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. On-Time Delivery Improvement
. Increased Throughput
. Higher Resource Utilization
. Reduced Queuing Time
. Reduced Inventory
. Efficient Bottleneck Management
. Extensive What-if Analysis
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A White Paper on Scheduling
Job Shop Capacity Planning
A Brief Demo of Schedlyzer
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We claim that our scientific software, Schedlyzer is the fastest and most versatile scheduling tool for a majority of job shops. We welcome any challenge to the claim.
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We also offer you a properly configured version of our scheduling software on a monthly basis so that no investment is necessary.
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Job shops are mostly make-to-order
production units with finite capacity resources,
unpredictable customer orders, jobs of low volume and high
variety, and firm due dates. Job shop management is
difficult due to simultaneous production of numerous
low-quantity jobs that have different routings, process
times, due dates, priorities, and requirements of finite
capacity resources. In such job shops, the workload on shop floor is always heterogeneous with jobs competing and waiting for resources of finite capacity and production is managed by frequent firefighting with anxiety, stress and overtime. Intelligent scheduling can play a major role in controlling and managing complex job shop production efficiently. It is however possible only with a clear, comprehensive understanding of the dynamic nature of the job shop production. Scientific scheduling is more than the timing of operations. It provides us with a reliable
prediction of workflow, resource utilization, wandering bottlenecks and job completion times.
A major part of production lead time of a job is the total waiting time of the job at different work stations and is considered to be waste in lean manufacturing. It creates another major problem in complex job shops. The causes of waiting times include uncertainty, finite capacity of resources, improper job loading times and simultaneous flow of jobs with different due dates, priorities, routings, process times and resource requirements. When product mix and job quantities frequently vary in high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) environment, bottlenecks keep moving over time, making it difficult to predict waiting times and lead times of jobs. Waiting time predictions are equally difficult in project-based production. Improvement of individual operations enhances productivity but it does not provide prediction of workflow and job waiting times in HMLV environment. The lack of workflow prediction can reduce production management efficiency by reducing the capability for (1) optimally quoting lead times and finding right start times for new jobs /projects based on the existing workload, (2) planning resource capacity proactively and (3) optimally using the set of available resources. The lack of workflow prediction increases dependence on firefighting and real-time decision-making and reduces shop performance.
Due to the possible occurrence of unexpected changes in the system, job shops need a mechanism for change impact assessment. In other words, job shops need a strong and reliable what-if analysis functionality. The what-if analysis (of workflow) supported by model-based predictive capability cannot be easily achieved by shop floor practices, visual management, Lean, six sigma, and TOC. We offer a state-of-the-art, model-based software tool for improving prediction and management of workflow in HMLV environment and project-based production.
Requirements in complex job shops:
The following functionality is necessary for efficient management of high-mix, low-volume,
simultaneous (HMLVS) production in job shops.
- Determination of a rational due date for a new job, whenever permitted, based on the existing workload and resource capacities
- Determination of optimal job loading times based on the existing workload and resource capacities
- Development of a detailed, operational level production schedule that makes sense to shop floor people
- Generation of a meaningful dispatch list for each resource
over short time intervals like a day
- Prediction of workflow, bottleneck formations and job completion times
- Graphical display (through Gantt chart) of the detailed production schedule on a flexible time scale for all people concerned with production
- Display of all operations on a flexible time scale along with the assignment of resources (machines, tools, workers, etc)
- Dissemination of a common, comprehensive (plant-level), detailed schedule across the plant
- Assessment of the impact of hot jobs on completion times of normal other jobs
- Quick rescheduling in response to major changes in the system
- Fast and extensive what-if analysis of production schedule
- Proactive capacity planning for mitigating bottlenecks, controlling job lead times and improving on-time delivery.
The benefits of these functions include improvements in on-time delivery,
WIP, job lead times, shop throughput, and resource utilization.
