Chapter 11.

Scheduling
 Chapter 11. Scheduling

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the chapter, you should be able to:

1. Explain the different kinds of scheduling operations

2. Describe different shop loading methods
3. Develop a schedule using priority rules
4. Calculate scheduling for multiple workstations
5. Develop a schedule of performance measures
6. Describe the theory of constraints
7. Describe scheduling techniques for service applications
8. Develop a workforce schedule in which each employee has two consecutive days
off
 Scheduling Operations

Companies differentiate based on product volume and product

variety
Differentiation affects how the company organizes its operations
Each kind of company operation needs different scheduling
techniques
Scheduling has specific definitions for routing, bottleneck, due
date, slack and queue
 Scheduling Definitions

 Routing: The operations to be performed, their sequence, the work centers, &
the time standards
 Bottleneck: A resource whose capacity is less than the demand placed on it
 Due date: When the job is supposed to be finished
 Slack: The time that a job can be delayed & still finish by its due date
 Queue: A waiting line
Characteristics of High-Volume Operations

High-volume aka flow operations, like automobiles, bread, and

gasoline can be repetitive or continuous
 High-volume standard items; discrete or continuous with
smaller profit margins
 Designed for high efficiency and high utilization
 High volume flow operations with fixed routings
 Bottlenecks are easily identified
 Commonly use line-balancing to design the process around
the required tasks
Low-Volume Operations
 Low-volume, job shop operations, are designed for
flexibility.
 Use more general purpose equipment
 Customized products with higher margins
 Each product or service may have its own routing
(scheduling is much more difficult)
 Bottlenecks move around depending upon the products
being produced at any given
 time
 Gantt Charts - Low-Volume Tool
 Developed in the early 1900’s by Henry Gantt
 Load charts illustrate the workload relative to the
capacity of a resource
 Shows today’s job schedule by employee
Sample load chart
Progress charts:
Illustrate the planned schedule compared to the actual
performance
Brackets show when the activity is scheduled to be finished.
Note: design & pilot run both finish late; feedback has not
started yet
Sample progress chart
SCHEDULING WORK – WORK LOADING
Infinite loading

Scheduling that calculates the capacity needed at work centers in the time
period needed without regard to the capacity available to do the work.

Sample. Infinite loading

Finite loading

Scheduling that loads work centers up to a predetermined amount of capacity.

Sample. Finite loading

Other Scheduling Techniques
 Forward scheduling - Schedule that determines the earliest possible completion date for a job.

 Backward Scheduling - begin scheduling the job’s last activity so that the job is finished on the
due date

Sample.
Forward and backward scheduling
 Input/output report for Work Center 101

 Monitoring Workflow Input/Output

Control
 I/O control is a capacity-control
technique used to monitor
work flow at individual work
centers
 Monitors how well available
capacity is used and provides
insight into process problems
 How to Sequence Jobs
 Which of several jobs should be scheduled first?
 Techniques are available to do short-term planning of jobs based on
available capacity & priorities
 Priority rules:
Decision rules to allocate the relative priority of jobs at a work
center
Local priority rules: determines priority based only on jobs at
that workstation
Global priority rules: also considers the remaining workstations
a job must pass through
 Commonly Used Priorities Rule

First come, first served (FCFS): Jobs are processed in the order in which they arrive at a machine or work
center.

Last come, first served (LCFS): The last job into the work center or at the top of the stack is processed first.

Earliest due date (EDD): The job due the earliest has the highest priority.

Shortest processing time (SPT): The job that requires the least processing time has the highest priority

Longest processing time (LPT): The job that requires the longest processing time has the highest priority.

Critical ratio (CR): The job with the smallest ratio of time remaining until due date to its processing time
remaining has the highest priority.

Slack per remaining operations (S/RO): The job with the least slack per remaining operations is given the
highest priority. Calculate by dividing slack by remaining operations.
How to Use Priority Rules
Using priority rules is straightforward. Just follow these steps.

Step 1 Decide Which Priority Rule to Use. 

Step 2 List All the Jobs Waiting to Be Processed at the Work Center and
Their Job Time.

