Copperbelt University

School of Business

BS/BF 343: Production And

Operations Management
 SCHEDULING

Scheduling specifies when labour, equipment, and

facilities are needed to produce a product or provide a
service. It is the last stage of planning before production
takes place.
 OBJECTIVES IN SCHEDULING
• Meeting customer due dates;
• Minimizing job lateness;
• Minimizing response time;
• Minimizing completion time;
• Minimizing time in the system;
• Minimizing overtime;
• Maximizing machine or labor utilization;
• Minimizing idle time; and
• Minimizing work-in-process inventory
Fig. 1.0 Scheduling and Shop-Floor Decisions in Process-Focused Operations

Master Production
Schedule (MPS)
Engineering the
Product Designs and
Processing Plans

Materials Capacity Order-Processing

Requirements Plan Requirements Plan or Routing Plans
(MRP) (CRP)

Planned Order Work Center Loading Assignment of

Releases Report and Overtime Plan Orders to Work
Centres

Day-Day Schedules and Shop-Floor Decisions

1 Setting the priorities of orders at each work centre.
In other words, determining the sequence in which orders will be processed at each work centre.
2 Given that orders can be assigned to several machines within each work centre, determining to
which machine each order should be assigned.
3 Shop-floor control-dispatching or releasing orders to work centres, expediting orders if necessary,
coordinating work-centre schedules, and revising schedules as conditions change.
 SHOP-FLOOR PLANNING AND CONTROL
ACTIVITIES:
1. Assigning a priority to each order to aid in setting the sequence of producing
orders at work centres.
2. Issuing dispatching lists to each work centre to inform the production
supervisors the orders to be produced, their priorities and when each order
should be completed.
3. Keeping the work-in-progress (WIP) inventory updated. This includes knowing
the location of each order and the quantity of parts in each order in the
system.
4. Providing input-output control on all work centres i.e. developing information
about how jobs are flowing between work centres.
5. Measuring efficiency, utilization, and productivity of workers and machines at
each work centre.

Production-planning and control departments perform these activities and

report the results to operations managers so that corrective actions can be
taken when orders are going to be late or when capacity or workload problems
occur at work centres.
 LOADING
• Loading is the process of assigning work to limited resources.
• Many times an operation can be performed by various persons,
machines, or work centres but with varying efficiencies.
• If there is enough capacity, each worker should be assigned to
the task that he or she performs best, and each job to the
machine that can process it most efficiently.
• The routing file used by CRP lists the machine that can perform
the job most efficiently first.
• The problem of determining how best to allocate jobs to
machines or workers to tasks can be solved with the
assignment method
 Monitoring Workflow
• Input/output control is a capacity-control technique used to
monitor workflow at individual work centres.
• Input/output control monitors the planned inputs and
outputs at a work centre against the actual inputs and
outputs.
• Planned inputs are based on the operational schedule,
whereas planned outputs use capacity-planning techniques.
• Actual input is compared with planned input to ensure that
enough work enters the measured work center. A work
centre cannot process items that have not yet arrived.
• Actual output is used to identify possible problems in the
work centre, such as an equipment problem or unexpected
absences
 Input-Output Control (I/O)

• I/O control refers to monitoring the work flow and

queue lengths at work centres.
• The purpose of I/O control is to manage work flow so that
queues and waiting times are kept under control.
• Without I/O control, demand may exceed processing
capacity, causing an overload at a centre.
• Conversely, work may arrive slower than the rate a work
centre can handle, leaving the work centre underutilized.
• The aim is to balance to struck between the input and
output rates, thereby achieving effective use of work
centre capacities without experiencing excessive queues
at the work centres.
• If the work is arriving faster than it is being
processed, the facility is overloaded, and a
backlog develops.
• Overloading causes crowding in the facility,
leading to inefficiencies and quality problems.
• If the work is arriving at a slower rate than jobs
are being performed, the facility is underloaded,
and the work center may run out of work.
• Underloading the facility results in idle capacity
and wasted resources
 Example 1: Analysing Input-Output Reports
Illustrates an input/output report for a work centre
All the values in the report are labour-hours.

