Operations Management:

Scheduling in Operations
Dr Ravindra Ojha
(5th & 6th Aug’ 2024)
 Agenda
Importance of good scheduling

Scheduling needs in manufacturing systems

Application of Gantt charts

Commonly used priority rules and application

Unique problems encountered in service systems,

Approaches used for scheduling service systems

Connect to last session
• We have touched What, How much, How and Where aspects of
Operations, so far. Today the ‘When’ dimension shall be touched.

• ‘Flow’ management of material and people is critical in Layouts.

• Product layout, Process layout, Fixed layout and combination layout.

• Importance of ‘Line balancing’ and its design

 Scheduling

• DELTA AIRLINES not only schedules its 1500 aircrafts daily but also
schedules more than 20000 pilots /flight attendants to accommodate
passengers to ensure they reach their destination on time.

• MARTIN LOCKHEED, MARTIN’s plant schedules it parts to meet the

customer demand through its computer systems to prevent supply
failures.
 Why Effective Scheduling?
• Internally
• Faster movement of goods & services through the facilities and greater
use of assets.
• Results in greater utilization of capacity / dollar invested leading to
lower costs.

• Externally
• Provides faster velocity, added flexibility, more dependable delivery
and improved customer service.
Latest technology with Alaska Airlines to reduce cancellations and delays saves $18 million/year
 Scheduling

• Scheduling:

• Establishing the timing of the use of equipment, facilities and human

activities in an organization

• Effective scheduling can yield

• Cost savings
• Increases in productivity
• Other benefits
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 Scheduling Context

• Scheduling is constrained by multiple system design and operational

decisions

• System capacity
• Product and/or service design
• Equipment selection
• Worker selection and training
• Aggregate planning and master scheduling
 Scheduling variables
• Number of jobs (n) • Job Priorities
• FCFS, SPT, LPT, EDD, CR &
Random
• Number of machines (m)
• Performance Measures
• Due date based: lateness(set
• Shop Configuration time or deadline),
tardiness(habitual or repeated
• Flow shop act of being late)
• Job Shop • Completion based: Flow time,
• Cellular Manufacturing System makespan
• Inventory/cost-based
 High Volume Systems
• Flow System
• High-volume system in which all jobs follow the same
sequence

• Flow system scheduling

• Scheduling for flow systems
• The goal is to achieve a smooth rate of flow of goods or
customers through the system in order to get high
utilization of labor and equipment
Workstation 1 Workstation 2 Output
 High-Volume: Scheduling Difficulties
• Few flow systems are entirely dedicated to a single product or service

• Each product change requires

• Slightly different inputs of parts
• Slightly different materials
• Slightly different processing requirements that must be scheduled
into the line

• Need to avoid excessive inventory buildup

• Disruptions may result in less-than-desired output

 Intermediate-Volume Systems
• Important considerations
• Setup cost
• Usage is not always as smooth as assumed
• Setup change time should be shortened, Non-Value Added (NVA)

• Egs: Inventory handling, reworking, waiting time

• Alternative scheduling approach

• Base production on a master schedule developed from customer orders and
forecasted demand
 Low-Volume Systems
• Job shop scheduling
• Scheduling for low-volume systems with many variations in requirements
• Make-to-order products
• Processing requirements
• Material requirements
• Processing time
• Processing sequence and setups

• A complex scheduling environment

• It is impossible to establish firm schedules until actual job orders are
received
 Low-Volume Systems: Loading
• Loading
• It is the assignment of jobs to processing centers

• Gantt chart

• Used as a visual aid for loading and scheduling purposes

• Purpose of the Gantt chart is to organize & visually display the actual Vs
intended use of resources in a time framework
• Managers may use the charts for trial-and-error schedule development
to get an idea of what different arrangements would involve
 Gantt Charts
• Load chart
• A Gantt chart that shows the loading and idle times for a
group of machines or list of departments

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 Gantt Charts
• Schedule chart
• A Gantt chart that shows the orders or jobs in progress and whether they are on
schedule

16-15
 Scheduling Approaches
· Forward scheduling
· Scheduling ahead from some point in time.
· Used when the question is:
· “How long will it take to complete this job?

