 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
 Other benefits
 Scheduling is constrained by multiple system design and
operations decisions
 System capacity
 Product and/or service design
 Equipment selection
 Worker selection and training
 Aggregate planning and master scheduling
 Low-volume

Intermediate-
volume

High-volume

Service operation
 Flow System
 High-volume system in which all jobs follow the same sequence
 Flow system scheduling
 Scheduling for flow systems
 The goal is to achieve a smooth rate of flow of goods or customers through the system
in order to get high utilization of labor and equipment

Workstation 1 Workstation 2 Output

 High flow systems are entirely dedicated to a
single product or service
 Each product change requires
 Slightly different inputs of parts
 Slightly different materials
 Slightly different processing requirements that must
be scheduled into the line
 Need to avoid excessive inventory buildup
 Disruptions may result in less-than-desired output
 The following factors often dictate the success of high-volume systems:
• Process and product design
• Preventive maintenance
• Rapid repair when breakdowns occur
• Optimal product mixes
• Minimization of quality problems
• Reliability and timing of supplies
 Outputs fall between the standardized type of output
of high-volume systems and the make-to-order output
of job shops
 Output rates are insufficient to warrant continuous
production
 Rather, it is more economical
to produce intermittently
 Work centers periodically
shift from one product to
another
 Important considerations
 Setup cost
 Usage is not always smooth
 Alternative scheduling approach
 Base production on a master schedule developed from customer orders and
forecasted demand
 Job shop scheduling
 Scheduling for low-volume systems with many
variations in requirements
 Make-to-order products
 Processing requirements
 Material requirements
 Processing time
 Processing sequence and setups
 A complex scheduling environment
 It is impossible to establish firm schedules until actual job
orders are received
 Loading
 the assignment of jobs to processing centers
 Gantt chart
 Used as a visual aid for loading and scheduling purposes
 Purpose of the Gantt chart is to organize and visually display the actual or intended use of
resources in a time framework
 Managers may use the charts for trial-and-error schedule development to get an idea of
what different arrangements would involve
 Load chart
 A Gantt chart that shows the loading and idle times for a group of machines
or list of departments
 Infinite loading
 Jobs are assigned to workstations without regard to the capacity of the work center
 Finite loading
 Jobs are assigned to work centers taking into account the work center capacity and job processing times

Infinite loading

Capacity over over

1 2 3 4 5 6

Finite loading

Capacity

1 2 3 4 5 6
• Forward scheduling
• Scheduling ahead from some point in time.
• Used when the question is:
• “How long will it take to complete this job?
• Backward scheduling
• Scheduling backwards from some due date
• Used when the question is:
• “When is the latest this job can be started and still be completed on time?”
 Schedule chart
 A Gantt chart that shows the orders or jobs in progress and whether they are
on schedule
  used as a visual aid for scheduling
 The job or activity progress chart
 The workstation chart

Current date

Job 4/17 4/18 4/19 4/20 4/21 4/22 4/23 4/24 4/25 4/26
Start activity

Ford Finish activity

Scheduled
activity time
Nissan Actual progress
Nonproductive
time
Pontiac
 Assignment model
 A linear programming model for optimal assignment of tasks and resources
 Hungarian method
 Method of assigning jobs by a one-for-one matching to identify the lowest
cost solution
1. Row reduction: subtract the smallest number in each row from every number in the
row
a. Enter the result in a new table
2. Column reduction: subtract the smallest number in each column from every number
in the column
a. Enter the result in a new table
3. Test whether an optimum assignment can be made
a. Determine the minimum number of lines needed to cross out all zeros
b. If the number of lines equals the number of rows, an optimum assignment is possible. Go to step 6
c. Else, go to step 4
4. If the number of lines is less than the number of rows, modify the table:
a. Subtract the smallest number from every uncovered number in the table
b. Add the smallest uncovered number to the numbers at intersections of cross-out lines
c. Numbers crossed out but not at intersections of cross-out lines carry over unchanged to the next table
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until an optimal table is obtained
6. Make the assignments
a. Begin with rows or columns with only one zero
b. Match items that have zeros, using only one match for each row and each column
c. Eliminate both the row and the column after the match
 Determine the optimum assignment of jobs to workers for the
following data:
Worker
A B C D
1 8 6 2 4
2 6 7 11 10
Job
3 3 5 7 6
4 5 10 12 9
 Worker Row
A B C D minimum
1 8 6 2 4 2 Subtract the smallest
2 6 7 11 10 6 number in each row from
Job every number in the row
3 3 5 7 6 3
4 5 10 12 9 5

