UNIT-IV

PRODUCTION SCHEDULING
 PRODUCT PLANNING

PRODUCTION CONTROL SYSTEMS

• Production control through control mechanism, tries
to take corrective action to match the planned and
actual production Thus production control reviews the
progress of the work, and takes corrective steps in
order to ensure that programmed production takes
place.
The six key functions of the production scheduling and
control are:
1. Release orders to the system in accordance with the
priority plan.
2. Assign jobs to specific work centers (including
machine loading, or shop loading).
3. Provide sequencing priorities to specify the order in
which jobs are to be processed.
4. Control the manufacturing lead time by
tracking and expediting jobs if necessary.
5. Monitor the priority status of jobs via
summary, scrap, reworks, and other reports.
6. Monitor the capacity status of facilities via
input/output reports of workload versus
capacity.
LOADING:
• Loading, also known as machine loading, may
be defined as the assignment of work to a
facility (facility may be machine, group of men,
entire plan, etc.) without specifying when the
work is to be done and in what sequence.
• Loading results in a tabulated chart indicating
the planned utilisation of machines or
workstations. The objective is to maintain an
up-to-date picture of available capacity in the
plant.
• Loading represents the relationship between
load and capacity the places where the work is
done.
• Loading provides:
(i) an information to ensure the efficient utilisation of
the plant and labour in a factory;
(ii) an information to help in setting of reliable delivery;
and
(iii) an information to assist in forward planning of
purchase of the new plant.
• Loading can be carried out only when the available
capacity of workcentres is known. For this, we
should have the standard time of all the work
assigned to a given workcentre plus allowances for
machine idle time, ancillary time, and down time.
• Capacity can be defined as the time available for
work at work centres expressed in machine-hours or
in man-hours.
• Thus the main objectives of loading are:
(i) To check the feasibility of production
programmes.
(ii) To assist in the efficient planning of new
work.
(iii) To assist in balancing the plant to the
existing load.
(iv) To assist in fixing of reliable delivery
promises.
• Fig. illustrates a typical loading chart indicating
the productive capacity that has been sold in
terms of time available as productive capacity.
• The above load charts should be prepared for each
machine or a group of similar machines available.
However, now-a-days load charts are not commonly
used since they are combined with scheduled charts.
PRODUCTION SCHEDULING
INTRODUCTION TO SCHEDULING
• As indicated in Fig.1.2 of unit 1, scheduling is the
final stage in production planning. It is the stage at
which all the production activities are coordinated
and projected on a time scale. A production schedule
is like a time table that tells us what machine or
department should be doing what and when.
• As pointed out in Section 3.15 of unit III, machine
loading and scheduling is a procedure with which we
try to match the requirements set out in the
production order (quantities, due dates i.e, dates of
delivery) with the available facilities.
• The production schedule should be formulated for
the method which satisfactorily match the systems
requirements with the available resources.
What is Scheduling?
• Scheduling refers to the setting of operation start
dates so that jobs will be completed by their due date.
• In a broader sense, scheduling establishes the timing
of productive activities that use the firm's human and
equipment resources to serve its customers.
• Scheduling is used to allocate work loads to specific
work-centres and to determine the sequence in which
operations are to be performed within the available
capacity. In simple terms, scheduling deals with:
• Which work centre will do which job?
• When should an operation/job to be started and when
should it end?
• On which equipment should it be done and by
whom?
• What is the sequence in which jobs/operations
needed to be handled?
The various functions of an effective production
scheduling system include:
1.Allocating jobs to facilities
2.Establishing a set of rules of priorities to
sequence the activities on the facilities.
3.Dispatching job orders as per the schedule to
initiate loading of jobs to facilities.
4.Reviewing the status of jobs as they are loaded
and processed in the facilities, i.e.. follow-up work.
5.Expediting the critical jobs.
Objectives of Production Scheduling
The objectives of production scheduling are:
(i) to meet the due dates,
(ii) to minimise lead time,
(ii) to minimize setup time or cost,
(iv) to minimize work-in-process inventory,
and
(v) to maximize machine or labour utilisation.
Data Requirements for Scheduling
• The production scheduling requires accurate
information on:
(i) the current status of jobs (e.g., what orders
are in process and where);
(ii) what upcoming jobs are available;
(iii) the adequacy of materials and capacities,
(iv) equipment and labour utilisation, and
(v) job progress and efficiency.
• In addition, the system database must contain
information on current inventory levels, lot
sizes, lead times, work-center capacities, set-
up and run times, scrap rates, due dates, etc
TYPES OF SCHEDULING TOOLS/TECHNIQUES
(FORMS OF SCHEDULE)
Master Scheduling (Master Production Scheduling)
What is it?
• The master schedule, also known as master
production schedule (MPS), formalizes the production
plan and translates it into specific end-item
requirements over a short to immediate planning
horizon.
• Then the end items are exploded into specific
material and capacity requirements by the material
requirement planning (MRP) and capacity
requirements planning (CRP) systems.
• Then the MPS essentially drives the entire production
and inventory system.
Master Scheduling Vs Aggregate Planning
• Aggregate planning is the process of planning
the quantity and timing of output over the
medium range (often 3 to 18 months) by
adjusting the production rate, employment,
inventory, and other controllable variables.
• Master scheduling follows aggregate planning
and expresses the overall plan in terms of
specific end items to produce and dates to
produce them. It uses information from both
forecasts and orders on hand, and it is the
major driver of all production activities.
Inputs to MPS
The major inputs to the master production schedule
are:
(i) Forecasts of demand of end items.
(ii) Customer orders, and
(iii)Inventory on-hand from the previous period.
Determining the Planning Horizon Length of a
Master Schedule
• The planning horizon length (time span) of a master
schedule depends on the type of product, volume of
production and component lead times of the product
being produced.
• The time horizon can be weeks, months, or some
combination, but the schedule should encompass
the lead times for all purchased and assembled
components.
Functions of MPS
The main functions of MPS are:
(i) To translate aggregate plans into specific
end items.
(ii)To evaluate alternative schedules.
(iii)To generate material requirements.
(iv)To generate capacity requirements.
(v)To facilitate information processing.
(vi)To maintain valid priorities.
(vii)To utilize capacity effectively.
Master Production Scheduling Process(Procedure for Developing MPS)
Gantt Charts
• Gantt charts are simple bar graphs that
can be used to schedule any type of
operation. These charts are named after
its originator Henry L. Gantt.
• Gantt charts are usual (bar chart) aids
used to depict the sequencing, load on
facilities, or progress associated with work
effort over a well-defined time period.
Two basic types of Gantt charts are:
1. Workload charts, and
2. Scheduling charts.
Gantt Workload Charts
• A workload chart is usually used to depict
workload levels for equipment, workstations,
or departments
• In these charts, the vertical axis usually lists
different facilities used to manufacture or
process job orders. The horizontal axis
usually represents time.
• Fig. illustrates a typical Gantt workload
chart. As we can see from Fig, a series of
machines is listed on the vertical axis and
jobs to which they need to be assigned are
listed in rows
• This chart clearly depicts the timing requirements
for each job.
• This visual allocation of jobs provides managers
with a quick and easy way of determining the total
workload assigned to each machine. The space
between jobs is idle time.
• Gantt charts can dynamically adapt to scheduling
requirement changes as they occur in the
operations management system. For example, in
Fig.4.6, we can see that most of the machines
assignable time in the first two weeks is
completely scheduled. After the second week,
machines are idle for periods of time. These idle
periods can be filled with other unplanned jobs
while