CreateASoft, Inc.
The Process Improvement Company

Simulating and Scheduling the Job Shop



Hosni Adra
Product Manager/Partner

www.createasoft.com

Announcement
 

• Joint Development
  

The Ohio State University
and
CreateASoft, Inc.

Properties of a Job Shop

• High Mix – Custom orders
  -- One of a kind.
  -- Customized specifications.
• Skilled resources
• Relatively Low Volume.
• Variable Demand.
• High machine utilizations.
• A constant struggle to meet delivery schedules.

Why Schedule?

• Better utilization of equipment / resources.
• Predictable lead time
  -- When can I deliver?
• Improve efficiency/reduce change over
  -- Part grouping
• Manufacturing cost reduction
• Improved workforce moral

We are lean, do we need to schedule ?

• What’s in the shop ?
  -- A pull system ?
  -- A 5S system ?
  -- Single piece/kanban pull, ….
• Job shop lean is different than Toyota lean
• A leaner environment provides
  -- Cost reduction
  -- Lower WIP
• Does that translate to a better schedule ?

Schedule Requirement

• What is required to create a schedule?
  -- Current state of the shop
  -- Resource and equipment status
  -- Future orders
      - Future orders
      - Quantity
• Shop Layout
• Outside services, raw material availability
• Historical equipment performance (MTBF/MTBR)

What to expect?

• A scheduler should generate
  -- Sequence of orders in the shop
  -- State of the shop at different time intervals
  -- Gantt chart with respective delivery dates
  -- Expected Process activity
  -- Expected resource load
  
  
  
  
   

Types of schedule

• Static scheduling
  -- Based on historical data of the equipment
  -- Does not include resource efficiency
  -- Based on averages or distributions.
  -- Not very reliable.
  -- In use in most shops.
  -- Does not use current equipment loading/WIP as part of the schedule
  -- Dependent on Resource data entry

Active Scheduling

• Active Scheduling includes:
  -- Work orders to be processed
  -- Active WIP, what’s happening in the shop
  -- Current Downtimes
  -- Run daily or weekly
  -- Extensive, time consuming operation
  
  
  
  

Dynamic Scheduling

• Constant view of the shop
  -- Live monitoring of activities
  -- Automatic pull of data
  -- Automatic look ahead for potential problems and machine downtime
  -- Dynamic reroute of parts if machine is down
  -- Constant update of forecasted delivery date.
  -- Most accurate, minimum user interaction
  

Achieving dynamic scheduling

• Requires an environment that can forecast the future based on current data
  -- Simulation….
  -- With dynamic connectivity to existing systems
     - For orders, current status, WIP levels, locations…
• Must get accurate representation of the shop data with minimum reliance on personnel
  -- Active RFID / Wi-Fi based tags with minimum overhead.
   

Implementing Dynamic Scheduling

Download this presentation



 

Example/Implementation
 

Download this presentation


 

CreateASoft, Inc.
The Process Improvement Company

Simulating and Scheduling the Job Shop