E1C17.

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Chapter 17 Scheduling 787

Student Preferences School Needs

Student Type Level Time Days Skill School Type Level Time Days Skill
Amy Math Primary Morning MWF Spanish 1 Math Primary Morning MWF Spanish
Brent Math Primary Afternoon T TH Mandarin 2 Reading Secondary Morning T Th Spanish
Calvin Reading Primary Afternoon T TH Spanish 3 Reading Primary Afternoon T Th Mandarin
Deidre Math Secondary Afternoon MWF ASL 4 Reading Secondary Afternoon MWF Spanish
Elena Reading Secondary Morning T TH Spanish 5 Math Primary Morning MWF Mandarin
Franklin Reading Secondary Morning MWF ASL 6 Math Secondary Afternoon T Th ASL

CASE PROBLEM 17.2

From a Different Perspective They must all be completed before the order can be
And do you have the answer to Problem 6, Pete? asked shipped. The circles represent operations that must be
Professor Grasso. performed to make each product. Weve labeled them A1
Yes sir, I have the answer according to the textbook, for the first operation of product A, A2 for the second op-
but Im not sure I get it, replied Pete. eration, and so on. The numbers inside the circles are the
You dont understand how to get the solution? machines that are used to perform each operation. We
Oh, I understand the numbers, but I dont know what have only three machines 1, 2, and 3. Your job is to decide
theyre good for. Where I work, nobody ever sequences the sequence in which the products should be processed
anything. You dont have time to calculate things like slack on each machine. There is no setup time between
and critical ratio. You do whats next in line or on top of the processes, no inventory on hand, and nothing on order.
stack, unless you see a red tag on something that needs to Assume the customer has ordered 50 units of each prod-
be rushed through. Or maybe you run whats most like what uct. Well use a process batch of 100 units and a transfer
youve just finished working on so the machine doesnt have batch of one. Make a Gantt chart for each machine to
to be changed. Or you run what can get done the fastest show us how quickly you can ship the customers order.
because when you produce more you get paid more. Earliest shipment gets 5 extra points on the final exam.
Pete, it sounds to me like you are using sequencing
rulesFCFS, highest priority, minimum setup, and SPT.
Pete hesitated. Maybe youre right, but theres still
something that bothers me. If youre going to go to all the
trouble to rearrange a stack of jobs, youd want more in-
formation than what were working with.
What do you mean?
I mean, theres no use rushing a job at one station to
let it sit and wait at the next. Its like those maniacs who
break their neck to pass you on the road, but they never
get anywhere. A few minutes later youre right behind
them at a stoplight.
I see.
You need some way of looking at the entire job, where
its going next, what resources its going to use, if it has to
be assembled with something else, things like that.
Youve got a point, Pete. Why dont you give us a real
example we can work with? You talk, Ill write it on the
board.
Pete talked for about 10 more minutes, and when he
was finished, Professor Grasso had the following diagram
on the board.
Okay, class, lets take this home and work on it. A, B,
C, and D are products that comprise a customers order.