· Backward scheduling
· Scheduling backwards from some due date
· Used when the question is:
· “When is the latest, this job can be started and still be
completed on time?”
 Assignment

• Assignment model
• A linear programming model for optimal assignment of tasks and resources

• Hungarian method
• Method of assigning jobs by a one-for-one matching to identify the lowest
cost solution
 Sequencing
• Sequencing

• Determine the order in which jobs at a work center will be processed

• Priority rules

• Simple heuristics used to select the order in which jobs will be processed

• The rules generally assume that job setup cost and time are independent of
processing sequence

• Job time
• Time needed for setup and processing of a job
 Priority Rules
• FCFS - first come, first serve • CR - critical ratio

• SPT/LPT - shortest/Longest • Rush – emergency

processing time

• EDD - earliest due date • Random

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 Scheduling Rules
Shortest processing time (SPT): Chooses the job with the least processing time among the
competing list and schedules it ahead of the others

Longest processing time (LPT): The job with the longest processing time is scheduled ahead of
other competing jobs

Earliest Due Date (EDD): Establishes priorities on the basis of the due date for the jobs.

Critical Ratio (CR): Critical ratio estimates the criticality of the job by computing a simple ratio
using processing time information and due date. A smaller value of CR indicates that the job is
more critical.

Re maining time ( Due Date  Current Date)

Critical Ratio (CR)  
Re maining Work Re maining Pr oces sin g Time

First Cum First Served (FCFS): Schedules jobs simply in their order of job arrival.

Random Order (RAN): Assign priorities to jobs on a random basis.

 Priority Rules: Assumptions
• The set of jobs is known; no new orders arrive after processing begins and no jobs
are canceled

• Setup time is independent of processing sequence

• Setup time is deterministic

• Processing times are deterministic

• There will be no interruptions in processing such as machine breakdowns or

accidents
 Scheduling Rules
An illustration of their application
Current time = 0
Processing Order of Random
Job No. time (mins) arrival Due by CR Number
1 12 1 23 1.92 0.233
2 9 2 24 2.67 0.857
3 22 3 30 1.36 0.518
4 11 4 20 1.82 0.951

Rule Rank ordering of jobs based on

SPT 2–4–1–3
LPT 3–1–4–2
EDD 4–1–2–3
CR 3–4–1–2
FCFS 1–2–3–4
RAN 1–3–2–4
 Sequence: Performance Metrics
• Common performance metrics:
• Job flow time
• This is the amount of time it takes from when a job arrives until it is complete
• It includes not only processing time but also any time waiting to be processed
• Job lateness
• This is the amount of time the job completion time is expected to exceed the date
the job was due or promised to a customer
• Job tardiness
• If a job is completed ahead of time, instead of computing a negative value for
lateness, if we take zero, then the resulting measure is known as tardiness.
• Makespan
• The total time needed to complete a group of jobs from the beginning of the first
job to the completion of the last job
• Average number of jobs
• Jobs that are in a shop are considered to be WIP inventory
 Scheduling Rules
An illustration
Current time = 0
Job No. Processing time Due by
1 4 6
2 7 9
3 2 19
4 8 17

SPT based sequence : 3-1-2-4

EDD based sequence : 1-2-4-3

 Performance of Scheduling Rules
An illustration (SPT) : 3-1-2-4
Scheduling Rule: SPT
Processing Release Completion Flow time
order time (Ri) time (Ci) (Fi) Due date Lateness Tardiness
3 0 2 2 19 (-17) 0
1 0 4 6 6 0 0
2 0 7 13 9 4 4
4 0 8 21 17 4 4
=2+4+7+8 =2+6+13+21
=21 =42
Mean 5.25 10.50 2 2
Maximum 8 21.00 4 4
Minimum 2 2.00 0 0
No. of tardy jobs = 2; Make span = 21; Avg. completion time = 42/4 = 10.5,
Utilization factor = 21/42= 50%, Avg. no of job in process = 42 / 21 = 2
Makespan= Completion time of all jobs; Flow Time= Processing time+Waiting time
 Performance of Scheduling Rules
Example: An illustration (EDD) : 1-2-4-3
Scheduling Rule: EDD

Processing Release Completion Flow time

order time (Ri) time (Ci) (Fi) Due date Lateness Tardiness
1 0 4 4 6 (-2) 0
2 0 7 11 9 2 2
4 0 2 13 17 (-4) 0
3 0 8 21 19 2 2
21 49
Mean 5.25 12.25 1 1
Maximum 8 21.00 2 2
Minimum 2 4.00 0 0
No. of tardy jobs = 2; Make span = 21, Avg. completion time = 49/4= 12.25,
Utilization factor =21/49= 43%, Avg. no of jobs in process = 49/21 = 2.3

Conclusion : SPT is a better option

 Sequencing: Example-2
Another example of five jobs with processing time durations and the due date is being shared.

