CHAPTER ONE

SCHEDULING AND CONTROLLING MANUFACTURING

Scheduling
Scheduling is defined as the assignment of work to the
facility with the specification of times, and the sequence in
which the work is to be done. Scheduling is actually time
phasing of loading. The facility may be man power, machine
or both. Scheduling deals with orders and machines, it
determines which order will be taken up on which machines
in which department, at what time and by which operator.
Scheduling may also be defined as the fitting of specific
jobs into a general time-table so that orders may be
manufactured in accordance with the contractual liability, or,
in mass production, so that component may arise at and
enter into assembly in the order and at the time required.

Controlling
Control is maintaining a balance in activities towards
goals or set of goals involved during production planning.
Planning only outlines some course of action whereas control
is an execution process involving standardization, evaluation
and corrective actions.

Alternately,

production

control

is

the

function

of

management which plans, directs and controls the materials

supply and processing activities of an enterprise; so that
specified products are produced by specified methods to
meet an approved sales program. It ensures that the
activities are carried in such in way that the available labor
and capital are used in the best possible way.

Objectives of Controlling
Production control provides the foundation on which
most of the other industrial controls are based. Production
control is the hall mark of Production efficiently. It is the pivot
around which the success of Production revolves. Thus, the
success

of

an

enterprise

greatly

depends

on

the

performance of its Production control department. The

Production control department generally has to perform the
following functions:
i.

To organize Production schedule in conformity with the

demand
ii.

forecast.

To have optimum utilization of resources in such at the

cost of

Production is minimized and delivery date is

maintained.
iii.

Determination of economic Production runs with a view

to

reduced setup costs.

iv.

Proper co-ordination of the operations of various

sections/departments responsible for Production.

v.

To ensure regular and timely supply of raw materials at

the desires place and of prescribed quality and quantity to

avoid
vi.

delays in Production.

Perform inspection of semi-finished goods ands use

quality

control techniques to ascertain that the produced

items are of

required quality.

Objectives
The following two goals summarize the criteria for many
companies
1.

Meet

customer

replenishment dates,

delivery

dates

or

inventory

so that the specified level customer

service will be maintained.

2.

In doing this, use no more resources than are cost

justified.
The use of only the necessary resources may be expressed
on other, but closely related, criteria for good scheduling and
control. A goal might be to minimize the throughput time
from the first operation through the last with no unjustified
delays. This goals minimizes the unjustified work in process
(WIP)Inventory and the space required to hold it.( It also
reduces the complexity of tracking jobs, recording data, and

determining which

jobs have the highest priorities to be

worked on , because there are very few

anytime).

Financial

measurement

such

in the plant
as

return

on

investment encourage companies to achieve the product

flow with very little excess equipment , with no more than
the justified work force, and with little expense for covering
overtime pay.
Steps involve
Several major steps are required to plan, schedule and
control the movement of jobs through a factory. Some
common types of activities are summarized below.
Jobs must be planned. Each end item to be produced must
be broken down into the entire component needed to make
it. A make-or-buy decision is made for each component to
determine which components the company will make
internally and which it will purchase from a supplier. Supplier
must be selected for all the purchased components and for
the raw materials required to make the internally produced
items. The routing (such as the route sheet or operation
sheet must be develop for each item to be made internally.
The items must be schedule. With the information on which
work centers must

perform

the work and how long it is

expected to take, the company can develop a schedule of

when the work can be performed , so each items is

completed approximately when it is needed and available

resources will be equally used wisely.
The items are released or dispatch to begin at the starting
work center in accordance with schedule and current
material and capacity availability. After an operation is
completed at one work center, the item is moved to the next
work center indicated on the route sheet or to the next work
station if the item is being produced on a production line.
The arrival of items at downstream work centers may be
very smooth and predictable in a balance production line
that has well maintained, reliable equipment. In jobs shops
the arrival may be erratic and unpredictable because the job
types vary, so the times required to perform the jobs are not
uniform. Further in jobs shop the jobs are les familiar, so the
standard times estimates are usually less accurate and the
work at any stage may not be completed in the planned
time. Arrival of work at the downstream work centers may be
further disrupted due to variations in such factors as works
efficiency, work backlog, absenteeism, equipment reliability,
and

other

variables

at

the

upstream

work

centers.

