Source: Operations Engineering and Management: Concepts, Analytics, and Principles for Improvement, 1st Edition
ISBN: 9781260461831
Authors: Seyed M. R. Iravani
13.1. What Is Operations Scheduling?
Operations Scheduling is the final decision stage of producing goods or services, as shown inFig. 13.1. As the figure shows, the
first stage is planning, which requires a demand forecast. Having estimates for future demand, one can develop production and
workforce plans. As discussed in Chap. 12, this is done through aggregate planning that aggregates all products into a few
aggregate products and uses analytics to find a cost-effective production plan. For instance, a firm that produces five different
types of office chairs can aggregate all five types into one aggregate product, "Chair." Using aggregate planning, the firm can
determine the production plan of chairs for the next 12 months.
Figure 13.1 Hierarchy of operations management decisions leading to operations scheduling.
The next step, as shown in Fig. 13.1, is to disaggregate production plan of the aggregate products and develop Master
Production Schedule for each individual product.
CONCEPT
Master Production Schedule (MPS)
Master production schedule (MPS) is a production schedule that determines the exact number of each product that must be produced in each of
the future time periods (e.g., each day, each week, each month). MPS is the basis for scheduling the production of each individual product.
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Master production schedule (MPS) translates the aggregate production plan for the aggregate product into the production
schedule for each individual product. Recall that aggregate planning is long- or medium-range planning, for example, planning
production and workforce in the next 2 to 18 months. However, MPS is developed when the firm gets close to actual production
time, for example, MPS is developed for the next 10 days or the next 10 weeks. But as the firm gets closer to the actual
production, new information becomes available. This includes a better forecast (which now also includes the actual orders
made by the customers), inventory consideration such as the level of safety stock needed for the product, labor availabilities,
supplier's considerations, financial situations, and market prices. Operations engineers and managers consider these factors,
along with the aggregate production plan, and develop MPS for each individual product.
Having MPS that determines how many of each type of products must be produced in each hour, each day, or each week, the
next step is to allocate the activities required to produce each product to resources, and to determine when each resource
should start performing each activity. This is called "Operations Scheduling." For example, if according to MPS a worker is
supposed to process 200 item A, 400 item B, and 550 item C in this week, an operations schedule determines which item the
worker should process first, second, or third, and how many of each item the worker should process each day of the week.
While operations scheduling is the last step of actually making the product or delivering a service, it is critical to a firm's
success. From the production (supply) side, a good production or delivery schedule utilizes firm's resources in the most
effective way that can result in higher throughput, and thus less cost per unit produced. From the customer (demand) side, a
good production and delivery schedule can result in on-time delivery that improves customer satisfaction.
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