Week

-1 1 2 3 4 5 6
Planned Input – Labour Hours 100 100 90 90 90 90
Actual Input – Labour Hours 120 95 80 88 93 94
Deviation +20 -5 -10 -2 +3 +4
Cumulative Deviation +20 +15 +5 +3 +6 +10
Planned Output – Labour Hours 110 110 100 100 100 95
Actual Output – Labour Hours 110 105 95 101 103 96
Deviation 0 -5 -5 +1 +3 +1
Cumulative Deviation 0 +5 +10 +9 +6 +5
Backlog 40 50 40 25 12 2 0
• A key portion of the report is the backlog of work waiting to be
processed.
• The report reveals deviations from-planned for both inputs and
outputs, thereby enabling a manager to determine possible sources
of problems.
• The deviations in each period are determined by subtracting
“planned” from “actual.”
• For example, in the first period, subtracting the planned input of 100
hours from the actual input of 120 hours produces a deviation of +20
hours. Similarly, in the first period, the planned and actual outputs are
equal, producing a deviation of 0 hours.
• The backlog for each period is determined by subtracting the “actual
output” from the “actual input” and adjusting the backlog from the
previous period by that amount.
• For example, in period 1 actual output exceeds actual input by 10
hours. Hence, the previous backlog of 50 hours is reduced by 10 hours
to 40 hours.
EXAMPLE 2-Input/Output Report for Work Center 5

Hall Industries has begun input /output planning for its

work centres. Below are the planned inputs and outputs
for Work Center 5.
a. If production proceeds as planned, what will be the
backlog at the end of period 4?
b. If actual input values are 60, 60, 65, 65 for periods 1
through 4, respectively, and output values cannot
exceed 75, how much output can be expected from
Work Center 5?
c. Is there a problem with production at Work Center 5?
 Week

Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Planned Input – Labour Hours 65 65 70 70 270
Actual Input – Labour Hours 0
Deviation 0
Planned Output – Labour Hours 75 75 75 75 300
Actual Output – Labour Hours 0
Deviation
0
Backlog 30
a. Solution
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Planned Input – Labour Hours 65 65 70 70 270
Actual Input – Labour Hours 0
Deviation 0
Planned Output – Labour Hours 75 75 75 75 300
Actual Output – Labour Hours 0
Deviation 0
Backlog 30 20 10 5 0

If everything goes as planned, the backlog will be zero by period 4.

 b.
Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Planned Input – Labour Hours 65 65 70 70 270
Actual Input – Labour Hours 60 60 65 65 250
Deviation -5 -5 -5 -5 -20
Planned Output – Labour Hours 75 75 75 75 300
Actual Output – Labour Hours 75 75 65 65 280
Deviation 0 0 -10 -10 -20
Backlog 30 15 0 0 0

With the reduced input, the backlog is worked off sooner, but the total
production cannot keep pace with what was planned

c. Although Work Center 5 has produced only 280 units instead of the planned 300,
the problem appears to be with the process that feeds Work Center 5. Notice the
deviations from planned are the same for both the input and output values
 Finite and Infinite Loading

The two different approaches are used to load work centres

• Infinite loading assigns jobs to work centres without regard to the capacity
of the work centre. As you can see in the diagram that follows, this can lead
to overloads in some time periods and underloads in others. This results in
long queues in some work centres unless a company has excessive
production capacity. That requires a second step to correct the imbalance.

• Finite loading projects actual job starting and stopping times at each work
centre, taking into account the capacities of each work centre and the
processing times of jobs, so that capacity is not exceeded. Thus, it does not
allow you to load more work than can be done with the available capacity.
One output of finite loading is a detailed projection of hours each work
centre will operate. Schedules based on finite loading may have to be
updated often, perhaps daily, due to processing delays at work centres and
the addition of new jobs or cancellation of current jobs.
• The following diagram illustrates these two approaches. With infinite loading, a
manager may need to make some response to overloaded work centres. Among the
possible responses are shifting work to other periods or other centres, working
overtime, or contracting out a portion of the work. Note that the last two options in
effect increase capacity to meet the workload.
• Finite loading may reflect a fixed upper limit on capacity. For example, if the work
centre can build 50 wire assemblies per hour and the company needs 1000 wire
assemblies, the job will take 20 hours of capacity at that work centre. In a service
organization, a doctor’s office is a good example. To spend ten minutes with each
patient, the doctor can have six patients scheduled per hour.
 Fo rw ard an d B ackw ard Sch e d u lin g

