Operations Scheduling

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview of the scheduling process...................................................................................... 4
1 | Page

Types of Scheduling................................................................................................... 5
2.1

Forward Scheduling............................................................................................. 5

2.2

Backward Scheduling........................................................................................... 5

2.3

Benefits............................................................................................................ 5

Loading.................................................................................................................. 6
3.1

3.1.1

Infinite Loading............................................................................................ 6

3.1.2

Finite Loading.............................................................................................. 6

The Gantt Load Chart................................................................................................. 7

4.1

DEFINITION..................................................................................................... 7

4.2

EXAMPLE........................................................................................................ 7

Sequencing.............................................................................................................. 8
5.1

DETERMINATION OF SEQUENCE.......................................................................9

5.1.1

Priority Sequencing....................................................................................... 9

5.1.2

Criteria used to design priority rules:..................................................................9

5.1.3

Priority Rules............................................................................................. 10

5.2

Performance Measurement...................................................................................12

5.2.1

Job Flow Time........................................................................................... 12

5.2.2

Average jobs in system................................................................................. 12

5.2.3

Makespan................................................................................................. 12

5.2.4

Job Lateness.............................................................................................. 12

5.2.5

Job Tardiness............................................................................................. 12

5.3

Methods of Loading............................................................................................. 6

Calculations Scheduling Performance...................................................................13

5.3.1

Mean Flow Time Calculation.........................................................................13

5.3.2

Average number of jobs calculation.................................................................13

5.3.3

Makespan calculation...................................................................................13

5.3.4

Lateness and Tardiness................................................................................. 13

5.3.5

Comparison between SPT and S/RO................................................................14

5.4

Setup Dependence............................................................................................. 15

5.5

Sequencing through two work centers Johnsons Rule...............................................15

5.6

Expediting....................................................................................................... 16

Scheduling Algorithms.............................................................................................. 17
6.1.1

Stochastic Algorithms.................................................................................. 17

6.1.2

Heuristic Algorithms.................................................................................... 17

2 | Page

6.2

Batch Production Scheduling................................................................................18

6.2.2
6.3

Cycle-Time Analysis....................................................................................20
Scheduling Bottlenecks...................................................................................22

6.3.1

OPT Principles........................................................................................... 22

6.3.2

Theory of Constraints................................................................................... 22

Scheduling Illustrations............................................................................................. 23
7.1

Scheduling for Service Organizations.....................................................................23

7.1.1

Demand management................................................................................... 23

7.1.2

Scheduling Employees:................................................................................ 23

7.2

Maintenance Scheduling (Scheduling Employees Example):.........................................23

7.3

Scheduling within OM: How it all fits together..........................................................26

7.4

Scheduling Across the Organization.......................................................................26

OVERVIEW OF THE SCHEDULING PROCESS

For the process of manufacturing and engineering Scheduling is an important tool where it plays
a major role in the productivity of a process. Major purpose of which is to minimize the
production costs and times by informing production facility when to make with which staff and
on which machine or equipment.

Production Scheduling strives to maximize the efficiency of operations and

hence reduce costs.

3 | Page

It involves a complex flow of information and decision making that formulates the
manufacturing operations planning and control systems. The need to stay upfront with the global
competition and fast changing customer requirements is making production scheduling highly
important in todays production and manufacturing environments. Scheduling of every customer
needs and the control of their flow through the entire production process is defined by resource
requirements and capacity constraints.
Several Production tools are used for this purpose. These tools outperform older scheduling
methods which were more or less manual in nature. Current tools provide the scheduler with
powerful graphical interfaces which helps to visually optimize real-time workloads occurring
during various stages of production. The patterns formed are recognized by the software which in
turn automatically create scheduling opportunities which is not possible by raw analysis of data.
Problem Definition: Airline to minimize number of airport gates for its aircraft in order to
reduce costs.
Solution: This can be solved by using scheduling software which allows the planners to visualize
how this can be done by analysing time tables, flow of passengers, aircraft usage, and time taken
for the aircraft to get empty.

