MM392 Lab 3 - Scheduling

Akash Chandra s11113869 (1/08/17)

Objectives:

- To apply the techniques learnt under scheduling in production planning and control
(slack over remaining operations, performance measures, minimizing make-span and
scheduling workforce).

Methodology:

Question 1

Table 1 - (a) S/RO Method

Day Job Operations
s Time at Remaining
Job Unti Other at Other Slac
Jo Tim l Work Work k S/R Sequenc Completio Latenes Tardines
b e Due Centres Centres Time O e n Date s s
A 9 30 10 3 11 2.75 4 28 -2 0
B 5 10 2 1 3 1.50 2 11 1 1
C 8 24 8 2 8 2.67 3 19 -5 0
D 10 40 18 3 12 3.00 5 38 -2 0
E 7 26 12 1 7 3.50 6 45 19 19
F 6 15 6 2 3 1.00 1 6 -9 0

Slack Time = Due Date (Job Time + Job Time at Other Work Centres)

Slack Time
S / RO=
Operations Remaining at Other Work Centres

Sequence = Ascending Order of S/RO

Completion date = Cumulative sum of job time in order of the sequence.

Lateness = Completion Date Days until Due

Tardiness = If Lateness is more than 0 then the tardiness is the same as lateness and if
lateness is less than 0 then tardiness is 0.
 Table 2 - (b) Performance Measures

Makespan 45 days
MJF 24.5 days
3.26666666
Avg # Jobs 7 jobs
0.33333333
MJL 3 days
3.33333333
MJT 3 days
Max. T 19 days

Makespan = Sum of Job Time

Mean Job Flow Time = Average of Completion Date

Mean Job Flow Time

Average # of Jobs =
Highest completion date

Mean Job Lateness = Average of Lateness

Mean Job Tardiness = Average of Tardiness

Maximum Tardiness = Highest number of tardiness

Question 2

Table 3 Johnsons Rule

Job Preparing Area Planting

S 1 3
T 4 5
U 8 5
V 6 4
W 4 3
R 3 2
The jobs were organized through Johnsons Rule which states that the shortest processing
time for the first activity should be placed in the earliest available position and the shortest
processing time for the second activity should be placed in the last available position.

Table 4 - Activity organization for minimum timespan

Days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 28
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Preparing S T T T T U U U U U U U U V V V V V V W W W W R R R
Planting S S S T T T T T U U U U U V V V V W W W R R

The activities were organized under the assumption that planting would start once preparing
had been finished completely and that the task for the 2nd job would commence once it had
been completed on the 1st job.
Question 3

Table 5 - Number of staff needed

M T W TH F SAT SUN
5 5 5 5 5 2 2
4 4 4 4 4 2 2
3 3 3 3 3 2 2
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
2 2 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Table 6 - Total number of staff needed

M-T T-W W-TH TH-F F-SAT SAT-SUN
10 10 10 10 7 4
8 8 8 8 6 4
6 6 6 6 5 4
4 4 4 4 4 4
4 3 2 2 2 2
2 2 2 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0

Table 7 - Workforce Schedule

Employe
e M T W TH F SAT SUN
1 OFF OFF
2 OFF OFF
3 OFF OFF
4 OFF OFF
5 OFF OFF
6 OFF OFF
The following steps were taken to prepare the workforce schedule: [1]

1) The minimum number of employees needed for each day of the week was noted.
2) Given the requirements, the number of employees needed for each pair of consecutive
days was calculated.
3) The pair of days with the lowest total needed was found.
4) The number of employees still needed to schedule for each day was updated for other
days, leaving the pair of days with lowest total untouched.
5) Using the updated staffing needs, steps 2 through 4 were repeated until all needs were
satisfied.
Analysis:

Question 1

All sample calculations are shown for Job C.

a) Referring to Table 1:
Slack Time = Due Date (Job Time + Job Time at Other Work Centres)
= 24 (8+8) = 8 days
S Slack Time 8
= = =2.67
RO Operations Remaining at Other Work Centres (2+ 1)

Completion date = Cumulative sum of job time in order of the sequence.

= Job Time F + Job Time B + Job Time C = 6 + 5 + 8 = 19 days

Lateness = Completion Date Days until Due = 19 24 = -3

Tardiness = If Lateness is more than 0 then the tardiness is the same as lateness and if
lateness is less than 0 then tardiness is 0.
=0

b) Referring to Table 2,
Makespan = Sum of Job Time = 9 + 5 + 8 + 10 + 7 + 6 = 45 days

Mean Job Flow Time = Average of Completion Date =

28+ 11+19+38+ 45+6
=24.5 days
6

Mean Job Flow Time 24.5

Average of Jobs= = =3.267 jobs
Highest Completion Date 45

(2 ) +1+ (5 ) + (2 ) +19+(9)
Mean Job Lateness= =0.333
6
0+1+ 0+0+19+0
Mean Job Tardiness= Average of Tardiness= =3.33 days
6

Maximum Tardiness = Highest number of tardiness = 19 days

Question 2

Referring to Table 3, according to Johnsons rule the tasks with the 1st activity having shorter
processing times are placed in the earliest available position.

S 1 3
T 4 5
Job S and T had the shortest processing time for the 1st activity and hence were placed in
ascending order of the 1st activity at the earliest available positions.

U 8 5
V 6 4
W 4 3
R 3 2
Jos U, V, W and R had the shortest processing time for the 2nd activity and hence were
arranged in ascending order of the 2nd activity at the last available position.

The workforce schedule shown in Table 4, shows that a minimum of 28 days would be
required to complete the tasks. The assumptions that were made have been stated in the
methodology. The blanks indicate that the first task had not been completed on the particular
job hence task 2 had to be delayed.

Question 3

Referring to tables 5 through 7, firstly Table 5 was created for the table for number of staff
per day was created and then Table 6 for number of staff required for 2 consecutive days.

M T W TH F SAT SUN
5 5 5 5 5 2 2

M-T T-W W-TH TH-F F-SAT SAT-SUN

10 10 10 10 7 4

Then the minimum number of staff from Table 6 was identified, which in this case was 4 for
Saturday and Sunday, then the staffs on these 2 days were left untouched but 1 was subtracted
from the other days.

M T W TH F SAT SUN
4 4 4 4 4 2 2

The table for total staffs for 2 consecutive days was updated as shown below and these steps
were continued until all the values reached 0.

M-T T-W W-TH TH-F F-SAT SAT-SUN

 8 8 8 8 6 4

Inference and conclusions:

Scheduling techniques help to make efficient use of labour, increasing the output, improving
service level, maximizing delivery performance, minimizing worker costs and determination
of the sequence of jibs to name a few. [2] Priority rules such as the S/RO technique are used
to sequence several jobs according to priority, the highest being first. Performance measures
such as job flow time, average jobs in system, makespan, job lateness and tardiness help to
give a clearer insight on the performance of the system, job lateness and tardiness are more
relevant to customer service. [1]

Johnsons rule is applicable for jobs that go through 2 work-centres and arranges them
accordingly as has been discussed in the methodology. Workforce scheduling helps to arrange
the staff for the full week without being short-handed or overstaffed on any day of the week.
The workforce scheduling analyses available data and in turn gives the minimum number of
workers required for a day and the days off they get.

Reference:

[1] Reid, D. R. & Sanders, N. R., Measuring Performance, Operations Management, Wiley
Publication, 5e, 563-565

[2] Gupta, A. Scheduling and Sequencing,

https://www.slideshare.net/akankshagupta963871/scheduling-and-sequencing, 7th Sept. 2017.