Worker
A B C D
1 6 4 0 2
2 0 1 5 4
Job
3 0 2 4 3
4 0 5 7 4
 Worker
A B C D
1 6 4 0 2 Subtract the smallest
2 0 1 5 4 number in each column
Job from every number in the
3 0 2 4 3 column
4 0 5 7 4
Column min. 0 1 0 2

Worker
A B C D
1 6 3 0 0
2 0 0 5 2
Job
3 0 1 4 1
4 0 4 7 2
 Worker
A B C D
Determine the minimum
1 6 3 0 0
number of lines needed to
2 0 0 5 2 cross out all zeros. (Try to
Job cross out as many zeros as
3 0 1 4 1
possible when drawing lines
4 0 4 7 2

Since only three lines are needed to cross out all

zeros and the table has four rows, this is not the
optimum. Note: the smallest uncovered value is 1
 Worker
A B C D
Subtract the smallest
1 6 3 0 0
uncovered value from every
2 0 0 5 2 uncovered number, and add
Job it to the values at the
3 0 1 4 1
intersection of covering
4 0 4 7 2 lines.

Worker
A B C D
1 7 3 0 0
2 1 0 5 2
Job
3 0 0 3 0
4 0 3 6 1
 Worker
A B C D
1 7 3 0 0 Determine the minimum
number of lines needed to
2 1 0 5 2 cross out all zeros. (Try to
Job
3 0 0 3 0 cross out as many zeros as
possible when drawing lines
4 0 3 6 1

Since four lines are needed to cross out all zeros and
the table has four rows, this is an optimal assignment
that can be made
 Worker
A B C D
1 7 3 0 0 Make assignments: Start
with rows and columns with
2 1 0 5 2 only one zero. Match jobs
Job
3 0 0 3 0 with workers that have a
zero
4 0 3 6 1

Assignment Cost
2-B $7
4-A $5
1-C $2
3-D $6
Total $20
 Sequencing
 Determine the order in which jobs at a work center will be processed
 Priority rules
 Simple heuristics used to select the order in which jobs will be processed
 The rules generally assume that job setup cost and time are independent of processing
sequence
 Job time
 Time needed for setup and processing of a job
 FCFS - first come, first served

 SPT - shortest processing time

 EDD - earliest due date

 CR - critical ratio

 S/O - slack per operation

 Rush - emergency
 The set of jobs is known; no new orders arrive after processing begins and no
jobs are canceled
 Setup time is independent of processing sequence

 Setup time is deterministic

 Processing times are deterministic

 There will be no interruptions in processing such as machine breakdowns or

accidents
 Common performance metrics:
 Job flow time
 This is the amount of time it takes from when a job arrives until it is complete
 It includes not only processing time but also any time waiting to be processed
 Job lateness
 This is the amount of time by which the job completion time is expected to exceed the date the job was due or
promised to a customer
 Makespan
 The total time needed to complete a group of jobs from the beginning of the first job to the completion of the
last job
 Average number of jobs
 Jobs that are in a shop are considered to be WIP inventory
 Johnson’s Rule
 Technique for minimizing makespan for a group of jobs to be processed on
two machines or at two work centers.
 Minimizes total idle time
 Several conditions must be satisfied
 Job time must be known and constant for each job at the work center
 Job times must be independent of sequence
 Jobs must follow same two-step sequence
 All jobs must be completed at the first work center before moving to second
work center
1. List the jobs and their times at each work center
2. Select the job with the shortest time
a. If the shortest time is at the first work center, schedule that job first
b. If the shortest time is at the second work center, schedule the job last.
c. Break ties arbitrarily
3. Eliminate the job from further consideration
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3, working toward the center of the sequence, until all jobs have been
scheduled
 Service scheduling often presents challenges not found
in manufacturing
 These are primarily related to:
1. The inability to store or inventory services
2. The random nature of service requests

 Service scheduling may involve scheduling:

1. Customers
2. Workforce
3. Equipment

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 Scheduling customers: Demand Management
 Appointment systems
 Controls customer arrivals for service
 Reservation systems
 Enable service systems to formulate a fairly accurate estimate demand on the system for a
given time period
 Scheduling the workforce: Capacity Management
 Cyclical Scheduling
 Employees are assigned to work shifts or time slots, and have days off, on a repeating basis