1 TYPES OF SCHEDULING

Forward Scheduling
Backward Scheduling

These methods are used to allocate machinery and plant resources, plan production processes,
human processes and purchase materials.

1.1 FORWARD SCHEDULING

Planning of tasks starting from the date resources become available to determine the due date or
shipping date.

4 | Page

1.2 BACKWARD SCHEDULING

Planning tasks from the required by date to determine the start date or any changes in capacity
required.

1.3 BENEFITS

Reduction in process change-over

Inventory reduction
Scheduling effort reduction
Production efficiency increase
Labor load levelling
Accurate delivery date accomplished
Real time information is available

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduling_%28production_processes%29

2 LOADING
Loading is the process of assigning work centers and the various machines present in these work
centers. Single machine job processing is not a difficult task but when job has to be loaded to
multiple machines or work centers, which in turn has multiple jobs to process, the entire
assignment process becomes complex. Some way should be designed for the scheduler to assign
jobs to the machines in a way that setups and processing of machines is minimized along with
throughput time and idle time.

5 | Page

2.1 METHODS OF LOADING

2.1.1

Infinite Loading

Jobs are assigned without giving regard for the capacity of the work center. Priority rules are
used under infinite loading approach. Jobs are loaded in accordance with the chosen priority rule.
This method is called Vertical Loading
2.1.2

Finite Loading

In finite loading the actual start and stop times for each job at the work center is projected. The
capacity of the work center is considered in this case and the processing times is compared so
that process time does not exceed capacity. The scheduler loads the job with highest priority on
all required work centers. Then the job with the next highest priority is loaded and so on the
process continues. This method is called horizontal loading. In this way the scheduler will
forecast the number of hours each work center will operate. However in this process jobs may be
kept waiting even though the work center is idle. This is because a high priority job is expected
to arrive shortly and hence the work center has to be ready to process the job as soon as it
arrives. In a vertical loading method the work center will be fully loaded and hence this high
priority job would wait since the work center was busy already in processing other jobs.
The relative costs for each high priority job kept waiting, cost of idle work centers, number of
work centers and job centers, the potential for disruptions, cancellations and new jobs are
evaluated. Limited capacity firms can go about with i.e. firms with already running three shifts
can go ahead with finite loading since it defines an upper limit on capacity. Infinite loading
cannot be used in this case as capacity may have to be increased through overtime, expansion or
subcontracting or have to be shifted to other machines or time periods.

3 THE GANTT LOAD CHART

3.1 DEFINITION
A standard format for displaying schedules graphically. Comprises of a horizontal bar chart with
time as the horizontal axis and one of resources, operations or orders as the vertical axis. Each
individual operation is displayed as horizontal bars in the chart, indicating the start and end time
6 | Page

of operation. Variations can be made through Gantt chart to display different kinds of
information. It is a useful shop floor planning and control tool. A graphical aid for loading and
scheduling work. This was developed by Henry Gantt in early 1900s. These charts are usually
drawn on paper but nowadays are implemented by softwares.

3.2 EXAMPLE

Figure 1: Resource Gantt Chart

Source: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Ob-Or/Operations-Scheduling.html#ixzz2oRXy2wwY

Figure 1 is a screen shot of a Gantt chart from the production sharing software called Asprova.
This chart represents a resource Gantt chart with the following elements:

Resources Displayed on the left side as colored bars marked with codes such as NC11,

NC12 etc.
Time line Top of the Gantt chart represents the continuous time line with the days of

the week.
Work Calendar Gray shaded areas represent the time period when the resources are
available to do the assigned work. The times during which they are not available i.e.
unavailable time like vacations, lunch breaks, maintenance breaks etc. are shown with a

7 | Page

white background. The height if the gray areas represent the quantity of resources

available during that time period.