Step 3 Using Your Priority Rule, Determine Which Job Has the Highest
Priority and Should Be Worked on First, Second, Third, and So On.
Measuring Performance
 Job flow time:
 Time a job is completed minus the time the job was first available for processing; avg.
flow time measures responsiveness
 Average # jobs in system:
 Measures amount of work-in-progress; avg. # measures responsiveness and work-in-
process inventory
 Makespan:
 The time it takes to finish a batch of jobs; a measure of efficiency
 Job lateness:
 Whether the job is completed ahead of, on, or behind schedule;
 Job tardiness:
 How long after the due date a job was completed, measures due date performance
 Lateness and Tardiness are both measures related to customer service
 Average tardiness is a more relevant Customer Service measurement as illustrated below

Calculating Job Lateness/Tardiness

 SEQUENCING JOBS THROUGH TWO WORK CENTERS

Johnson’s Rule – a technique for minimizing makespan in a two-stage, unidirectional

process

Step 1 – List the jobs and the processing time for each activity
Step 2 – Find the shortest activity processing time among the jobs not yet scheduled

 If the shortest Processing time is for a 1st activity, schedule that job in the
earliest available position in the job sequence
 If the shortest processing time is for 2nd activity, schedule that job in the last
available position in the job sequence
 When you schedule a job eliminate it from further consideration

Step 3 – Repeat step 2 until you have put all activities for the job in the schedule
Scheduling Bottlenecks
 In the 1970’s Eli Goldratt introduced optimized production technology (OPT)
 OPT focused on bottlenecks for scheduling & capacity planning
 Definitions:
 Throughput: quantity of finished goods that can be sold
 Transfer batch: quantity of items moved at the same time from one
resource to the next
 Process batch: quantity produced at a resource before switching to
another product
OPT Principles
 Balance the process rather than the flow
 Non-bottleneck usage is driven by some other constraint in the
system
 Usage and activation of a resource are not the same
 A hour lost at a bottleneck is lost forever, but an hour lost at a non-
bottleneck is a mirage
 Bottleneck determine throughput and inventory in system
 The transfer batch does not need to be equal to the process batch
 The process batch should be variable
 Consider all constraints simultaneously. Lead times are the result of
the schedule and are not predetermined.
Theory of Constraints
TOC is an extension of OPT – the theory is that a system’s output is determined by
its constraints
1. Identify the bottleneck(s) in the process
2. Exploit (fully utilize) the bottleneck(s)
3. Subordinate all other decisions to Step 2 - Schedule non-bottlenecks to
support maximum use of bottleneck activities
4. Elevate the Bottleneck(s)
5. Do not let inertia set in
Scheduling for Service Organizations
 Demand management:
 Appointments & reservations
 Posted schedules
 Delayed services or backlogs (queues)

 Scheduling Employees:
 Staff for peak demand (if cost isn’t prohibitive)
 Floating employees or employees on call
 Temporary, seasonal, or part-time employee
Step 1 Find out the Minimum Number of Employees Needed for Each Day of the Week.
Step 2 Given the Minimum Number of Employees Needed Each Day, Calculate the Number of
Employees Needed for Each Pair of Consecutive Days during the Pay Week.

Pair of Consecutive Days Total of Staff Needed

Monday and Tuesday 9 employees

Tuesday and Wednesday 10 employees

Wednesday and Thursday 8 employees

Thursday and Friday 8 employees

Friday and Saturday 7 employees

Saturday and Sunday 5 employees

Step 3 Find the Pair of Days with the Lowest Total Needed

Step 4 Update the Number of Employees You Still Need to

Schedule for Each Day. 
Pair of Consecutive
Total of Staff Needed
Days
Step 3 The Days Off for Employee Number 2
Monday and Tuesday 9 employees Are Also Saturday and Sunday.

Tuesday and Wednesday 10 employees

Wednesday and 8 employees

Thursday

Thursday and Friday 8 employees

Friday and Saturday 7 employees

Saturday and Sunday 5 employees

Step 4 Update the Staffing Needs.

Step 5 Using the updated staffing needs, repeat step 2 through 4 until you have
satisfied all needs.

The final schedule

Scheduling Across the Organization
 Scheduling executes a company’s strategic business plan 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 maintain the scheduling database
 Operations uses the schedule to maintain its priorities and to provide customer service by
finishing jobs on time
*Assessment (FA): Assignment: Describe the commonly used priorities rules. 50 points

***Final Requirement: 100 points Prepare a manpower schedule for a Boutique Hotel (10 rooms, One
CAFÉ with 65 seating capacity) Submission schedule to be announced.