Work scheduling in a batch manufacturing system

This paper considers the question of work scheduling in a batch manufacturing environment in the particular context of a dual-constrained job shop where resources of both machines and operators are limited. In particular, it considers the role which the concept of labour flexibility can play in improving the performance of a real life job shop. The real life system is modelled with the aid of a digital simulation model. A series of experiments is performed using the model to test different degrees of labour flexibility and different labour assignment rules. It is concluded that the introduction of even a limited form of labour flexibility into the shop provides an improvement in the shop performance and that the assignment rule involving the Total Processing Time is superior to the other rules tested in the study.