Job No Job Work processing time (Days) Job Due (Days) Critical Ratio (CR)
JA 8 4 0.5
JB 2 2 1.0
JC 9 16 1.8
JD 6 9 1.5
JE 7 21 3

Priority rule Rank order of jobs

FCFS JA-JB-JC-JD-JE
SPT JB-JD-JE-JA-JC
EDD JB-JA-JD-JC-JE
LPT JC-JA-JE-JD-JB
CR JA-JB-JD-JC-JE
Sequencing: FCFS rule (JA-JB-JC-JD-JE)
Job Sequence Job Work (Processing time) Flow Time Job Due Date Job Lateness
JA 8 8 4 4
JB 2 10 2 8
JC 9 19 16 3
JD 6 25 9 16
JE 7 32 21 11
32 94 42

1. Average job completion time = = 94/5 = 18.8 days

2. Average utilization factor = = 32/94 = 34%
3. Average quantity of jobs in system = = 94/32 = 2.9 jobs
4. Average job lateness duration = = 42/5 = 8.4 days
Sequencing: SPT rule (JB-JD-JE-JA-JC)
Job Sequence Job Work (Processing) Time Flow Time Job Due Date Job Lateness
JB 2 2 2 0
JD 6 8 9 0
JE 7 15 21 0
JA 8 23 4 19
JC 9 32 16 16
32 80 35

• Average job completion time = = 80/5 = 16 days

• Average utilization factor = = 32/80 = 40%
• Average quantity of jobs in system = = 80/32 = 2.5 jobs
• Average job lateness duration = = 35/5 = 7 days
Sequencing: EDD rule (JB-JA-JD-JC-JE)
Job Sequence Job Work (Processing) Time Flow Time Job Due Date Job Lateness
JB 2 2 2 0
JA 8 10 4 6
JD 6 16 9 7
JC 9 25 16 9
JE 7 32 21 11
32 85 33

• Average job completion time = = 85/5 = 17 days

• Average utilization factor = = 32/85 = 37.6%
• Average quantity of jobs in system = = 85/32 = 2.7 jobs
• Average job lateness duration = = 33/5 = 6.6 days
Sequencing: LPT rule (JC-JA-JE-JD-JB)
Job Sequence Job Work (Processing) Time Flow Time Job Due Date Job Lateness
JC 9 9 16 0
JA 8 17 4 13
JE 7 24 21 3
JD 6 30 9 21
JB 2 32 2 30
32 112 67

• Average job completion time = = 112/5 = 22.4 days

• Average utilization factor = = 32/112 = 28.6%
• Average quantity of jobs in system = = 112/32 = 3.5 jobs
• Average job lateness duration = = 67/5 = 13.4 days
Sequencing: CR rule (JA-JB-JD-JC-JE)
Job Sequence Job Work (Processing) Time Flow Time Job Due Date Job Lateness
JA 8 8 4 4
JB 2 10 2 8
JD 6 16 9 7
JC 9 25 16 9
JE 7 32 21 11
32 91 39

• Average job completion time = = 91/5 = 18.2 days

• Average utilization factor = = 32/91 = 35.2%
• Average quantity of jobs in system = = 91/32 = 2.8 jobs
• Average job lateness duration = = 39/5 = 7.8 days
Sequencing: Example 2 – Summary
Priority Average Average number of
Rule Average completion utilization factor Jobs in System Average lateness
time (days) (%) (nos) (Days)
FCFS 18.8 34.0 2.9 8.4
SPT 16.0 40.0 2.5 7.0
EDD 17.0 37.6 2.7 6.6
LPT 22.4 28.6 3.5 13.4
CR 18.2 35.2 2.8 7.8

Observations from the summary table:

• It is evident that SPT should be the sequencing rule adopted as it has the best results (three of four) when
compared to the other priority rules.
• EDD is not far away in performance from SPT in three factors and best in one.
• LPT rule results in the worst performance. It is followed by FCFS.
 Two Work Center Sequencing

Johnson’s Rule
• Technique for minimizing makespan for a group of jobs to be
processed on two machines or at two work centers.