Many lean manufacturing practices that are successfully implemented in repetitive production systems directly offer very little help in these functions. But, they certainly complement production scheduling efforts in getting the best shop performance by reducing setup times, operation cycle times and rework. We cannot improve on-time delivery, throughput , WIP and lead times of complex HMLVS job shops without workflow prediction, which cannot be easily achieved without a right approach.
Our solution approach:
Detailed, resource-constrained, production scheduling based on scientific production models, rigorous algorithms and
reliable job status information can provide all the above functionality when implemented on powerful computers that are currently available at very low prices. We offer a
computer-based, scientific scheduling approach for improving on-time delivery, throughput, WIP and lead times. Based on advanced finite capacity scheduling logic, it perfectly complements many proven Lean practices in complex job shops.
Our job shop scheduling software, Schedlyzer is ideal for
HMLVS production units. The tool is very powerful,
economical, affordable, and easy to understand, install and
use with little training. Project-based,
resource-constrained, custom manufacturing is as complex as
HMLVS production and our software is very appropriate for it
as well.
The power of Schedlyzer:
Schedlyzer is a state-of-the-art scheduling tool based on a powerful and versatile,
finite capacity scheduling paradigm and advanced algorithms. Schedlyzer is based on many years of research on rigorous, scientific, finite capacity scheduling. Optisol publicly claims that it is the most powerful tool for job shop production scheduling at operational level. It is designed to exploit the tremendous power and memory that are currently available on low-cost computers. Schedlyzer is a Windows-based software tool which is extremely fast and very user-friendly. Its real strength lies in fast and extensive what-if analysis with little manual effort.
The tool automatically recognizes the
existing production constraints and schedules workload accordingly. The constraints and bottlenecks will be visible through charts that show resource schedules and workload levels at work centers over scheduling horizon. The tool takes advantage of powerful production modeling, rigorous scheduling algorithms, job status information and the large computing power and graphical features available on current PCs.
Implementation
Issues:
Schedlyzer Implementation however needs some discipline in collecting job status information periodically like once a day. But, the output can provide all plant personnel with common knowledge of workflow and a guideline for efficient production management. Although the output is theoretically accurate, the user needs commonsense to implement
it on the shop floor as necessitated by natural variation. Schedlyzer can be integrated with an ERP system or used as a standalone software by small job shops that have no ERP system. The schedulers are mainly required to supply job status information to the tool as required and spend a few minutes to generate, save and distribute schedule output.
It is very easy to use Schedlyzer when there is a good
mechanism for updating job status information.
The primary benefits of Optisol
solution:
- Improvements in throughput, on-time delivery, customer
confidence, resource utilization, prediction of workflow,
bottlenecks and job completion times.
- Reduction in lead times, WIP, and firefighting
- Instantaneous rescheduling of production in a feasible
and rational manner
- Fast and extensive what-if analysis of production
schedules.
The tool is very beneficial to custom manufacturing units
(including make-to-order, engineer-to-order and project-based production
units) that can update job status information at least once a
day.
Affordability of Optisol solution:
Since the complexity of job shop production has little
correlation with size and revenue of the company in general,
we offer the same power (with an appropriate limit on number
of operations to be scheduled) to every job shop at an
affordable price, irrespective of the size and revenue. As some of our clients feel, Schedlyzer makes scientific,
finite capacity scheduling affordable even for small job shops
with complex production. Since
implementation of our scientific scheduling tool requires some
modeling effort, Optisol offers a trial version of the tool
only after presenting a live web demo of the tool and having a
brief description of the target production system. The tool can
be thoroughly tested even during the demo by making any changes in the input
data for tens of thousands of operations.
A caution:
Many scheduling software look highly impressive during demo presentations. But, the real practical merits of a scheduling software for any specific complex job shop will be known only through trail runs on the shop floor. For this reason, we freely offer a trial version of Schedlyzer for at least 30 days without any commitment. The free trials on the shop floor should minimize the failure risk.
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About Us