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As the manufacturing activities in today's industries are getting more and more complex, it is required for the manufacturing firm to have a good shop floor production scheduling to plan and schedule their production orders. An accurate scheduling is essential to any manufacturing firm in order to be competitive in global market. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Two types of shop floors, job shop and cellular layout, were developed by using WITNESS simulation package. Consequently, the performance of forward scheduling and backward scheduling in both job shop and cellular layout was compared using simulation method, and the results were analyzed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Through analysis, the best scheduling approach and layout to be used by manufacturing firm in order to achieve the make-to-order (MTO) production and inventory strategy were reported.

The results from simulation show that backward scheduling in job shop layout has the lowest average throughput time, lowest lateness, and highest labour productivity than forward scheduling. While in cellular layout, forward scheduling has the lowest average throughput time, lowest lateness, and highest labour productivity than backward scheduling in all conditions. It shows that the performance of scheduling approach is different in each production layout.

Suitable scheduling approach is needed in manufacturing industry as to maximize production rate and optimize machine and process capability. This paper presents an empirical study about the assembly process of radio cassette player of one manufacturing industry in order to investigate the impact of variety of orders and different number of two workers on the performance of production scheduling approach. Forward scheduling and backward scheduling are used to schedule the production orders.

This paper documents research and development that were undertaken as collaboration between the Industrial Research Institute of Swinburne University of Technology (IRIS), Armor Pty Ltd and QANTAS. The objective of the research was to investigate the application of a unitary software structure, composed of the critical path method (CPM), materials requirements planning (MRP) and production activity control (PAC) techniques, to the management of large‐scale maintenance activities (specifically aircraft maintenance). This structure had previously been applied to the manufacturing (i.e. assembly) process but the maintenance problem posed significant new challenges. First, there was the issue of generating a disassembly structure, and second, the reconciliation of demands arising from non‐serviceable components. This paper documents the implementation of the structure and the methods that were used to validate its functionality on a test‐case application (i.e. aircraft maintenance problem).

A fast production scheduling system, the very fast scheduler (VFS), has been developed by the authors. It creates a capacity constrained production schedule within one minute of elapsed time for problems of a size encountered in industry. The quality of the schedules is comparable with the best alternative heuristic scheduling techniques. The speed of the scheduler is such that it can be used on a real‐time basis to plan capacity, adjust priorities and other parameters and derive new schedules.

Considers the resource‐constrained project scheduling problem where cash inflows and outflows are tied to the occurrence of events. The objective is the maximization of the project net present value (NPV) as well as the minimization of project tardiness in the presence of a project due date. Develops hybrid scheduling rules with both NPV and tardiness considerations to enhance both objectives. Experiments extensively with a set of benchmark problems originally designed for the objective of minimizing the project duration. Demonstrates that thje hybrid rules developed here are superior in performance with respect to both objectives when compared with well known rules which are developed for the two objective of minimizing the project duration. Demonstrates that the hybrid rules developed here are superior in performance with respect to both objectives when compared with well‐known rules which are developed for the two objectives taken individually. Furthermore, the iterative algorithm improves the performance of all tested rules significantly.

Describes the scheduling problem and JOB, then presents an extensive job shop scheduling session in which a variety of scheduling problems are encountered and overcome using JOB′s interactive scheduling option. The example shows how work orders may be created and scheduled, and the schedules evaluated, all within the framework of the JOB system. By working with typical job shop scheduling opportunities in a realistic though simulated environment, users will better understand the problems job shop schedulers actually face and will be better able to solve them.

Presents a customer‐focused approach to effective planning of make‐to‐order production, in which production activities are driven by customer orders and all products are made to customers’ specifications. The approach plans, schedules, and co‐ordinates production activities, based on the needs of individual customer orders. In particular, an integrated bill of material and routeing data structure is used to effectively organise production data in response to product specifications of customer orders. It facilitates the creation of production jobs with varying routeings and material requirements. A job‐oriented finite capacity scheduling system is used to effectively accommodate specific needs of individual customer orders. It allows for realistic setting of delivery dates and negotiation of order changes. Key features of the approach presented show its effectiveness in planning multi‐item customer orders and multi‐level products.

The main purpose of this paper is to document the research on development of a conceptual framework for the supply chain. The aims of the research were to develop an integrated framework, and to provide a methodology for planning of many components in the supply chain such as suppliers, materials, resources, warehouses, activities and customers. The proposed framework is based on the unitary structuring technique where bills of materials, bills of warehouses, project networks and operations routings, in both manufacturing and distribution networks, are combined into a single structure.

The framework is described along with illustrated numerical examples in the manufacturing and distribution environments.

The numerical testing has shown that each network in the supply chain provides an integrated approach to planning and execution of many components, and is capable of providing visibility, flexibility and maintainability for further improvement in the supply chain environment.

The framework and planning approach developed in this research are new in the area of supply chain management and provide a foundation for planning, control and execution in supply chain in various industries.

Presents a microcomputer‐based finite scheduling approach to effective planning and execution of make‐to‐order production. Going beyond the traditional application of scheduling algorithms to prioritize jobs through work centers, the finite scheduling approach can be used to establish “smart” promise dates, manage the jobs through the work centers and enable supervisors to meet these due dates in the dynamic MTO environment.

Using data from an operational jobshop and a simulation‐based finite scheduling algorithm linked to pre‐ and post‐processing capabilities developed in Access, this research provides specific examples of establishing smart due dates and managing resources to meet those dates. We provide some what‐ifs in order to more fully explore the benefits of a finite scheduling system.

Through use of actual jobshop data, the paper demonstrates that finite scheduling can be effectively performed on standard computing equipment. It also provides an understanding of finite scheduling and demonstrates that such a system can be of significant value in a MTO environment.

Future research could review/compare various ERP packages and their scheduling components to provide guidance on selection and implementation.

The paper clearly indicates that managers, even of smaller companies, should be considering the use of finite scheduling.

The paper provides a new approach to finite scheduling using a combination of simulation and Microsoft Access on a personal computer. Additionally, it provides a very useful presentation for practitioners who want an understanding of finite scheduling and why they need to implement it.

For the past 20 years production planning and control has been dominated by manufacturing resource planning (MRPII) and its antecedents. The authors are completing case study based research that is aimed at developing novel planning and scheduling reference models for industrial sectors where the MRPII paradigm is not appropriate. It outlines the process mapping approach adopted for data capture within the case study companies and the use of ARIS, Scheer’s enterprise modelling tool, for the production of sector reference models.

There has been much discussion on the merits of different production control philosophies, particularly MRPII, OPT and JIT. A consensus is emerging that these philosophies are not mutually exclusive, and some companies are beginning to mix and match different approaches to meet their particular needs. The design of hybrid production control systems requires the establishment of a theory of production control that embraces, but is independent of, the well‐defined philosophies of MRPII, OPT and JIT. Without such an understanding of production control there is no framework within which to build hybrid production control systems. Five universal principles of production control are set out, and it is shown how these principles can be used to construct the Integrated Production Control (IPC) Model. This model provides the conceptual framework necessary for the design of hybrid production control systems. The relationships of MRPII, OPT, and kanban, the classical JIT scheduling system, are explored, and areas of strength and weakness identified.