Operations The individual operations are represented by color bars in the chart. It
shows to which resources the operation has been assigned to, when is it scheduled to start
and end along with the set up time for each operation. The information about whether the
operation will be suspended over any unavailable time periods is also given. Various
additional information can also be given through the text on the colored bars like the item

and quantity being produced

Manufacturing orders Same manufacturing order operations are displayed using the
same color like 4 operations displayed in yellow color will correspond to the various
processes in order 04. When a mouse pointer is kept at this point it will also mention
about the precedence constraints between the operations of the manufacturing order.

4 SEQUENCING
Sequencing is the method of planning the order of operations by process and fixed orders through
Operation Order Release Planning. This helps in grasping the progress status of the operations, to
consider the priority, setup time etc. to make a sequencing list for operations as shown in Figure 2.

Source:http://www.asprova.com/en/asprova/gantt_chart.html?ASwwwSession=9dcff216c9661a2ff779f5279fce6280

Figure 2: Operation Sequence

8 | Page

4.1 DETERMINATION OF SEQUENCE

There are several techniques available for short term planning of jobs which is done on the basis of
available capacity and priorities.
4.1.1

Priority Sequencing

Priority sequencing is carried out by implementing certain priority rules which are primarily decision
rules that will allocate the relative priority of jobs at a work center. Sequencing arises because several
jobs compete for the capacity of a work center. It also consists of local priority rules which determines
priority based only on jobs at the workstation. Global priority rules considers the remaining workstations
through which a job must pass. When the work center or machine becomes free the job with the highest
priority will be assigned.
4.1.2

Criteria used to design priority rules:

Work in progress inventory cost
Set up costs
Number of jobs that are late
Idle Time
Average Flow Time
Average Time to complete a job
Average number of jobs complete

Source: http://www.asprova.jp/mrp/glossary/en/cat252/post-839.html

4.1.3

4.1.3.1

Priority 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)
Slack per remaining Operations (S/RO)
Least Slack (LS) job first
Preferred Customer Order (PCO)
Least Change Over cost (Next Best)
First Come-First Served (FCFS) Rule

Jobs will be scheduled for executing work in the same sequence as they arrive at the work center. Usually
applied in service centers such as hyper markets, banks etc.
9 | Page

4.1.3.2

Last Come-First Served (LCFS) Rule

When jobs are stacked upon arrival at the machine it will be easier to process the job that has arrived first
and is on the top of the stack.
4.1.3.3

Earliest Due Date (EDD) Rule

This rule sequences jobs based on their due date. Jobs having earliest due date is given highest priority
while assigning job to the work center.
4.1.3.4

Shortest Process Time Job (SPT) Rule

The job with the shortest processing or operation time on the machine is given the highest priority to be
loaded next. This rule minimizes the in-process-inventory but at the expense of keeping the jobs having
longer processing time for a longer time in the work center there by increasing the job through put time.
Example for SPT and EDD shown in Figure 3

Figure 3: SPT and EDD Rule

4.1.3.5

Longest Process Time (LPT) Rule

The job with the longest processing time is scheduled first to the machine among others waiting in the
queue.
4.1.3.6

Critical Ratio Rule

The critical ratio rule uses the same information as slack method which is arranged in the form of
scheduling performance can be assessed easily. Mathematically given as
CR = (time remaining / work remaining) = (due date todays date)/(remaining processing time)
10 | P a g e

If the time remaining is less than the work remaining then the critical ratio will be less than 1 and vice
versa.
If CR > 1, then the job will be ahead of schedule
If CR < 1, then the job is behind schedule
If CR = 1, then the job is exactly on schedule
4.1.3.7

Slack Time per Remaining Operation (S/RO) Rule

The job with smallest amount of slack time per remaining operation depending upon slack time divided
by number of operations remaining.
4.1.3.8

Least Slack (LS) Job First Rule

The highest priority given to job with least slack where slack is the difference of the available time and
duration of processing the job. In this rule it cannot be stated that the jobs will be completed within due
date.
4.1.3.9

Preferred Customer Order (PCO) Rule

Preferred customer jobs are given higher priority than other jobs
4.1.3.10 Least Changeover Cost (Next Best) Rule
The jobs are sequenced based on the analysis of total cost of making the machines change over between
jobs. It is simple, fast and generally performs well in terms of set up costs. The problem is that it does not
consider the job process time due date and work remaining.

