PRODUCTION ACTIVITY CONTROL AND SIPA PLUS

This paper describes a scheduling tool, SIPA PLUS developed by GRAI PRODUCTIQUE S.A. based on the research work developed at the GRAI Laboratory, University of Bordeaux I. SIPA PLUS is presented as the scheduler block within a Production Activity Control (PAC) system. SIPA PLUS is in fact a finite scheduling tool, which firstly generates a trial schedule using heuristics and a simulation model. The trial schedule is then presented to the user, normally a workshop manager, in the form of a Gantt chart. The editing facility of SIPA PLUS then allows the user to create a detailed capacity sensitive schedule which takes due account of the local knowledge of the user and the actual capacity of each resource in the workshop.The structure of the paper is as follows: initially we briefly review the PAC architecture presented by Bauer et al (21); we then go on to present an overview of the SIPA PLUS system.