• In forward scheduling, processing starts immediately when a job is received,

regardless of its due date. Each job activity is scheduled for completion as soon as
possible, which allows you to determine the job’s earliest possible completion date.
Thus, it assumes that customers want their jobs delivered as soon as possible. This
results in excessive inventory buildup if items are not delivered before the due date
and work-centre sit idle waiting for their next job assignments. The aim is
maximum utilization.
• Figure below shows an example of forward scheduling. The job is due at the end of
week 10, but it can be finished as early as the end of week 7.
• In backward scheduling, you begin scheduling the job’s last activity so that the job
is finished right on the due date. To do this, you start with the due date and work
backward, calculating when to start the last activity, when to start the next-to-last
activity, and so forth. This results in less in-process inventories since jobs are not
completed until they are needed at the next work centre on their routing plan but
requires accurate lead times.
• When you are using backward scheduling and forward scheduling together, a
difference between the start time of the first activity indicates slack in the
schedule. Slack means that you can start a job immediately but you do not have to
do so. You can start it any time up to the start time in your backward schedule and
 HOW TO SEQUENCE JOBS
(ORDER-SEQUENCING PROBLEMS)

• Operation sequencing or job sequencing is a

technique for short-term planning of actual jobs to
be run in each work centre based on capacity and
priorities.
• In order-sequencing problems we want to
determine the sequence in which we will produce
a group of waiting orders at a work centre.
 Sequencing Rules

1. First-come First-served (FCFS)- Jobs are processed in the order in which

they arrive at a machine or work centre.
2. Last come, first served (LCFS): The last job into the work centre is processed first
3. Shortest Processing Times (SPT): The job that requires the least processing
time has the highest priority
4. Longest Processing Time (LPT): The job that requires the longest processing time
has the highest priority.
5. Earliest Due Date(EDD): The job due the earliest has the highest priority.
6. Critical Ratio (CR): The job with the smallest ratio of time remaining until due
date to its processing time remaining has the highest priority.
7. Slack: The job with the least slack per remaining operations is given the highest
priority.
8. 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.
9. Least Changeover-The total cost of making all the machine changeovers
in a group of jobs.
Criteria for Evaluating Sequencing Rules
In deciding which sequencing rule performs best for a group
of waiting jobs, several criteria are commonly used:

1. Average flow time – The average amount of time jobs

spend in the shop.
2. Average number of jobs in the system – The average
number of jobs in the shop.
3. Average job lateness – The average amount of time that
a job’s completion date exceeds its promised delivery
date.
4. Changeover Cost – The total cost of making all the
machine changeovers in a group of jobs.
 Measuring Performance
• Companies measure scheduling effectiveness according
to their competitive priorities.
• For example, if your company is concerned with
customer response time, you measure scheduling
effectiveness in terms of response time. Mean job flow
time and the mean number of jobs in the system each
measure a company’s responsiveness.
• On the other hand, if your company competes on cost, it
is concerned with efficiency. If on-time delivery is of
primary concern, the company measures on-time
delivery performance. Makespan (completion time)
measures efficiency; mean job lateness measure due-
date performance.
 Job Flow Time
• Job flow time is the measurement of the time a job
spends in the shop before it is finished.
• Job flow time measures response time—the time a
job spends in the shop, from the time it is ready to
be worked on until it is finished. It includes waiting
time, setup time, process time, and possible delays.
Job flow time = time of completion + time job was
first available for processing
 Calculating Mean Flow Time
• To calculate mean job flow time, we sum the
individual job flow times for each job and divide by
the number of jobs.
• For example the job flow time for job A is 10 days, 13
days for job B, 17 days for job C, and 20 days for job
D. Adding these job flow times together (10 + 13 +
17 + 20) gives us a total job flow time of 60 days. We
divide this by the number of jobs to determine mean
job flow time—that is, 60 days divided by 4 jobs
equals a mean job flow time of 15 days
 Average Number of Jobs in the System
• The average number of jobs in the system
measures the work-in-process inventory and also
affects response time. The greater the number of
jobs in the system, the longer the queues and
subsequently the longer the job flow times. If quick
customer response is critical to your company, the
number of jobs waiting in the system should be
relatively low.
 Calculate the average number of jobs in the
system
• To calculate the average number of jobs in the
system, we need to know the individual job flow
times for each job.
• In the previous example, the total job flow time
(10 + 13 + 17 + 20 =60 days) is divided by the
total number of days it takes to complete the
whole batch of jobs (i.e. 10+3+4+3=20 days).
Therefore, the average number of jobs in the
system is 3. The higher the average number of
jobs in the system, the longer the waiting time
 Makespan (Completion time)
• Makespan is the amount of time it takes to finish a batch
of jobs.
• Makespan measures efficiency by telling us how long it
takes to finish a batch of jobs.
• To calculate makespan, we subtract the starting time of
the first job from the completion time of the last job in the
group (or simply add each job’s processing time)
• Using the data from Example above, the makespan for this
group of jobs is 20 days.
• Note that makespan has no link to customer due dates:
you can have an efficient schedule in terms of finishing a
batch of jobs but still have relatively poor customer service
 Job Lateness
• Job lateness, a measure of customer service, is the
difference between the time a job is finished and
the time it is supposed to be finished (its due date).
• For example, if job X is due on day 15 and it is
finished on day 12, it has a lateness value of 0 days.
If job X is finished on day 15, its lateness value is
zero. If job X is done on day 17, its lateness value is
a 2 days.
 Criteria for Evaluating Sequencing Rules