4.2 PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

4.2.1

Job Flow Time

Time when a job is completed minus the time the job was available first for processing. Average flow
time measures responsiveness of the system.
4.2.2

Average jobs in system

This is used to measure the amount of work-in-progress which in turn measures responsiveness and work
in process inventory.
4.2.3

Makespan

The time a job takes to finish a batch of jobs. It is a measure of efficiency.

11 | P a g e

4.2.4

Job Lateness

Evaluating performance based on whether the job is completed ahead of, on or behind schedule.
4.2.5

Job Tardiness

This measure is to evaluate how long after the due date a job gets completed. Measures due date
performance.

Source: http://www.citeman.com/838-priority-sequencing.html#ixzz2oudPLXxD
http://www.citeman.com/838-priority-sequencing.html#ixzz2oudVH0Yy

4.3 CALCULATIONS SCHEDULING PERFORMANCE

Job A finishes on

Job B finishes on

Job C finishes on

Job D ends on

day 10

day 13

day 17

day 20

Figure 4: Performance Calculation

4.3.1

Mean Flow Time Calculation

MFT = (sum of job flow times)/ No of jobs
= (10+13+17+20)/4 = 60/4 = 15 days

4.3.2

Average number of jobs calculation

Average no. of jobs = (sum job flow items)/ No. of days to complete batch
= 60/20 = 3 job

4.3.3

Makespan calculation
Makespan = Completion time for Job D Start time for Job A
= 20 0 = 20 days

4.3.4

Lateness and Tardiness

Measures related to customer service. Average tardiness is more relevant customer service
measurement as shown in Figure 5.

12 | P a g e

Figure 5: Job Lateness and Job tardiness

4.3.5
4.3.5.1

Comparison between SPT and S/RO

Performance Measures using Shortest Processing Time (SPT)

Figure 6: SPT Performance Evaluation

E done at

A end of day

D at end of day

F at end of day

C at end of day

B done at end of

end of day 2

14

20

day 27

13 | P a g e

4.3.5.2

Performance Measures using Slack Time per Remaining Operation (S/RO) rule

Figure 7: Slack Time per S/RO Performance Evaluation

B done at end

A at end of

F at end of day

E at end of day

D at end of day

C done at end of

of day 7

day 10

15

17

21

day 27

4.4 SETUP DEPENDENCE

In Job Shop Scheduling, a sequence-dependent setup occurs when a machines setup cost or time for a
specific job is determined by not only by that job but also by the previous job that the machine is
currently setup for. The information on sequence dependent setup times or costs for n jobs are usually
stored by n-by-n matrix with all diagonal entries being zero. These are zero since they correspond to the
condition that machine is setup for the next job hence setup time/cost is minimum. In a single machine njob situation, the total cost/makespan is not sequence- dependent. Whenever set up times or costs are
sequence-dependent, makespan becomes variable. The complexity of the problem will increase as the
number of jobs and machines in the problem increase.

4.5 SEQUENCING THROUGH TWO WORK CENTERS JOHNSONS RULE

A technique used for minimizing makespan in a two-stage, unidirectional process. An effective
technique for minimizing makespan when two successive workstations are required to complete
the process.