• Minimizes total idle time

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 Johnson’s Rule Conditions
• Job time must be known and constant for each job at the work
center.

• Job times must be independent of sequence

• Jobs must follow same two-step sequence

• All jobs must be completed at the first work center before

moving to second work center
 Johnson’s Rule: Optimum Sequence
1. List the jobs and their times at each work center

2. Select the job with the shortest time

a.If the shortest time is at the first work center, schedule that job first
b.If the shortest time is at the second work center, schedule the job last.
c. Break ties arbitrarily

3. Eliminate the job from further consideration

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3, working toward the center of the sequence, until all
jobs have been scheduled
 Johnson’s Rule
An illustration: Example
Processing time
Job No
Machine 1 Machine 2
1 4 7
2 6 3
3 2 3
4 7 7
5 8 6
Job 3 Job 1 Job 4 Job 5 Job 2

Machine 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 2 2 2 2 2 2

Machine 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 2 2 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Time units
Machine utilization?
 Job Shop
A graphical illustration
Job 1: 1-4-2-5-6
Machine Machine Job 2: 3-2-1-4-6-7
1 3 Job 3: 2-3-4-7-5-6
Job 1
Machine
6
Job 3
Machine

...
4

Machine Machine
2 7
Job 2
Machine
5

In a job shop, machines are not organised in any processing

order.
Rather similar type of resources is grouped together
 Scheduling of Job shop
An illustration: Example

Five machines and four jobs

Each job has a processing sequence on different machines

Processing time (machine visited in the sequence)

Job No
Due date

Job 1 3 (2) 7 (4) 3 (5) 10

Job 2 6 (1) 3 (2) 7 (5) 12

Job 3 7 (2) 3 (4) 4 (3) 9

Job 4 5 (1) 4 (3) 5 (4) 14

 Job Shop Scheduling
An illustration (Example, SPT rule)

Processing time (machine visited in the

Job No sequence)
Due date
Job 1 3 (2) 7 (4) 3 (5) 10
Job 2 6 (1) 3 (2) 7 (5) 12
Job 3 7 (2) 3 (4) 4 (3) 9
Job 4 5 (1) 4 (3) 5 (4) 14

Machines 1 and 2 are assigned jobs 4 and 1 respectively using the SPT rule
 Job Shop Scheduling
An illustration (Example, SPT rule)

Processing time (machine visited in the

Job No sequence)
Due date
Job 1 3 (2) 7 (4) 3 (5) 10
Job 2 6 (1) 3 (2) 7 (5) 12
Job 3 7 (2) 3 (4) 4 (3) 9
Job 4 5 (1) 4 (3) 5 (4) 14

After completion of job 1, job 3 is scheduled in machine 2 using SPT rule

 Job Shop Scheduling
An illustration (Example, SPT rule)

Processing time (machine visited in the

Job No sequence)
Due date
Job 1 3 (2) 7 (4) 3 (5) 10
Job 2 6 (1) 3 (2) 7 (5) 12
Job 3 7 (2) 3 (4) 4 (3) 9
Job 4 5 (1) 4 (3) 5 (4) 14

Gantt Chart representation of the final schedule using the SPT rule
 Job Shop Scheduling
An illustration (Example, EDD rule)

Gantt Chart representation of the final schedule using the EDD rule
 Job Shop Scheduling
Performance Summary of SPT & EDD

Job No Due SPT EDD

Ci Lateness Ci Lateness
1 10 13 3 23 13
2 12 21 9 20 8
3 9 17 8 14 5
4 14 18 4 23 9
Average 17.25 6.00 20.00 8.75

Recommendation?
 Operational Control Issues
Mass Production Systems
• Much of control and scheduling boils down to appropriately arriving
at balanced flow of components in the shop floor

• Design the system for balanced flow using Line Balancing Techniques

• Given a certain availability of resources modify the cycle time to meet daily
production targets

• Machine Redeployment
• Altering Operator Allocations
• Adjusting Material Feed rates

• TAKT time provides a rhythm for the overall functioning of the shop
 Takt Time
• Customer demand rate
• Used to synchronize the pace of production and customer
demand using the drum.
• The ‘BEAT’ of customer demand (drum) - the time required
between completion of successive units of end product

