Lecture 11
Short-Range Production
Scheduling
1
Introduction
• Short-range scheduling applies at the level of the individual work
center.
• Operators and supervisors need to know which of a set of jobs in
queue, or soon to be in queue, to process next.
• Dispatching lists that are typically developed once a day
• Using automated systems, the lists can be updated more frequently
• These lists suggest the sequence in which jobs are to be run on each
machine.
Important Definitions
• Flow shops:
• A flow shop is a shop design in which machines are arranged in series.
• Jobs begin processing on an initial machine, proceed through several intermediary
machines, and conclude on a final machine.
• Job Shops:
• In a job shop, jobs can be processed on machines in any order.
• The typical job shop is one in which there are 𝑚 machines and 𝑛 jobs to be
processed.
• Each job requires operations on the machines in a specific order that can be different
for each job.
• Parallel Machines:
• Multiple copies of the same machine in a work center process jobs that can be
scheduled on any one of those machines.
• This adds more flexibility, but it complicates the scheduling problem further.
Schedules
• The objective of short-term scheduling is to provide a schedule for
each job and each machine,
• A schedule provides the order in which jobs are to be done, and it
projects the start time of each job at each work center.
• A sequence only lists the order in which jobs are to be done.
• A dispatch list is a sequence, but only for those jobs currently at the
work center.
• A sequence can include jobs that are yet to arrive at a work center.
Performance Measures
• Several performance measures can be considered:
• The time a job spends in the shop
• Jobs due dates
• Utilization of machines
• Common performance measures:
• The average WIP level which is related to the time a job spend in the shop
• The flowtime, i.e., the amount of time a job spends from the moment it is
ready for processing until its completion including waiting time prior to
processing.
• The makespan, i.e., the total time for all jobs to finish processing.
• Lateness, i.e., the amount of time a job is past its due date. Lateness can be
positive, zero, or negative:
• Tardiness is the lateness if the job is late, or zero if it is on time or early.
• Earliness is the lateness if the job is completed early to its due date.
Techniques for Short-Term Scheduling
• Gantt Charts; developed by Henry L. Gantt in the early 1900s, is a
simple visual technique for sequencing jobs on machines.
• Example:
Constrained Scheduling
• Example with Priority Constraint:
Horizontal Loading Vertical Loading
Horizontal loading first takes the Vertical loading focuses on each work
highest-priority job and schedules it on center in turn, and determines which
all three machines job to load next
Priority Sequencing Rules
• Random: choose the next job at random.
• FCFS (First-Come First-Served): choose the jobs in the order in which they
arrive.
• SPT (Shortest Processing Time): choose the job that has the shortest
processing time.
• SWPT (Shortest Weighted Processing time): choose the job that has the
shortest weighted processing time. A weight is assigned to each job based
on the job’s value (holding cost) or on its cost of delay.
• EDD (Earliest Due Date): choose the job that has the earliest due date. The
previous two rules focus on the time a job spends in the shop, and they
ignore any due date information.
• CR (Critical ratio): compute the ratio (processing time remaining until
completion)/(due date–current time) and choose the job with the highest
ratio (provided it is positive).
• Other rules do exist…
Notations used in Scheduling
•
Results for several sequencing rules
FCFS SPT
Results for several sequencing rules - 2
EDD
Comparison:
