5.3 Detailed Functions of OPC
5.3.4 Scheduling
Operations Planning and Control 89
90 A Modern Approach to Operations Management
High Volume Intermediate Volume Low Volume Type of
prduction system Key
characteristics
Design concerns
Operational concerns
Continuous (flow operations)
Intermittent (flow and batch
operations)
Job Shop (batch or single jobs)
Project (single jobs)
Sepecialized equipment Same sequence of operations unless guided by microprocessors and robots
Mixture of equipment Similar sequence for each batch
General-purpose equipment Unique sequence for each job
Mixture of equipment Unique sequence and location for each job
Line balancing Changeover time and cost
Line and worker- machine balance Changeover time and cost
Worker-machine balance
Capacity utilization
Allocating resources to minimize time and cost
Material shortages Equipment breakdowns Quality problems Product mix and volume
Material and equipment problems Set-up costs and run lengths Inventory accumulations (run-out times)
Job sequencing Work-center loading Work flow and work in process
Meeting time schedule
Meeting budgeted costs
Resource utilization
Figure 5.2. Characteristics of Scheduling Systems.
5.3.4.1 Scheduling Strategies
Scheduling Strategies vary among firms and range from very detailed scheduling to no scheduling at all. A cumulative schedule of total workload is useful for long-range planning of approximate capacity needs. However, detailed scheduling of specific jobs on specific equipment at times far in future is often impractical—because of inevitable changes.
For continuous systems, detailed schedules (production rates) can often be firmed as the master schedule is implemented.
For job shop operations, schedules may be planned based on the estimated labor and equipment (standard hour) requirements per week at key work centers. When detailed scheduling is desirable, capacity is sometimes allocated to specific jobs as late as a week, or a few days, before the actual work is to be performed. One of the goals of agile manufacturing activities is to enhance the system’s ability to respond very quickly to such customer needs. However, detailed scheduling is not always used;
some firms simply rely on priority decision rules like first come, first served.
Order Release
Order release converts a need from a planned-order status to a real order in the shop or with a vendor by assigning it either a shop order or purchase order number. Well-designed scheduling and control systems release work at a reasonable rate that keeps unnecessary backlogs from the production floor. Releasing
Operations Planning and Control 91 all available jobs as soon as they are received from customers is a common cause of increased manufacturing lead times and excess work in process (WIP). Figure 5.3 illustrates how the order release function creates a scheduled receipt. As the shop day and current calendar day coincide, the planned- order release takes place. The order quantity is deleted (from the MRP planned-order release row), and a shop order for that amount is added to the dispatch list, along with a start and due date priority. The order quantity is then reentered (on the MRP form) as a scheduled receipt on the listed due date.
Shop day
Weeks 1 2 3 4
205 210 215 220 Gross requirements
Part M30 LT = 2 weeks
Receipts
On hand at end of period Planned-order release 100
100
ORDER RELEASE
ORDER RELEASE
300
300
Weeks 1 2 3 4
205 210 215 220 Gross requirements
Part J27 LT = 1 week
Receipts
On hand at end of period Planned-order release
Shop day
DISPATCH LIST: WORK CENTER 7 PART
NO
LOT SIZE
DATE START DUE J27
M30
300 100
205 207
210 215
Figure 5.3. Relationship between planned-order releases and dispatch list.
5.3.4.2 Techniques of Scheduling
(a) Master Scheduling (MS): It shows the dates on which important production items are to be completed. It’s a weekly or monthly break-up of the production requirements for each product. Whenever any order is received, it is accommodated first in the MS considering the availability of the machine and labor.
It helps production manager for advance planning & to have check over the production rate and efficiency.
92 A Modern Approach to Operations Management (b) Shop Manufacturing Schedule: After preparing the MS, shops schedules (SS) are prepared.
It assigns a definite period of time to a particular shop for manufacturing products in required quantity.
It shows how many products are to be made, and on what day or week.