Effective working time per time period

Takt time =
Customer demand per time period

450 minutes
= = 3 minutes/unit
150 pieces
Worker deployment for adjusted TAKT:
An illustration
Customer required output per day 400 450 371
No. of shifts per day 2 2 2
Required output per shift 200 225 185.5

Net available production time (Mins) 420 420 420

Hence TAKT Time (Seconds) 126 112 136
Work Content (Seconds) assumed. 1,764 1,764 1,764

No. of Operators required per shift 14 16 13

Total number of operators required 28 32 26

 Synchronous Manufacturing
Drum – Buffer – Rope Methodology
• Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) is a planning and scheduling solution derived from the Theory of
Constraints (ToC). The fundamental assumption of DBR is that within any plant there is one
or a limited number of scarce resources which control the overall output of that plant.
• Develop a schedule so that it is consistent with the constraints of the systems (Drum)
• The schedule is actually the drum beat
• Protect the throughput of the system from statistical fluctuations through the use of
buffers at some critical points in the system (Buffer)
• Throughput is the rate of production or rate at which something is processed.
• Tie the production at each resource to the drum beat (Rope)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8rslexzjnc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8vi-AlCm6I
 Exercise

Which scheduling rule(s) would you prefer to apply if you were

the leader of the only team of experts assigned the task of
defusing several time-bombs scattered throughout your
building across all floors?
You can see the bombs, they are of different types and you
can tell how long each one will take to defuse.
Support your decision(s) appropriately.
 Service Operation Scheduling
• Hospitals, Banks, Airlines & Retail shops also have scheduling
issues.
• Service scheduling differs from Manufacturing scheduling
• Mfg. scheduling focusses more on machines & material
while service on staffing levels.
• Inventories smoothen demand in Mfg. while service systems
often maintain no inventory.
• Service is labour intensive and the demand for labour can
be highly variable.
• Legal considerations such as wage / hours law, union
contracts limit hours worked / shift / week / month are many
constraints
• Social, Fatigue, seniority and status issues complicate
scheduling in services
 Service Operation Problems
• Service scheduling often presents challenges not found in manufacturing

• These are primarily related to:

1. The inability to store or inventory services
2. The random nature of service requests

• Service scheduling may involve scheduling:

1. Customers
2. Workforce
3. Equipment
 Scheduling Service Employees with Cyclical
Scheduling

• Objective is to meet staffing requirements with the minimum

number of workers

• Schedules need to be smooth and keep personnel happy.

• Many techniques exist from simple algorithms to complex

linear programming solutions
 Cyclical Scheduling example
1. Determine the staffing requirements for each day in the week.

2. Identify two consecutive days with the lowest total requirements

and assign these as days off

3. Make a new set of requirements subtracting the days worked by

the first employee

4. Apply step 2 to the new row

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all requirements have been met

Cyclical Scheduling Example
Cyclical Scheduling Example
Cyclical Scheduling Example
Cyclical Scheduling Example
Cyclical Scheduling Example
Cyclical Scheduling Example
Cyclical Scheduling Example
 Cyclical Scheduling deliverables
There is a need for six full time employees to meet the staffing needs and
one employee to work on Saturday.

Notice that capacity (number of employees) equal requirements, provided an

employee works overtime on Saturday or a part-time employee is hired for
Saturday.

This scheduling delivers to every employee (six) two consecutive days off.
 Scheduling of Operations
Highlights
• The focus shifts from operations planning to operational control in the
case of a short-term. Scheduling aids operational control in
manufacturing and service systems.

• The scheduling context relates to the number of jobs and machines in

the system and the physical configuration of the machines. These factors
greatly influence the complexity of scheduling.

• Flow shop and Job shops are two alternatives for configuration of a
manufacturing system. The scheduling methodology and complexity
differ vastly between these two. Job shops are far more complex to
schedule than flow shops.
 Scheduling of Operations
Highlights…
• Johnson’s algorithm provides an optimal schedule for a two-machine – n
job problem using the shortest processing time rule for scheduling.

• Operational control in mass production systems are primarily achieved

through use of TAKT time based scheduling.

• Scheduling of operations must take into account the existence of

bottlenecks and statistical fluctuations in operations.

• Synchronous manufacturing principles apply the TOC and develop

alternative schedules using a drum – buffer – rope methodology.
Thanks