ME3102D Management of Production Systems

PRODUCTION ACTIVITY CONTROL (PAC)

• Concerns execution of material plans
• Contains shop floor control (SFC), and vendor
scheduling and follow-up
• SFC encompasses detailed scheduling and control of
individual jobs at work centres on the shop floor
• Vendor scheduling and follow-up largely considered
as part of production activity control, but not
completely
➢ Procurement is seen as a professional activity
where information networks, relationships, terms,
and conditions are established with vendor
companies outside of PAC
➢ Release of individual orders and follow-up are
part of PAC
• Objective of PAC is managing the material flow to
meet MPC plans
Payoffs
• Ensure meeting the company’s customer service goal
• Reduced work-in-process and lead-time
• Improved vendor performance
• Effective feedback on shop and supplier’s
performance against plans
Capacity Planning and SFC
❖ Insufficient capacity

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▪ No SFC system will be able to decrease

backlogs
▪ No SFC system will be able improve
delivery performance or improve output
❖ Enough capacity exists to meet peak loads
▪ Almost any SFC system will achieve
material flow objective
▪ Effective utilisation of bottleneck areas is
important
• A good capacity planning provides sufficient capacity
with relatively level loading means SFC is
straightforward
• If peaks and valleys in capacity requirements are
passed down to the SFC, execution becomes more
complex and difficult
The Linkage between MRP and PAC
• MRP appraises the PAC system of all changes in
material plan
• Feedback from PAC to MRP – status information and
warning signals
• Status information includes where things are,
notification of operational completion, count
verification, order closeout and disposition, and
accounting data
• Warning signals help flag inadequacies in material and
capacity plan

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Basic Data Required for Shop Floor Control

• Essential inputs are routing and lead time of each item
• Routing specifies each operation to be performed to
make the part and which work centre will perform the
operation
• Lead times are typically made up of four elements:
➢ Run time (Operation or machine run time per
piece × lot size)
➢ Set-up time (time to prepare the work centre)
➢ Move time (From one work centre to the next)
➢ Queue time (time spent waiting to be processed at
a work centre, which depends on workload and
schedule)
• The data requirement is described with an example
product structure for end item A

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End item A
Lead time = 1

Part B Part C
Lead time = 3 Lead time = 2

Part D Part E
Lead time = 2 Lead time = 1

Part P Part Q
Lead time = 1 Lead time = 2
Item P and Q are purchased parts and lead times are
given in weeks in the above figure. The items are
processed in lots
Routing and lead-time (days) data for part D. Lead time
data is for a batch, say, 50 units.
Operation Work Run Set-up Move Queue Total Rounded
centre time time time time time time
1 101 1.4 0.4 0.3 2.0 4.1 4.0
2 109 1.5 0.5 0.3 2.5 4.8 5.0
3 103 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.9 1.0
Total lead time (days) = 10.0 = 2 weeks

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Routing and lead-time data for part E. Lead time data is

for a batch, say, 50 units.
Operation Work Run Set-up Move Queue Total Rounded
centre time time time time time time
1 101 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.5 1.1 1.0
2 107 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.5 1.1 1.0
3 103 0.3 0.2 0.1 1.5 2.1 2.0
4 109 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.9 1.0
Total lead time (days) = 5.0 = 1 week
• Queue time (the critical element) frequently accounts
for 80 percent or more of total lead-time
• Reduced queue time means shorter lead time and,
therefore, reduced work-in-process inventory
• Reduction requires better scheduling
Queue and Move Times in Scheduling
• Schedule may or may not use lead times that included
queue and move times
• The more usual practice is to prepare the detailed work
centre schedule without move and queue times
Production Activity Control Techniques
• The SFC approaches are:
Gantt Charts, Finite Loading, and Priority
Sequencing Rules
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Gantt Chart
• Developed by Henry L. Gantt
• A simple visual technique used
➢ Shows planned work activities versus actual
accomplishments on the same time scale
▪ Shows a schedule
▪ It also shows progress of jobs. So, it can
be called a progress chart
▪ In addition to operation time, maintenance
time also may be represented on it
➢ Or shows the sequencing of jobs on machines
▪ Shows a schedule
▪ In addition to operation time, maintenance
time also may be represented on it
➢ Or as a load chart

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Example of Gantt chart – progress chart

Planned work activities Vs Actual accomplishments

A Gantt chart example problem – shows sequence of
jobs on machines
Consider certain orders, which are to be processed in a
numerical order of job numbers. All the jobs have same
sequence of operations (flow shop). The jobs are
processed first in machine A and then in Machine B.
The jobs and their requirements in days (set-up and run
time) are given below.
It is assumed that there is no maintenance involved till all
the jobs in the list are processed.

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Job Machine Job Start- Finish Start- Finish-

A -A B B
2 0 1 1 6
A B 3 1 3 6 10
1 7 2 4 3 8 10 13
1 8 15 15 17
2 1 5 As per Johnson’s rule, job sequence =
2-3-4-1
3 2 4
4 5 3
Requirement time in days

A 1 2 3 4
Machines

B 1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
Time (days)
A Gantt Chart
• This Gantt chart shows the start and finish time for
jobs in each machine for the given priority

• Find the sequence of jobs using Johnson’s rule and

develop a Gantt chart for that sequence. Can you
notice any difference in completion time of all jobs
(Makespan)?
• Johnson’s Rule: Identify the shortest processing time
of jobs. If this time is in machine 1 put this job first in
the sequence else put it in last in the sequence.

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Remove this job from further consideration. Repeat

this process till all jobs are assigned.
• A three-machine n-Job problem: A shop has eight
shop orders that must be processed sequentially
through three work centres. Each job must be finished
in the same sequence in which it was started. Time (in
hours) required at various work centres are as shown
below. Use Johnson’s rule to develop the job sequence
that will minimize the completion time over all shop
orders.
Job Code A B C D E F G H
Work Centre 1 time 4 8 5 9 3 4 9 6
Work Centre 2 time 6 4 7 1 4 2 5 2
Work Centre 3 time 8 7 9 7 9 8 9 7

Note: Johnson’s rule is applicable to 3-machine n-job

problem if the largest processing time in 2nd machine
is less than or equal to the smallest processing time
in machine 1 or machine 3. (The flow shop machine
sequence for the jobs is Machine 1 first then
Machine 2 and Machine 3.) If this condition is
satisfied, convert the three-machine problem into 2
machine n job problem. To convert the problem into
2 machine n job problem, consider two fictitious
machines. The processing time of jobs in first
fictitious machine is the sum of the processing time
of jobs in machines 1 and 2. The processing time of
jobs in second fictitious machines is the sum of the
processing time of jobs in machines 2 and 3. Now,
consider the problem as a two- machine n job
problem, determine the sequence of jobs to be

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processed. This sequence is to be used for preparing

the schedule of jobs in machines 1, 2 and 3.

A Gantt chart example – Load chart

The following hours are required to complete six jobs,
which are routed through four work centres. The hours
available at the work centres are 40 hrs at W, 32 hrs at X,
40 hrs at Y and 30 hrs at Z
Hours Required at work centres
Job No.
W X Y Z
A21 4 2 7 4
A22 7 8
A23 4 10 12 3
B14 5 6 5
B15 2 4 5
B16 8 1 6 7
Develop a load chart.

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Week of -----------------
Work Centre

Job W X Y Z
No. Hours Hours Hours Hours
Reqd. Avai. Reqd Avai. Reqd Avai. Reqd Avai.
A21 4 40 2 32 7 40 4 30
A22 7 36 - 30 - 33 8 26
A23 4 29 10 30 12 33 3 18
B14 - 25 5 20 6 21 5 15
B15 2 25 4 15 5 15 - 10
B16 8 23 1 11 6 10 7 10
Unused 15 Unused 10 Unused 4 Unused 3
Load Chart: Tabular Form

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Fig. Load chart (Gantt chart)

Performance Measures
Flowtime, Tardiness and WIP are some of the
performance measures used to evaluate different
schedules
Flowtime
• It is the amount of time a job spends from the moment
it is ready for processing until its completion, and
includes any waiting time prior to processing
• Makespan is the total time for all jobs to finish
processing
• Average WIP is directly related to the time jobs spend
in the shop
Tardiness
• Tardiness is related to lateness and earliness and they
are the performance measures related to each job’s due
date
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• Lateness = completion time (Ci) – due date (Di)

• Lateness is the amount of time a job is past its due date
• Earliness is the amount of time prior to its due date at
which job processing is complete
• Tardiness equals lateness if the job is late, or zero if it
is on time or early – tardiness is positive lateness
• That is, Tardiness, Ti = 0, if Ci ≤ Di
= Ci – Di, if Ci > Di
WIP
• WIP is the weighted average of the number of jobs in
the system where the weight is the duration of jobs in
the system.
Calculation procedure
Consider the flow shop example given in the Gantt chart
problem. The flowtime of the jobs for the schedule given
in the Gantt chart is
Job 1 2 3 4
Flowtime 9 14 18 21
The average number of jobs in the system is determined
by:
Four jobs are in the system when job 1 is completed, 3
jobs are in system from first job completion to second
job completion, from second job completion to third job
completion there are two jobs and one job in the system
from third job completion to last job finishing.

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Therefore, WIP = (9×4+5×3+4×2+3×1)/21

= (9+(9+5)+(9+5+4)+(9+5+4+3))
= (9+(14)+(18)+(21))/21
= =62/21 jobs per unit time
This is equal to sum of flowtime of all jobs divided by
maximum flowtime.
Forward Scheduling and Backward Scheduling
Forward (Front) Scheduling
• Scheduling starts from the current time and build the
schedule forward in time
• Forward schedule can tell the earliest date that an
order can be completed
Backward (Back) Scheduling
• Scheduling starts from the due date of each job and
schedules backward in time
• It tells when are order must be started in order to be
done by a specific date
PRIORITY SEQUENCING RULES
• Sequence jobs in priority order, without regard to
capacity
• They are generally designed to require a very little
computational effort and time, even for a large number
of jobs
• Most rules sort jobs based on one parameter
FCFS (First-Come-First-Served)

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• Choose the jobs in the order in which they arrive.

• It is viewed as being fair and many service operations
use it for that reason
• However, it is far from optimal for many objectives
SPT (Shortest Processing Time)
• Choose job that has the shortest processing time first
• Processing time include set-up time also
• SPT schedules are optimal for number of objectives
(performance measures) such as minimising total
flowtime, mean flowtime, mean waiting time, mean
tardiness and total lateness
• SPT is the best rule for performance measures (mean
flowtime, mean lateness and WIP) related to shop
congestion
• SPT, however, may cause long jobs to experience
excessive delays because short jobs keep arriving and
move to the front of queue
• Therefore, the variance of job flowtimes may be quite
high with SPT
• One solution would be to use Truncated SPT (TSPT)
▪ TSPT imposes a time limit on jobs in the queue
▪ If any jobs exceed the limit, then those jobs are
sequenced according to FCFS
▪ If no jobs exceed the limit use SPT
▪ TSPT reduces flowtime variance but WIP and mean
flowtime increases compared to SPT
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• Another solution is to use Relief SPT (RSPT)

▪ Use FCFS until the queue length hits a value Q
▪ Then switch the rule to SPT
▪ Results are roughly the same as with TSPT

Example problem: Truncated SPT (TSPT)

The following list of jobs available today in a critical
department includes estimates of their processing times
and these jobs are released to the department at various
points in time:
Job Processing time (days) Job released date
A 8 5th week 1st day
B 3 5th week 2nd day
C 7 4th week 5th day
D 10 3rd week 4th day
E 6 5th week 3rd day
F 5 4th week 1st day
G 4 4th week 5th day
Today in production calendar is the third day morning of
the 5th week. Assume that the jobs are released in the
given day morning and the organisation work for 5 days
in a week. If the job waiting time exceeds 5 days then,
the organisation uses truncated shortest processing time
method for scheduling the jobs. Prepare the job sequence
based on this method and determine the mean flow time.
The scheduler decided that this schedule is not going to
change and further jobs will not be considered for
scheduling until all these jobs are completed. Flowtime is
calculated based on the job arrival time and completion
time.
Solution:

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The jobs are taken for scheduling one after another.

Job Processing time Job released Waiting time until

(days) date now
A 8 5th week 1st 2
day
B 3 5th week 2nd 1
day
C 7 4th week 5th 3
day
D 10 3rd week 4th 9
day
E 6 5th week 3rd 0
day
F 5 4th week 1st 7
day
G 4 4th week 5th 3
day

Sequence: D – F – B – G – E – C – A
Job Processing time Completion time Flow Remarks
(days) from now time
D 10 10 19 FCFS rule is
F 5 15 22 used
B 3 18 19
G 4 22 25
E 6 28 28 SPT is used
C 7 35 38
A 8 43 45

Mean flow time = (19+22+19+25+28+38+45)/7

= 28 days
EDD (Earliest Due Date)
• EDD sequences are extremely easy to develop so long
as each job has a due date attached
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• EDD minimises maximum lateness and maximum

tardiness
CR (Critical Ratio)
• This rule relies on the due date as well as processing
time
• CR is the ratio of (Due date – Current time) to the
processing time remaining
• It is a dynamic because the ratio changes as time
progresses
Minimum Slack Time (MST)
• Slack time is the difference between the time until the
due date and the remaining processing time.
• Choose the job with minimum slack time
A problem to work out
Job Processing time, Pj, in days Due date, dj, (day)
1 7 8
2 1 12
3 5 6
4 2 4
5 6 18
All the jobs given above are available at a point in time
in front of a machine of the production system.
Calculate for each job, flow time (Fj), Earliness (Ej) and
Tardiness (Tj) for the priority rules such as SPT, EDD,
CR and MST. Compare the performance of rules based
on mean flowtime, maximum flowtime, mean tardiness,
maximum tardiness and average number of jobs in the
system (WIP).
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References
1. F. Robert Jacobs, William L. Berry, D. Clay Whybark, and Thomas E. Vollmann,
Manufacturing Planning and Control for Supply Chain Management, 6th ed.,
McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited, Chennai, 2014.: Chapter 8.
Production Activity Control

2. Richard J. Tersine, Production/Operations Management, Second Edition, North

Holland, 1985.: Chapter 18. ‘Scheduling and Operations Control’ for topic such
as Gantt Chart (progress chart) and Load chart

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