14 | P a g e

Step 1: List the jobs with processing time for each activity
Step 2: Find the shortest activity processing time among the jobs not scheduled yet:
1. If the shortest time is for 1st activity then schedule that job in the earliest available
position in the job sequence.
2. If the shortest time is for 2 nd activity then schedule the job in the last available
position in the job sequence.
3. When a job is scheduled eliminate it from further consideration
Step 3: Repeat step 2 till all activities for the job are put in schedule
Source: www.csus.edu/indiv/b/blakeh/mgmt/.../OPM101Chapter15_000.ppt

Example: Jadejas Transport Cleaners does annual cleaning of rental buildings. The job requires
mopping (1st activity) and Brushing (2nd activity) of each car. Jadeja wants to minimize the time
taken for cleaning (makespan) all the buildings. He needs it in 20 days as given in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Johnsons Rule Example

4.6 EXPEDITING
A concept in purchasing and project management for securing the quality and timely delivery of
components and goods. The procurement department controls the progress of manufacturing at
the supplier concerning packing, quality, conformity with set timelines and standards. The
expeditor thus makes sure that the required goods arrive at the mentioned date in the agreed
15 | P a g e

location and quality. This is usually required in large scale project, for example, when a power
plant of a refinery is erected, a delay in late delivery or inferior quality will get very expensive
and lead to not so happy clients and can also reach the verge of losing the project as well. To
reduce this risk a customer may use a third party expeditor. These are experts form companies
specializing in the field who keep track of the deadlines and check whether components are
packed properly and supervise progress on site. After inspection they inform the required
personnel about the findings. Expediting is relevant for many industries, such as oil and gas,
energy industry as such and the infrastructure industry. It exists in several levels:
4.6.1.1

Production Control

The expeditor inspects the factory whether the production is up to the standards of the country
the goods are destined for. This is especially necessary for food or engineering equipment like
power plant components. He or she controls as well whether the regular audits for ISO 9001
have been made.
4.6.1.2

Quality Control

The components are tested whether they function as required and whether they are made to the
measurements and standards of the customer. A part of this quality control can be the testing for
compliance with standards of the destination country, e.g. ASME
4.6.1.3

Packing or Transport Survey

This is the lowest and most used level of expediting, as the goods are only counted and the
packing is controlled whether it will withstand the adversities of transport.
4.6.1.4

Project Management

At a large-scale project, not only goods are controlled. The expeditor also keeps an eye on the
deadlines and milestones of the project and whether the supplier will be on time. This way he or
she monitors the crucial procurement parts of the project.
Different levels of expediting require different skills, laboratories, specialists. Many third party
expeditors specialize in only one or several of these levels while few offer services on all levels.
Larger companies have own expeditors who can perform all four levels

16 | P a g e

5 SCHEDULING ALGORITHMS
Production scheduling can take significant computing power if there are numerous tasks. Hence
a range of short cut algorithms (heuristics) or (dispatching rules) are used which are:
5.1.1

5.1.2

Stochastic Algorithms

Economic Lot Scheduling Problem

Economic production quantity
Heuristic Algorithms

Modified due date scheduling heuristic

Shifting bottleneck heuristic

5.2 BATCH PRODUCTION SCHEDULING

Batch production scheduling is the practice of scheduling and planning of batch manufacturing
processes. Although it is applied to continuous processes like refining, it is important for batch
processes such as those for biotechnology processes and specialty chemical processes. This
scheduling shares some concepts and techniques with finite capacity scheduling which has
already been applied to many manufacturing problems.
5.2.1.1Scheduling in the Batch Processing Environment

A batch process can be described as a combination of bills of materials and operating instructions
which describe how the product is to be made. The ISA S88 batch process control standard gives
a framework for describing a batch process. It has many unit operations which are further
organized into phases.The following recipe illustrates the organization.

Charge and Mix materials A and B in a heated reactor are heated to 80C and reacted 4
hours to form C.

Transferred to blending tank, solvent D added and Blended for 1hour. Solid C then
precipitates.

Centrifuge for 2 hours to separate out C.

17 | P a g e

Dried in a tray dryer for nearly an hour.