Dispatching at the downstream work centers often depends

on an assessment of current conditions at that center (and
possibly the next few work centers for each job), and these
conditions can fluctuate widely over time. Such decisions
require that accurate and timely information be kept
regarding where each job is and what other jobs may be

competing for use of the same capacity. Status information

must be captured and maintained. An information system for
production control usually maintains a backlog file, that is a
list of all work to be performed at each work center and the
periods in which it is scheduled to be performed. A backlog
report is useful to show how much capacity has already been
committed in each period, so other work can be scheduled
into available capacity without overloading the work center.

Information System for Construction Planning and

Control
Good construction operation depends on
1. Formulating a good plan and schedule for each job, one
that recognizes the needs of other jobs that must be
use the same facilities
2. Communicating these plans to all who must help carry
them out
3. Obtaining communication about the actual progress of
each job and about the composite situation
4. Revising

the

plans

and

schedule

whenever

the

situations make improvement desirable or necessary.

It is apparent the good construction control involves good

communication,

which

is

the

efficient

collection

and

transmittal data. The production control group serves as the

nerves network of a production system, sending signal to
evoke action and sensing results and need for further action.
The massive amount of data accumulated in tracking the
numerous parts of all jobs makes automatic data processing
essential to sizable shops, if timely reports are to be
available.
Types Of Scheduling and Control
The types and amount of scheduling and production control
efforts vary among the three types of factories. Each factory
type has different characteristics for the work mix that it
must schedule and control, as shown below.
Repetitive: must deal with repetition of a few familiar jobs
since it produces a standard product in relatively high
volume.
Batch: Must deal with recurring variety of familiar jobs since
it makes a variety of standard products by switching

from

one to another
Job shop: must deal with an ever-changing mix of unfamiliar
jobs since it bids on custom products and may seldom repeat
production of the same item.

Detailed planning of the best way to produce each item that

goes into a product is important in jobs shop, batch, and
continuous manufacturing factories. It can lead to better
products and lower-cost production. Estimating the amount
of time required to make items and their cost is an important
part of the preconstruction planning.
Construction control for repetitive operations
Repetitive, or continuous operations is characterized by long
runs of identical or similar discrete items through the same
sequence of processing steps. Equipment or work station are
placed near one another along a production line or assembly
line for efficient material handling. This layout also simplifies
the coordination of various stations. Repetitive production
faces a simpler production scheduling and control problem
than a batch or job shop manufacturing.
The routing are fixed, so planning each individual job and
preparing individual routes sheet are not necessary. The
processing steps , routing and work methods are primarily
planned when the

construction system is designed. The

waiting time between operations and the WIP inventory are

both minimal, so there usually are no queues of different
kinds of jobs waiting at a work center.
Learning Curves

A learning curve is a graph or equation that expresses

the expected rate of improvement in productivity as more
units are produced. The term learning suggests that the
reduction in production time occurs because of improved
dexterity of workers over time as their skills improve.
Actually, increased skill may account may account for little
of the improvement. Employees suggestion for improved
work

methods,

designs

for

new

tooling

to

assist

in

performing work, revision of the material or redesign of the

product to make production easier, or other innovative work
methods and technological improvements may account for
much of the reduced production time .

mathematical

expression

frequently

used

to

described the learning curve is

Y n (Y 1) n R

Where Yn = direct hours required to produced nth unit

Y1 = direct hours required to produced 1st unit
n = number of unit for which time is estimated
R = Logarithm of the ratio of production time for a
doubled-quantity unit to production time for base unit
divided by log