(c) Backward or Reverse Scheduling: External due date considerations will directly influence activity scheduling in certain structures. The approach adopted in scheduling activities in such cases will often involve a form of reverse scheduling with the use of bar or Gantt charts. A major problem with such reverse or ‘due date’ scheduling is in estimating the total time to be allowed for each operation, in particular the time to be allowed for waiting or queuing at facilities. Some queuing of jobs (whether items or customers) before facilities is often desirable since, where processing times on facilities are uncertain, high utilization is achieved only by the provision of such queues.
Operation times are often available, but queuing times are rarely known initially, The only realistic way in which queuing allowances can be obtained is by experience. Experienced planners will schedule operations, making allowances which they know from past performances to be correct. Such allowances may vary from 50 per cent to 2000 per cent of operation times and can be obtained empirically or by analysis of the progress of previous jobs. It is normally sufficient to obtain and use allowances for groups of similar facilities or for particular departments, since delays depend not so much on the nature of the job, as on the amount of work passing through the departments and the nature of the facilities.
Operations schedules of this type are usually depicted on Gantt or bar charts. The advantage of this type of presentation is that the load on any facility or any department is clear at a glance, and available or spare capacity is easily identified. The major disadvantage is that the dependencies between operations are not shown and, consequently, any readjustment of such schedules necessitates reference back to operation planning documents. Notice that, in scheduling the processing of items, total throughput time can be minimized by the batching of similar items to save set-up time, inspection time, etc.
(d) Forward Scheduling: For a manufacturing or supply organization a forward scheduling procedure will in fact be the opposite of that described above. This approach will be particularly relevant where scheduling is undertaken on an internally oriented basis and the objective is to determine the date or times for subsequent activities, given the times loran earlier activity, e.g. a starting time.
In the case of supply or transport organizations, the objective will be to schedule forward from a given start date, where that start date will often be the customer due date, e.g. the date at which the customer arrives into the system. In these circumstances, therefore, forward scheduling will be an appropriate method for dealing with externally oriented scheduling activities.
Example 5.5. A job is due to be delivered at the end of 12th week. It requires a lead time of 2 weeks for material acquisition, 1 week of run time for operation-1, 2 weeks for operation-2, and 1 week for final assembly. Allow 1 week of transit time prior to each operation. Illustrate the completion schedule under (a) forward, and (b) backward scheduling methods.
Solution: The solution is shown in Figure 5.4.
Operations Planning and Control 93
FORWARD SCHEDULING
Start by scheduling raw material and work
Required due date
BACKWARD SCHEDULING
Today’s date
Start by schedudling due date required and work Operation
2 Ope-
ration 1 Time period
Obtain raw material
Operation time Transit or queue time
Final assem-
bly Obtain raw
material
Ope- ration 1
Operation 2
Final assem-
bly
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Figure 5.4. Forward and Backward Scheduling.
(e) Optimized Production Technique (OPT): OPT was developed in Israel. It recognizes the existence of bottlenecks through which the flow gets restricted. It consists of modules that contain data on products, customer orders, work center capacities, etc., as well as algorithms to do the actual sched- uling. A key feature of the program is to simulate the load on the system, identify bottleneck (as well as other) operations, and develop alternative production schedule.
OPT is guided by the following rules:
• Balance flow, not capacity.
• The level of utilization of a non-bottleneck is not determined by its own potential but some other constraint in the system.
• An hour lost at a bottle-neck is an hour lost for the total system.
• An hour saved at a non-bottle-neck is a mirage.
• Bottlenecks govern both throughput and inventories.
• The transfer batch may not, and often should not , be equal to the process batch.
• The process batch should be variable, not fixed.
• Move material as quickly as possible through the non-bottleneck work center till it reaches the bottle-necks, where the work is scheduled for maximum efficiency (large batches), thereafter the work moves faster.
• Batch is of two types: transfer batch should be as small as possible (ideally 1), and the Process batch is larger.
OPT has some similarities with materials requirement planning (MRP). It can be considered an extension of MRP: MRP can be used to form the basis of a system for computer-aided scheduling and inventory control, to which can be added the OPT approach for the identification of bottlenecks and the maximization of throughputs.