Input/output report for work center 101
Input Information (in hours) Period
4 5 6 7 8
Planned Input 800 750 800 820 800
Actual Input 750 780 780 810 810
Deviation -50 30 -20 -10 10
Cumulative deviation 0 -50 -20 -40 -50 -40
Output information (in hours) Period
4 5 6 7 8
Planned output 800 800 800 800 800
Actual output 800 750 780 850 825
Deviation 0 -50 -20 50 25
Cumulative deviation 0 0 -50 -70 -20 5
Backlog (in hours) 100 50 © Wiley80
2007 80 40 25
Commonly Used Priorities Rules
First come, first served (FCFS)
Last come, first served (LCFS)
Earliest due date (EDD)
Shortest processing time (SPT)
Longest processing time (LPT)
Critical ratio (CR):
(Time until due date)/(processing time)
Slack per remaining Operations (S/RO)
Slack /(number of remaining operations)
© Wiley 2007
How to Use Priority Rules
1. Decide which priority rule to use
2. List all jobs waiting to be processed
with their job time
3. Using priority rule determine which
job has highest priority then second,
third and so on
© Wiley 2007
Measuring Scheduling Performance
Job flow time:
Time a job is completed minus the time the job was first available
for processing; avg. flow time measures responsiveness
Average # jobs in system:
Measures amount of work-in-progress; avg. # measures
responsiveness and work-in-process inventory
Makespan:
The time it takes to finish a batch of jobs; measure of efficiency
Job lateness:
Whether the job is completed ahead of, on, or behind schedule;
Job tardiness:
How long after the due date a job was completed, measures due
date performance
© Wiley 2007
Scheduling Performance Calculations
Job A finishes on day 10 Job B finishes Job C finishes Job D ends
on day 13 on day 17 on day 20
Calculation mean flow time:
MFT= (sum job flow times)/ # of jobs
= (10+13+17+20)/4 = 60/4 = 15 days
Calculating average number of jobs in the system:
Average # Jobs =(sum job flow times)/ # days to complete batch
= (60)/20 = 3 job
Makespan is the length of time to complete a batch
Makespan = Completion time for Job D minus start time for Job A
= 20 – 0 = 20 days
© Wiley 2007
Sequencing Jobs through Two
Work Centers –Johnson’s Rule
Johnson’s Rule – a technique for minimizing
makespan in a two-stage, unidirectional process
Step 1 – List the jobs and the processing time for
each activity
Step 2 – Find the shortest activity processing time
among the jobs not yet scheduled
If the shortest Processing time is for a 1st activity, schedule
that job in the earliest available position in the job sequence
If the shortest processing time is for 2nd activity, schedule
that job in the last available position in the job sequence
When you schedule a job eliminate it from further
consideration
Step 3 – Repeat step 2 until you have put all
activities for the job in the schedule
© Wiley 2007
annual major cleaning of university buildings. The job requires
mopping (1st activity) and waxing (2nd activity) of each building.
Vicki wants to minimize the time it takes her crews to finish
cleaning (minimize makespan) the five buildings. She needs to
finish in 20 days.
Activity 1 Activity 2 Johnson's Activity 1 Activity 2
Hall Mopping (days) Waxing (days) Sequence Mopping (days) Waxing (days)
Adams Hall 1 2 Adams Hall (A) 1 2
Bryce Building 3 5 Chemistry Building (C) 2 4
Chemistry Building 2 4 Bryce Building (B) 3 5
Drake Union 5 4 Drake Union (D) 5 4
Evans Center 4 2 Evans Center (E) 4 2
Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Mopping A C C B B B D D D D D E E E E
Waxing A A C C C C B© Wiley
B B2007 B B D D D D E E
Scheduling Bottlenecks
In the 1970’s Eli Goldratt introduced optimized
production technology (OPT)
OPT focused on bottlenecks for scheduling &
capacity planning
Definitions:
Throughput: quantity of finished goods that can be sold
Transfer batch: quantity of items moved at the same
time from one resource to the next
Process batch: quantity produced at a resource before
switching to another product
© Wiley 2007
OPT Principles
Balance the process rather than the flow
Non-bottleneck usage is driven by some
other constraint in the system
Use and activation of a resource are not the
same
A hour lost at a bottleneck is lost forever,
but an hour lost at a non-bottleneck is a
mirage
© Wiley 2007
OPT Principles - continued
Bottleneck determine throughput and
inventory in system
The transfer batch does not need to be
equal to the process batch
The process batch should be variable
Consider all constraints simultaneously.
Lead times are the result of the schedule
and are not predetermined .