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 Translate the staffing plan into specific schedules of work for each
employee
 Constraints
 Technical constraints
 Legal and behavioral considerations
 Psychological needs of workers
 Rotating / Cyclical schedule
 Fixed / Repeating schedule

16-47
 Steps in developing a workforce schedule
Step 1: Find all the pairs of consecutive days
Step 2: If a tie occurs, choose one of the tied pairs, consistent with the
provisions written into the labor agreement
Step 3: Assign the employees for the selected pair of days off
Step 4: Repeat steps 1 – 3 until all of the requirements have been satisfied

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EXAMPLE
The Amalgamated Parcel Service is open seven days a week. The
schedule of requirements is

Day M T W Th F S Su
Required number of employees 6 4 8 9 10 3 2

The manager needs a workforce schedule that provides two

consecutive days off and minimizes the amount of total slack
capacity. To break ties in the selection of off days, the
scheduler gives preference to Saturday and Sunday if it is
one of the tied pairs. If not, she selects one of the tied pairs
arbitrarily.

16-49
SOLUTION
Friday contains the maximum requirements, and the pair S – Su
has the lowest total requirements. Therefore, Employee 1 is
scheduled to work Monday through Friday.
Note that Friday still has the maximum requirements and that
the requirements for the S – Su pair are carried forward because
these are Employee 1’s days off. These updated requirements are
the ones the scheduler uses for the next employee.
The day-off assignments for the employees are shown in the
following table.

16-50
 Scheduling Days Off

M T W Th F S Su Employee Comments
6 4 8 9 10 3 2 1 The S–Su pair has the lowest total requirements. Assign
Employee 1 to a M-F schedule.
5 3 7 8 9 3 2 2 The S–Su pair has the lowest total requirements. Assign
Employee 2 to a M-F schedule.
4 2 6 7 8 3 2 3 The S–Su pair has the lowest total requirements. Assign
Employee 3 to a M-F schedule.
3 1 5 6 7 3 2 4 The M–T pair has the lowest total requirements. Assign
Employee 4 to a W-Su schedule.
3 1 4 5 6 2 1 5 The S–Su pair has the lowest total requirements. Assign
Employee 5 to a M-F schedule.
2 0 3 4 5 2 1 6 The M–T pair has the lowest total requirements. Assign
Employee 6 to a W-Su schedule.
2 0 2 3 4 1 0 7 The S–Su pair has the lowest total requirements. Assign
Employee 7 to a M-F schedule.
1 0 1 2 3 1 0 8 Four pairs have the minimum requirement and the
lowest total. Choose the S–Su pair according to the tie-
breaking rule. Assign Employee 8 to a M-F schedule.
0 0 0 1 2 1 0 9 Arbitrarily choose the Su–M pair to break ties because
the S–Su pair does not have the lowest total
requirements. Assign Employee 9 to a T-S schedule.
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 10 Choose the S–Su pair according to the tie-breaking rule.
Assign Employee 10 to a M-F schedule.

16-51
In this example, Friday always has the maximum requirements
and should be avoided as a day off. The final schedule for the
employees is shown in the following table.
Final Schedule
Employee M T W Th F S Su Total
1 X X X X X off off
2 X X X X X off off
3 X X X X X off off
4 off off X X X X X
5 X X X X X off off
6 off off X X X X X
7 X X X X X off off
8 X X X X X off off
9 off X X X X X off
10 X X X X X off off
Capacity, C 7 8 10 10 10 3 2 50
Requirements, R 6 4 8 9 10 3 2 42
Slack, C – R 1 4 2 1 0 0 0 8
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The requirement of security guards for duty for the
days of the week are listed below. Two days
(consecutive) of weekly holidays needs to be given
to all the guards. Design the workforce schedule for
the guards and calculate the Slack.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

4 2 3 1 2 4 3

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Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Guard OFF Day

4 2 3 1 2 4 3
3 1 2 1 2 3 2 1 Thur-Fri

2 1 2 0 1 2 1 2 Tue-Wed

1 0 1 0 1 1 0 3 Thur-Fri

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Mon-Tue

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Tue-Wed

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 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Guard
Y Y Y N N Y Y 1
Y N N Y Y Y Y 2
Y Y Y N N Y Y 3
N N Y Y Y Y Y 4
Y N N Y Y Y Y 5

Capacity 4 2 3 3 3 5 5 25
Requirement 4 2 3 1 2 4 3
Slack 0 0 0 2 1 1 2 6

16-55