Job Work
Job (Processing)
Sum of Flow
total flowJob
timeDue Job
Average completion
Sequence time
Time = Timeof jobs Date Lateness
Number
A 6Total job work time 8 0
6
Utilization = Sum of total flow time
B 2 6 2
8
Average number of Sum of total flow time
jobsCin the system = 8 Total job work time 18 0
16
D
Average 3 = Total late days
job lateness 15 4
19 of jobs
Number
E 9 23 5
28
28 11
77
Example 2: Evaluating Sequencing Rules

Jiffy Manufacturing provides custom machining for its

customers. The company presently uses a first-come first-
served sequencing rule for customer jobs. Because the
company wants to finish customer’s jobs faster, it is
considering other rules: SPT, LPT, EDD, Minimum slack, and
CR. The company thinks that these criteria are important in
choosing a sequencing rule; average flow time, average
number of jobs in the system, and average job lateness,
average hours early, average hours late, average and
utilization. Study Jiffy’s situation and recommend a
sequencing rule. The following data were reported by the
shop floor control system. The current date is day 150. The
number of remaining operations and the total work remaining
include the operation at Jiffy Manufacturing.
 FCFS
Job Job time Due date (hrs) Flow Days early Days past
Sequence (hrs) time due

A 8 10 8 2 -

B 6 12 14 - 2

C 15 20 29 - 9

D 3 18 32 - 14

E 12 22 44 - 22

Total 44 127 2 47
Completion time =44 hours Utilization = 0.346=34.6%
Average job flow time = 25.4
Average hours early= 0.4
Average past due hours= 9.4

Average number of jobs in the system 2.89

 SPT
Job Job time Due date (hrs) Flow Days early Days past
Sequence (hrs) time due

D 3 18 3 15
B 6 12 9 3
A 8 10 17 7

E 12 22 29 7

C 15 20 44 24

Total 44 102 18 38
Completion time =44 hours Utilization = %
Average job flow time =
Average hours early=
Average past due hours=

Average number of jobs in the system

 LPT
Job Job time Due date (hrs) Flow Days early Days past
Sequence (hrs) time due

C 15 20 15 5
E 12 22 27 5

A 8 10 35 25

B 6 12 41 29

D 3 18 44 26

Total 44 162 5 85
Completion time =44 hours Utilization = 27.2%
Average job flow time =
Average hours early= 1
Average past due hours= 17

Average number of jobs in the system 3.68

 EDD
Job Job time Due date (hrs) Flow Days early Days past
Sequence (hrs) time due

A 8 10 8 2
B 6 12 14 2

D 3 18 17 1
C 15 20 32 12

E 12 22 44 20

Total 44 115 3 34
Completion time =44 hours Utilization = 38.3%
Average job flow time = 23
Average hours early=
Average past due hours= 7.2

Average number of jobs in the system 2.61

 Slack (minimum slack)
• The slack for each job is calculated as:
(due date - today’s date) – processing time
Job A =(10-0)-8=2
Job B =(12-0)-6=6
Job C =(20-0)-15=5
Job D =(18-0)-3=15
Job E =(22-0)-12=10
 SLACK
Job Job time Due date Flow time Slack Days early Days past
Sequence (hrs) (hrs) due

A 8 10 8 2 2
C 15 20 23 5 3

B 6 12 29 6 17

E 12 22 41 10 19

D 3 18 44 15 26

Total 44 145 2 65
Completion time =44 hours Utilization = 30.3%
Average job flow time =
Average hours early= 0.4
Average past due hours= 13

Average number of jobs in the system 3.30

 Critical Ratio (CR)
• If the work remaining is greater than the time
remaining, the critical ratio will be less than 1.
• If the time remaining is greater than the work
remaining, the critical ratio will be greater than 1.
• If the time remaining equals work remaining, the
critical ratio exactly equals 1.
• The critical ratio allows us to make the following
statements about our schedule:
If CR > 1, then the job is ahead of schedule
If CR < 1, then the job is behind schedule
If CR = 1, then the job is exactly on schedule
 Critical Ratio (CR)
 An index number found by dividing the
time remaining until the due date by the
work time remaining on the job
 Jobs with low critical ratios are
scheduled ahead of jobs with higher
critical ratios
 Performs well on average job lateness
criteria