© Wiley 2007
Theory of Constraints
TOC is an extension of OPT – theory is that a
system’s output is determined by its constraints
1. Identify the bottleneck(s) in the process
2. Exploit (fully utilize) the bottleneck(s)
3. Subordinate all other decisions to Step 2 -
Schedule non-bottlenecks to support maximum
use of bottleneck activities
4. Elevate the Bottleneck(s)
5. Do not let inertia set in
© Wiley 2007
Scheduling for Service Organizations
Demand management:
Appointments & reservations
Posted availability
Delayed services or backlogs (queues)
Managing service capacity:
Staff for peak demand (if cost isn’t prohibitive)
Floating employees or employees on call
Temporary, seasonal, or part-time employees
© Wiley 2007
Developing a Workforce Schedule: Tibrewala, Philippe, and
Brown developed a technique for scheduling a seven day operation
giving each employee two consecutive days off. This example
shows how a staff of six people can be scheduled.
Step 1 – Find out the minimum number of employees
needed for each day of the week
(1) Day of the week M T W Th F Sa Su
Number of staff needed 4 5 5 3 5 2 3
Step 2 – Given the above requirements, calculate the
number of employees needed for each pair of consecutive
days (1) Pair of Consecutive Days Total of Staff needed
Monday & Tuesday 9 employees
Tuesday & Wednesday 10 employees
Wednesday & Thursday 8 employees
Thursday & Friday 8 employees
Friday & Saturday 7 employees
Saturday & Sunday 5 employees
Step 3 - Find the pair of days with the lowest total needed
© Wiley 2007
Workforce Scheduling (cont.)
Step 4 – Update the number of employees you still need to
schedule for each day
(2) Day of the week M T W Th F Sa Su
Number of staff needed 3 4 4 2 4 2 3
Step 5 – Using the updated staffing needs, repeat steps 2
through 4 until you have satisfied all needs
(2) Pair of Consecutive Days Total of Staff needed
Monday & Tuesday 7 employees
Tuesday & Wednesday 8 employees
Wednesday & Thursday 6 employees
Thursday & Friday 6 employees
Friday & Saturday 6 employees
Saturday & Sunday 5 employees
© Wiley 2007
Scheduling (cont.)
(3) Day of the week M T W Th F Sa Su (4) Day of the week M T W Th F Sa Su
Number of staff needed 2 3 3 1 3 2 3 Number of staff needed 1 2 3 1 2 1 2
(3) Pair of Consecutive Days Total of Staff needed (4) Pair of Consecutive Days Total of Staff needed
Monday & Tuesday 5 employees Monday & Tuesday 3 employees
Tuesday & Wednesday 6 employees Tuesday & Wednesday 5 employees
Wednesday & Thursday 4 employees Wednesday & Thursday 4 employees
Thursday & Friday 4 employees Thursday & Friday 3 employees
Friday & Saturday 5 employees Friday & Saturday 3 employees
Saturday & Sunday 5 employees Saturday & Sunday 5 employees
© Wiley 2007
Schedule (cont.)
(5) Day of the week M T W Th F Sa Su (6) Day of the week M T W Th F Sa Su
Number of staff needed 0 1 2 0 1 1 2 Number of staff needed 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
(5) Pair of Consecutive Days Total of Staff needed (6) Pair of Consecutive Days Total of Staff needed
Monday & Tuesday 1 employees Monday & Tuesday 1 employees
Tuesday & Wednesday 3 employees Tuesday & Wednesday 2 employees
Wednesday & Thursday 2 employees Wednesday & Thursday 1 employees
Thursday & Friday 1 employees Thursday & Friday 0 employees
Friday & Saturday 2 employees Friday & Saturday 0 employees
Saturday & Sunday 3 employees Saturday & Sunday 1 employees
© Wiley 2007
Final Schedule
(7) Day of the week M T W Th F Sa Su This technique gives a work
schedule for each employee
Number of staff needed 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 to satisfy minimum daily
staffing requirements
Employees M T W Th F Sa Su Next step is to replace
1 x x x x x off off numbers with employee
2 x x x x x off off names
3 x x off off x x x Manager can give senior
4 x x x x x off off employees first choice and
5 off off x x x x x proceed until all employees
6 x x x x off off x have a schedule
© Wiley 2007
Scheduling Across the
Organization
Scheduling executes a company’s
strategic business plan and affects
functional areas throughout the
company
Accounting relies on schedule information
and completion of customer orders to
develop revenue projections
© Wiley 2007
Scheduling Across the
Organization - continued
Marketing uses schedule effectiveness
measurement to determine whether the
company is using lead times for
competitive advantage
Information systems maintains the
scheduling database
Operations uses the schedule to maintain
its priorities and to provide customer
service by finishing jobs on time
© Wiley 2007