Integrated Production and Manpower Scheduling - Second Phase

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Most published articles in scheduling research are focused in developing models and algorithms to theoreticalproblems having limited applications. The scheduling problem identified in the collaborating company happensto be very different from those know in literature. It involves the scheduling of a large variety of orders withgreater operational complexity. Many of the operations on the products are to be processed unit by unit.However, most products also need to passes through a batch processing facility with apparent complexity toincorporate in a scheduling model. Moreover, products need both machining and assembly operations wherecomponents and sub-assemblies need to pass through many processing stations. Some of the products haveoperations that are outsourced and their semi-finished inventory needs to be sent to other facilities and bereturned for further in-house processing. Machine operators are limited resources. Many of these operators arecross trained and can be assigned to different types of machines. Operators may also tend more than onemachine at a time. Hence their task need to be scheduled in details along the operations. Critical segments ofthe manufacturing facility are operated multiple shift or overtime while the rest are operated only a single shift.These unique combination of problem features makes scheduling very difficult. Hence, the company faces achallenge in running its operations smoothly with minimal work-in-process inventory while at the same timemeeting product delivery dates. A preliminary study was conducted to develop an efficient schedulingtechnique based on Event Scheduling/Time Advance (ESTA) algorithm. The approach proves to be capable ofhandling many of the operational logic of the manufacturing facility and generate schedules for the machinesand the operators, and optimize several performance criteria. This research is a continuation of thisachievement and is aimed at enhancing the developed algorithm to incorporate several details of themanufacturing system. Moreover, a limited study will be conducted for integrating production scheduling withother operational issues such as inventory management and maintenance planning.