CR = =
 Critical ratio
Job Job time Due date (hrs) Ratios
Sequence (hrs)

A 8 10 10/8= 1.25
B 6 12 12/6 = 2
C 15 20 20/15 = 1.33
D 3 18 18/3 = 6
E 12 22 22/12 = 1.83
 CR
Job Job time Due date Flow time Critical Days early Days past
Sequence (hrs) (hrs) ratio due

A 8 10 8 1.25

C 15 20 23 1.33

E 12 22 35 1.83

B 6 12 41 2

D 3 18 44 6

Total 44
Completion time =44 hours Utilization = 30.3%
Average job flow time =
Average hours early= 0.4
Average past due hours= 13

Average number of jobs in the system 3.30

 Example 3
The following table contain information about a set of
four jobs presently waiting at an engine lathe. Several
operations, including, the one at the engine lathe, remain
to be done on each job. Determine the schedule by using
the CR rule and S/RO rule. Compare the schedules and
which is the best.

CR=

S/RO =
 Job Job time Time remaining Number of Shop time
Sequence (hours) to due date operations remaining (days)
(days) remaining

1 2.3 15 10 6.1
2 10.5 10 2 7.8
3 6.2 20 12 14.5
4 15.6 8 5 10.2

Job Sequence CR S/RO

RATIOS RATIOS

1 =2.46

2 =1.28 1.10

3 =1.38 =0.46

4 =0.78
 CR
Job Job time Time Number Shop time
Sequence (hours) remaining to of remaining
due date operation (days)
(days) s
remainin
g

1 2.3 15 10 6.1
2 10.5 10 2 7.8
3 6.2 20 12 14.5
4 15.6 8 5 10.2
Total
Completion time =44 hours Utilization = 0.346=34.6%
Average job flow time = 25.4
Average hours early= 0.4
Average past due hours= 9.4

Average number of jobs in the system 2.89

 S/RO
Job Job Due Remainin Shop time Flow Days Days past due
Sequenc time date g remaining time early
e (hrs) (days) operation (days)
s
A 10 162 10 9 10
B 7 158 9 6 17
C 15 152 1 1 32
D 4 170 8 18 36
E 8 154 5 8 44
Total 44
Completion time =24 hours
Average job flow time = 12.83
Average job lateness 2
Average number of jobs in the system 3.21
 Controlling Changeover Costs

Changeover costs are the costs of changing a

processing step in a production system over
from one job to another. They include costs for
such things as changing machine settings,
getting job instructions and changing materials
and tools.
Example 3: Changeover Costs and Job Sequence

The Quick printing Company does custom printing jobs for

local firms, political candidates, and schools. Quick Printing
is in the middle of an election year boom, and numerous
political poster jobs are waiting to be processed at the offset
press. Mulenga, who does Quick Printing’s job planning, is
currently developing a weekly printing schedule for the offset
press. He has developed these changeover costs for the six
waiting jobs. All jobs carry equal priority, so the deciding
factor in selecting a job sequence is the total changeover
cost for the six jobs.
 Jobs that precede
A B C D E F
Jobs that A - $12 $15 $10 $35 $20
follow B $25 - 20 20 25 20
C 27 15 - 12 20 15
D 16 30 10 - 25 30
E 35 20 25 30 - 30
F 20 25 15 25 30 -
Tom uses this rule to develop a low-cost job sequence:
First, select the lowest changeover cost among all the
changeovers. The next job to be selected will have the lowest
changeover cost among the remaining jobs that follow the
previously selected job. Since there is a tie for the starting
jobs (D-A and C-D), Mulenga develops, two sequences
1. A follows D ($10 is the minimum changeover cost, D is first and A is next). F follows
A (read down A column; Job F has lowest changeover cost among the remaining
jobs).
C follows F (read down F column; Job C has lowest changeover cost among the
remaining jobs).
B follows C (read down C column; Job B has lowest changeover cost among the
remaining jobs).
E follows B (read down B column; Job E has lowest changeover cost among the
remaining jobs).

The job sequence is DAFCBE; its total changeover cost is

10 + 20 + 15 + 20 + 20 = $85.

2. Because there was a tie for the starting jobs above, the second job sequence is
now developed:

D follows C, A follows A, B follows F, and E follows B. The job sequence is

CDAFBE; its total changeover cost is

10 + 10 + 20 + 20 + 20 = $80.