Figure 9: Batch processing

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduling_%28production_processes%29

A simplified S88-style procedural organization of the recipe might appear as follows:

Unit Procedure 1: Reaction

o Operation 1: Charge A & B (0.5 hours)
o Operation 3: Blend / Heat (1 hour)
o Operation 4: Hold at 80C for 4 hours
o Operation 5: Pump solution through cooler to blend tank (0.5 hours)
o Operation 5: Clean (1 hour)

Unit Procedure 2: Blending Precipitation

18 | P a g e

o Operation 1: Receive solution from reactor

o Operation 2: Add solvent, D (0.5 hours)
o Operation 3: Blend for 2 hours
o Operation 4: Pump to centrifuge for 2 hours
o Operation 5: Clean up (1 hour)

Unit Procedure 3: Centrifugation

o Operation 1: Centrifuge solution for 2 hours
o Operation 2: Clean

Unit Procedure 4: Tote

o Operation 1: Receive material from centrifuge
o Operation 2: Load dryer (15 min)

Unit Procedure 5: Dry

o Operation 1: Load
o Operation 2: Dry (1 hour)

The organization is intended to capture the entire process for scheduling. Most of the constraints
and restrictions described by Pinedo are applicable in batch processing. The different operations
in a recipe are subject to precedence or timing constraints that describe the start and or end with
respect to each other. Further because materials may be perishable, waiting between continuous
operations may be limited. Operation durations can be fixed or they may be dependent on the
durations of other operations.

19 | P a g e

Further to process equipment, batch process activities may require materials, labor, utilities and
extra equipment.
5.2.2

Cycle-Time Analysis

In the example above if a number of batches of Product C are to be produced it is useful to

calculate the minimum time between consecutive batch starts (cycle-time). If any batch is
allowed to start before the end of the prior batch the minimum cycle time is given by the
following equation:

Where CTmin is the shortest possible cycle time for a process with M unit procedures and j is
the total duration for the jth unit-procedure. The unit-procedure with maximum duration is
sometimes referred to as the bottleneck.

Figure 10: Cycle Time Calculation

20 | P a g e

If redundant equipment units are available for at least one unit-procedure, the minimum cycletime becomes:

Where Nj is the number of redundant equipment for unit procedure j.

Figure 11: Cycle Time: New Bottleneck

If any equipment is reused within a process, the minimum cycle-time becomes dependent on
particular process details. In the cases below, an increase in the hold time in the tote can decrease
the average minimum cycle time.

21 | P a g e

Figure 12: Decrease in Cycle time

5.3 SCHEDULING BOTTLENECKS

When scheduling bottleneck systems exist then the basic principles of optimized production
technology (OPT) apply. Theory of constraints (TOC) expands OPT into a managerial process of
continuous improvement. OPT focusses on bottlenecks for scheduling and capacity planning.
5.3.1

OPT Principles

Balance the process rather than balancing the flow

Non- bottleneck usage is always driven by some other constraint in the system
Usage and activation of a resource are not always the same
A hour lost at a bottleneck is lost forever, but an hour lost at a non-bottleneck is a

mirage
Bottleneck determines throughput and inventory in system
The transfer batch shouldnt be equal to the process batch
The process batch should be variable

All constraints are considered simultaneously. Lead times are the result of the schedule and
are not predetermined.
5.3.2

Theory of Constraints

Theory of Constraints is that a systems output is determined by its constraints

22 | P a g e

Identify the bottlenecks in the process

Exploit the bottleneck
Subordinate all other decisions to Step 2 - Schedule non-bottlenecks to support

maximum use of bottleneck activities

Elevate the Bottleneck
Do not let inertia set in

6 SCHEDULING ILLUSTRATIONS
6.1 SCHEDULING FOR SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS
6.1.1

6.1.2

Demand management

Appointments & reservations

Posted schedules
Delayed services or backlogs (queues)
Scheduling Employees:

Staff for peak demand (if cost isnt prohibitive)

Floating employees or employees on call
Temporary, seasonal, or part-time employees

