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Tooling constraints and shop floor scheduling: A simulation study
Author(s) -
Melnyk Steven A.,
Ghosh Soumen,
Ragatz Gary L.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of operations management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.649
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1873-1317
pISSN - 0272-6963
DOI - 10.1016/0272-6963(89)90013-2
Subject(s) - tardiness , job shop , flow shop scheduling , computer science , scheduling (production processes) , job shop scheduling , industrial engineering , operations research , operations management , manufacturing engineering , engineering , schedule , operating system
Research into the problems of job shop scheduling has dealt with two of three major categories of shop floor resources: machine capacity and labor. Generally ignored has been the impact of tooling constraints, the third form of shop floor resource, on the scheduling process. The impact of tooling is the focus of this study. Using a simple simulation model of a shop operating under varying levels of tooling availability, it is shown that the level of tooling availability has a significant impact on shop floor performance as measured in terms of mean flow time, mean tardiness, number jobs tardy and number of tool changes. Four different tooling assignment rules are evaluated and their effect on system performance is described. The results indicate that tooling assignment rules should consider both job priorities and tooling availability in order to achieve good shop performance. The paper concludes with general recommendations for the management of shop orders facing limited tooling availability.