Of the two sequences, CDAFBE is preferred because its total changeover is lower.
Minimizing Total Production Time
This is when we want to determine a job sequence that
minimize the total time for producing a group of jobs. The
objective is to have low production costs, and high worker and
machine utilization.

Sequencing n Jobs through Two Work Centres-When

several jobs must be sequenced through two work centres, we
often want to select a job sequence that must hold for both
work centres. This situation can be effectively analyzed by
using Johnson’s rule.
Example 4: Sequencing Jobs Through Two Work Centres with
Johnson’s Rule
Johnson’s Fine Restorations has received a rush order to refinish five
carousel animals—an alligator, a bear, a cat, a deer, and an elephant.
The restoration involves two major processes: sanding and painting. Mr.
Johnson takes care of the sanding; his trainee son does the painting. The
time required for each refinishing job differs by the state of disrepair
and degree of detail of each animal. Given the following processing
times (in hours), determine the order in which the jobs should be
processed so that the rush order can be completed as soon as possible.
Mr. Johnson wants both Work Centres to change over to new jobs at the
same time. In other words, if Work Centre 1 (sanding) completes its
work on a job, it must wait until Work Centre 2 (painting) has completed
the job that it has been working on so that both Work Centres can begin
new jobs simultaneously. The reason for this requirement is that Mr.
Johnson wants to give jobs instructions to his son as he starts his next
job so both work centres at the same time about how to do the jobs.
a) These data are developed for the six jobs:

Estimated Processing Time (hours)

Job Work Centre 1 Work Centre 2
Sanding Painting

A 6 8
B 11 6
C 7 3
D 9 7
E 5 10
b)Johnson’s Rule is:

1. Select the shortest processing time in either work centre

2. If the shortest time is at the first work centre, do the job
first in the schedule. If it is at the second work centre, do
the job last in the schedule.
3. Eliminate the job assigned in Step 2.
4. Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 filling in the schedule from the
front and back until all jobs have been assigned a
position in the schedule.
Njamba then begin to follow the steps of the rule:

1. Select the shortest processing time – 3 for job C at work centre 2, C

goes last

2. Select the next remaining shortest possible processing time -

5 for Job E at Work Centre 1, E goes first.

3. Select the next remaining shortest possible time – there is a tie

between 6 for job B at work centre 2 and job A at work centre 1.
B goes last and A goes out first.

4. Select the next remaining shortest processing time – 9 for job

D at Work Centre 1,
.

E A D B C

c) This EADBC job sequence is further studied by developing the

cumulative time to do all five jobs in both work centres. Mr. Johnson
wants the jobs to begin at the same time in both work centres.
Work Centre 1 E A D B C

Work Centre 2 5 6 9 11 7
E A D B C
10 8 7 6 3
5 15 24 35 42
Cumulative Time in Hours
45

Idle Time

d) Mr. Johnson can see that the EADBC job sequence allows
both work centres to do all the jobs in 45 hours with 7 hrs
idle time in work centre 1 and 11 hrs idle time in work centre
2. He wonders how much this cumulative time could be
reduced if he would relax the requirement that the jobs must
begin at the same time in both work centres.
 5 11 20 31 38
Work Centre 1
E
urs A D B C
5 6 9 11 7
Work Centre 2 E A D B C
10 8 7 6 3
5 15 23 30 36 39
Cumulative Time in Hours

39

Idle Time

e) When jobs need not begin at the same time in both work centres, the
cumulative time is 39
f) Mr. Johnson will use this example to demonstrate to management the
application of Johnson’s rule.
Note in Example 4 that if a tie for the shortest processing
time occurs in different work centres, no difficulty is
encountered in determining the job sequence. If a tie
should occur within the same work centre, however, two
job sequences would need to be evaluated by comparing
their cumulative production times as in Part c of the
example. The job sequence with the least cumulative
time would be the recommended job sequence. Note
also in the example that Johnson’s rule can be used with
or without the requirement that job changeovers must
occur simultaneously in the two work centres.
PROCESSING n JOBS THROUGH THREE MACHINES

• Only three machines A, B, and C are involved.