6.2 MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING (SCHEDULING EMPLOYEES EXAMPLE):

Maintenance backlog is a queue of work orders. Queuing theory is applied to manage
maintenance backlogs more effectively. When maintenance work order time estimates are close
to actual times, queuing theory can be applied to schedule the most effective arrangement of the
maintenance backlog. If the maintenance backlog work order time estimates in are within 5-10%
of actual completion times it is good to arrange the maintenance work orders into queues of
scheduled jobs that take similar time to do. Usually it is being done by a manual process by
schedulers which is not an effective method.
The below diagram can be a solution for a bank which can be termed as a queuing solution. You
go through the front door and in the entrance foyer is a panel like the one shown in the image
below with four buttons. You press the top button if you want to see a bank teller to do your
over-the-counter banking transactions. The second button down is for advice about bank
23 | P a g e

accounts, like starting one or closing one. The third button is for major financial queries, like
superannuation or a loan, and the fourth is for everything else.
Once you get your printed ticket you go and sit in your allocated queue and wait your turn. But
the most interesting part is what happens next. There are enough bank tellers so that anyone who
wants an over-the-counter transaction gets served within two minutes of joining the queue
(usually it is much sooner). There are enough service staff that if you have a long financial query
of 15 to 30 minutes duration you are seen by one of them within ten minutes (often it so much
sooner). The bank schedules its resources to match the times that their typical range of work
activities take.
Instead of letting any customer go to any person in the bank, the bank queuing solution first
categorises customers into how much time is needed to complete their inquiry. The current size
of each queue is used by the bank to allocate its people so that all customers get served in a fair
time.

24 | P a g e

Maintenance work orders can be handled the same way. Backlog is divided into definable
queuing criteria and allocate your maintenance resources accordingly to get through each queue
in good time. The image below shows how the bank's queuing solution can be used in
maintenance backlog work order scheduling. The maintenance crews work through the
scheduled queues of work orders from the top priority job to the least priority job until the queue
ends.
Figure 13: Queuing Theory
Resource constraints are bought into the queue criteria, like the need for specialist access
equipment, such as the overhead access device noted in the work order queue category list
below.

Less than two hour using only standard tool kit

More than two hours and less than four hours using only standard tool kit

Less than four hours and requiring overhead access equipment

More than four hours but less than eight hours and requiring overhead access equipment

25 | P a g e

Once a queue of work is set then there should be no queue jumping.The image below explains
how the machine shop pushed late customer orders to the front of the job queue so that those jobs
were next done. But that then made every job late and guaranteed future irate customers would
demand that their work be made urgently. Queuing jobs works if the queue is taken in order.

Figure 14: Queue jumping

The other option is to make a new queue only for urgent jobs and put people and resources aside
to do those unknown, but sure to happen, priority jobs.

Source: http://www.lifetime-reliability.com/free-articles/maintenance-planning-and-scheduling/maintenancescheduling-using-queuing-theory.html

26 | P a g e

6.3 SCHEDULING WITHIN OM: HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER

Scheduling is the final planning that occurs before the actual execution of the plan.
Production planners track the performance on a regular basis of the operations in
meeting the planned schedule. This is critical activity because the master scheduler
evaluates production planners on the level of customer service achieved for their

product responsibilities.
Schedules are essential to shop floor supervisors. The amount of time to complete a
job is often determined by a time. If the time standards are inaccurate the workers

morale may be affected.

Customers often need to know when the service will be provided (cable installers) so
that the customer is available. Customers often link quality of service with adherence
to the schedule. Everything will be fine if the company delivers on time.

6.4 SCHEDULING ACROSS THE ORGANIZATION

Scheduling executes a companys strategic business plan, goals and affects functional
areas throughout the company

Accounting relies on schedule information and completion of customer orders to

develop revenue projections

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.

Source: Operations Management by R. Dan Reid & Nada R. Sanders 4th Edition Wiley 2010

27 | P a g e