Operations Scheduling: Dr. Md. Ahsan Akhtar Hasin

Chapter 17
Operations Scheduling
Dr. Md. Ahsan Akhtar Hasin

Professor,
Industrial and Production Engineering Department
BUET
Introduction to Operations Scheduling
The functions of Operations Scheduling are to determine the
timings and sequence of operations.
It is a Production Control function.
Production control (in Production Planning and Control)

function includes activities like –
• operations scheduling,
• assigning workers to machines/operations,
• assigning jobs to work centers,
• monitoring and controlling progress of orders,
• expediting critical orders,
• etc.
Customer order (Make-to-order)
A Job :
Production Order (Make-to-stock)
Production control is also known as –
Shop Floor Control (SFC), or
Production Activity Control (PAC).
Some Definitions
Work Center
A Work Center is an area in production where one or more
productive resources (machines, equipment, manpower) are
grouped together to perform a particular operation(s).
Shop Routing/Job Routing

It is the pattern or path of flow of materials, sequenced through
work centers
Job1 : m1 m3  m4  m5
Job2 : m1 m2 m3 m4
Job1 FG1
m1 m3 m5
Job2
FG2
m2 m4
Infinite Loading
Infinite loading occurs when work is assigned to a work center based

on what is needed as per market demand.
Capacity limitation/constraint is ignored here.
MRPII, in its current form, is an Infinite Loading system by default.
Finite loading
In reality, any shop has limited capacity, in terms of both manpower

and machineries.
Finite loading takes in to account available capacity of each

resource.
Forward vs. Backward Scheduling
Forward scheduling system takes an order, then determines its start time and
then calculates the possible finish time by adding operations time. We are
going to study forward scheduling in this chapter.
Backward scheduling determines the order due date, and then back tracks to
find possible order release date. An example of backward scheduling is MRP
calculation.
Machine limited Process
Machine Limited process is also known as Machine Constrained process.
Here, machine is the critical resource that is scheduled.
A computer controlled CNC machine is an example of machine limited

process.
Labor Limited
Labor Limited process, also known as Labor Constrained process, is the

one where labor is the critical resource that is scheduled.
Generally, manually operated tasks are labor limited processes.

Capacity Planning
Capacity planning
an adjustment between
Capacity required capacity available
Capacity required
Simply multiply the standard cycle time (time/unit) by the number of parts and
divide by the part or process OEE % (Original Equipment Efficiency, or Overall
Equipment Effectiveness).
Capacity available
Capacity available
Design capacity Effective capacity (which is little less than

design capacity (because of maintenance,
delay, minor shutdown, etc.)
Objectives of Scheduling
• Meet due date
• Minimize lateness
• Minimize flow time of jobs
• Minimize Work In Process inventory
• Etc.
Job Sequencing
Job sequencing means determination of which jobs to start first, the next,
etc. on a machine.
This is done using some rules known as “Priority Rule”, which is judged
against some performance criteria, such as minimization of flow time.
Some commonly used priority rules are :
1. First Come First Serve (FCFS)

2. Last Come First Serve (LCFS)
3. Shortest Operation Time (SOT), or Shortest Processing Time (SPT)
4. Earliest Due Date (EDD)
5. Slack Time Remaining (STR) = time remaining before the due date –
6. Critical Ratio (CR), processing time remaining
7. Etc.
 Examples of Priority Rules
FCFS Rule SPT Rule
Job Processing Due Date Flow time Job Processing Due Date Flow time
Sequence time (days) (days) (days) Sequence time (days) (days) (days)
A 3 5 3 E 1 2 1
B 4 6 7 C 2 7 3
C 2 7 9 A 3 5 6
D 6 9 15 B 4 6 10
E 1 2 16 D 6 9 16
Total Flow time = 3 + 7 + 9 + 15 + 16 = 50 days Total Flow time = 1 + 3 + 6 + 10 + 16 = 36 days
So, mean flow time = 50 / 5 = 10 days So, mean flow time = 36 / 5 = 7.2 days
Job Processing Due Date Flow time

EDD Rule Sequence (days) Comparison Table
time (days) (days)
E 1 2 1 Priority Mean Flow
Rules time
A 3 5 4
FCFS 10
B 4 6 8
C 2 7 10 SPT 7.2
D 6 9 16 EDD 7.8
Total Flow time = 1 + 4 + 8 + 10 + 16 = 39 days SPT is the best

So, mean flow time = 39 / 5 = 7.8 days
Johnson’s rule
Scheduling many jobs (n jobs) in two machines.
It has the following algorithm:
1. List the operation times for each job on both machines
2. Select the shortest operation time
3. If the shortest time is for the 1st machine, schedule the job first; if it is for
the 2nd machine, schedule the job last.
4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for each remaining job until all jobs are scheduled.
Job Times (days)

Job Work Center A Work Center B Example
(Machine 1) (Machine 2)
A 3 2
B 6 8
C 5 6
D 7 4 Cumulative days
0 5 11 18 21
Work Center A Available for
C B D A
(machine 1) other jobs
Work Center A
Idle C B D A
(machine 2)
0 5 11 19 23 25
Cumulative days

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Chapter 17

Dr. Md. Ahsan Akhtar Hasin

It is a Production Control function.

Production control (in Production Planning and Control)

Shop Routing/Job Routing

Infinite loading occurs when work is assigned to a work center based

Capacity limitation/constraint is ignored here.

MRPII, in its current form, is an Infinite Loading system by default.

In reality, any shop has limited capacity, in terms of both manpower

Finite loading takes in to account available capacity of each

A computer controlled CNC machine is an example of machine limited

Labor Limited process, also known as Labor Constrained process, is the

Generally, manually operated tasks are labor limited processes.

Design capacity Effective capacity (which is little less than

• Minimize flow time of jobs

• Minimize Work In Process inventory

Some commonly used priority rules are :

1. First Come First Serve (FCFS)

Job Processing Due Date Flow time

Total Flow time = 1 + 4 + 8 + 10 + 16 = 39 days SPT is the best

Job Times (days)

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