• Each job is processed in the prescribed order
ABC (first on machine A, then on B and
thereafter on C)
• No passing of jobs is permitted (i.e., the same
order over each machine is maintained)
• The actual or expected processing times ; and
are known and represented by the table of the
type shown below.
MACHINE TIMES FOR n JOBS AND THREE
MACHINES
JOB A B C
1 A1 B1 C1
2 A2 B2 C2
3 A3 B3 C3
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
I Ai Bi Ci
.
. . . .
. . . .
n . . .
An Bn Cn
To the find the optimal sequence of jobs which minimizes
the total time, no general solution is available at present.
However, the Johnson’s rule method can be extended to
cover the special cases where either one or both of the
following conditions hold good
•The minimum time on machine A is ≥ maximum time on
machine B, and
•The minimum time on machine C is ≥ maximum time on
machine B.
 The method is to replace the problem by an equivalent
problem involving n jobs and two fictitious machines. The
fictitious machines are denoted by G and H and their
corresponding processing times are given by;

If this new problem with the prescribed order GH is solved by

the Johnson’s rule method, the resulting optimal sequence will
also be optimal for the original problem.
Example
A machine operator has to perform three
operations: Machine A, Machine B and Machine
C on a number of different jobs. The time
required to perform these operations (in minutes)
for each job is known. Determine the order in
which the jobs should be processed in order to
minimize the total time required to turn out all the
jobs. Find the idle times for the three operations.
 Machine A Machine B Machine C
JOB
(minutes) (minutes) (minutes)

1 3 8 13
2 12 6 14
3 5 4 9
4 2 6 12
5 9 3 8
6 11 1 13
Solution
Ai=2, max Bi = 8, and min Ci = 8. Since min Ci = max Bi, we can
solve this example using extended johnson’s rule method.
The equivalent problem involving 6 jobs and two fictitious
operations G and H becomes
Examining the columns Gi and Hi, the optimal sequence is as
follows;
Gi = M/C A + M/C B Hi = M/C B + M/C C
JOB
(minutes) (minutes)
1 11 21
2 18 20
3 9 13
4 8 18
5 12 11
6 12 14

4 3 1 6 2 5
We now calculate the elapsed time corresponding to the optimal sequence,
using the individual processing times given in the problem. The details are
shown below;
Thus the minimum elapsed time is 77 minutes. Idle time for machine A is
77-42 = 35 minutes, for machine B, the idle time is 2+1+11+3+(77-45) =
17+32 = 49 minutes and for machine C, the idle time is 8 minutes.

JOB Machine A Machine B Machine C

Time in Time out Time in Time out Time in Time out

4 0 2 2 8 8 20
3 2 7 8 12 20 29
1 7 10 12 20 29 42
6 10 21 21 22 42 55
2 21 33 33 39 55 69
5 33 42 42 45 69 77
 Dynamic Scheduling Problems
• A scheduling problem is classified as a dynamic
problem if the number of jobs is not fixed.
• The examples include new production orders,
customers in a bank, shoppers in a store, cars at a
gas station, etc.
• The new jobs (production orders, customers, cars,
etc.) keep on coming into the system, and the
schedule needs to integrate new arrivals every time
that a new schedule is prepared which is usually
whenever a job is completed.
 Example
• Consider a single-machine problem for which the
data are given in Table below. There are five jobs A,
B, C, D, and E that are waiting to be processed.
Job Time (days)
A 17
B 12
C 22
D 18
E 26
Suppose the SPT rule is being used. Table below gives the order in
which these jobs will be processed using the SPT rule. B is the first
job to be processed followed by A, D, C, and E. Job B starts at the
current time (zero) and will finish at time 12. When job B is finished,
the next job to be processed will be job A if no other jobs have
arrived in the system.

Job Time (days)

B 12
A 17
D 18
C 22
E 26
Suppose two new jobs F and G arrive in the system when B
is being processed. F arrives on the fifth day and G arrives
on the 10th day. Also assume that the processing time of
job F is 8 days and that of G is 20 days. After job B has been
processed, there are six jobs (A, C, D, E, F, and G) that are
waiting to be processed. Since the scheduling rule is SPT,
the job with the minimum processing time from among
the jobs that are waiting to be processed will be scheduled
next. Table below gives the schedule at this using the SPT
rule. The next job to be processed is F which is followed by
A, D, G, C, and E. Job F will be completed at time 20 (12 +
8) where 12 is the completion time of job B. If more jobs
arrive in the system while F is being processed, they will be
integrated with the current jobs and a new schedule will
be developed.
 SPT Sequence after Job B is Processed
Job Time (days)
F 8
A 17
D 18
G 20
C 22
E 26

These are called dynamic problems since the schedule is continuously

updated. We considered the example of a single-machine problem.
However, the dynamic situation is faced in multiple-machine
problems also. This is a tradeoff example of where the systems
approach must be used to consider the costs of interrupting the prior
schedule in order to obtain the advantages of continuous updating.
 SCHEDULING FOR SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

• In many service organizations, scheduling is complicated because

service demand— quantity, type of service, and timing—is often
variable and hard to forecast.
• In addition, inventories may not be possible and capacity is
limited.
• For example, a movie theatre cannot show the movie before the
customers arrive and hope to satisfy demand.
• The theatre is also limited as to how many people can occupy the
theatre at any given time.
• Because of these constraints, some additional techniques are
available for scheduling services. These include scheduling the
services demanded and scheduling the workforce
 Scheduling Services Demanded
• Techniques for scheduling services demanded
range from setting appointments, requiring
reservations, using a public schedule, and
delaying or back-ordering the service.
• Appointments- Appointment systems set a time for the customer to use the service.
For example, students make appointments with professors to discuss class work.
Appointments minimize customer waiting time and make good use of the service
provider’s capacity. Appointment systems are used by physicians, lawyers, auto
repair or service shops, and hair salons. The shared component of each of these
services is that no tangible inventory is usually possible. Disadvantages of an
appointment system include the problem of “no-shows”—people who miss
appointments—and insufficient time scheduled for customers. In the case of “no-
shows,” the service provider may be idle until the next scheduled appointment and
incur a loss of revenue. In the case of insufficient time, the service provider often
falls behind schedule and keeps customers waiting.
For scheduling outpatients in a dynamic, multiperiod environment, the objectives are
to minimize the delay between the time a patient requests an appointment and
when the patient is actually seen and to determine where unscheduled appointment
slots should be maintained during the day. These unscheduled slots are for urgent-
care patients needing to be seen as soon as possible by the physician.
• Reservations -A reservation system enables the customer to take control or
temporary possession of an item—for example, a hotel room, an automobile, or a
banquet hall. A reservation system provides advance notice of when the item is
needed and for how long. Deposits usually reduce the problem of last-minute
cancellations or “no-shows.”
• Posted Schedules- Many service providers post a schedule
indicating when a service is available. Movie theaters,
universities, airlines, trains, buses, retail stores, museums,
concerts, and sporting events are all examples of services
that post schedules. The posted schedule tells the customer
the event’s date and time
• Delayed Services or Backlogs- Restaurants that do not take
reservations are one example. The restaurant puts
customers on a waiting list until a table becomes available.
Other examples are banks, grocery stores, retail stores,
repair services, and barber shops. In most of these
organizations, customers are served in the order in which
they arrive. These methods are aimed at better managing
the service organization’s capacity. An alternative method
for managing capacity involves the way the workforce is
scheduled.
 Scheduling Employees
• Since organizations may not always be able to
schedule demand, the alternative is to
manage capacity in the way they schedule
employees.
• Organizations can staff for peak demand, use
floating personnel, have employees on call, or
use temporary employees, seasonal
employees, part-time employees, or any
combination of the above.
• Staffing for Peak Demand -With this procedure, the organization has enough
service providers to accommodate the maximum level of customer demand. The
problem is with the cost. The workforce is fully used only during peak demand.
Otherwise, a portion of the workforce is idle. Organizations typically staff for peak
demand when the service providers have significant skills and the size of the
workforce cannot be changed quickly. An example is your local fire or police
department
• Floating Employees -When customer demand for services can change daily,
organizations use floating employees to their advantage. Floating employees
perform a number of services and are assigned where they are needed each day.
Hospitals use floating employees because the number of patients and degree of
care needed can change daily. A disadvantage of this approach for some
employees is the uncertainty of their work location and the transient nature of
short-term assignments
• Employees on Call- Some organizations use on-call employees during specific
periods of the week. Physicians at a hospital may be on call in case of
emergencies, though not physically present unless needed. Maintenance
employees may also be on call in case of emergencies. Although being on call
restricts an employee’s normal free time, it also means the employee does not
have to be physically present in the workplace during the specified period
• Temporary Employees -An organization can hire temporary
employees with almost any skill set through a temp agency. The
agency provides the employees and bills the organization
• Seasonal Employees- These are short-term hires who expect their job
to be terminated at the end of the season. Growers, for example, use
seasonal employees to process items as they ripen. These
organizations need an expanded workforce for a short period of time
and cannot justify hiring additional permanent employees.
• Part-Time Employees For some organizations, customer demand is
higher during certain times of the day and lower at other times. At a
fast-food restaurant, for example, demand is high at meal times—
breakfast, lunch, and dinner—and lower during the rest of the day.
Instead of hiring employees for a full eight-hour shift, the organization
uses its capacity more effectively by hiring part-time employees.

Organizations can combine any of these techniques to manage their

service capacity effectively.