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1) What is Operation Scheduling

Let’s first comprehend the fundamental ideas behind operations scheduling. One of the operations manager’s planning responsibilities is operations scheduling. It is a crucial component of job shop processing. Scheduling in operations management focuses on how to optimize available capacity while taking into account technological production limits. At one or more workstations, it is frequently necessary to process many jobs. Usually, these stations can be used to carry out a range of duties. Waiting lines may begin to form if schedules are carefully arranged to minimize bottlenecks. Scheduling in production and operations management typically occurs after a number of managerial choices have been taken. Planning for emergencies like fire protection, for instance, necessitates a review of the location, equipment, and employees. Work schedules cannot be established until this has been planned. A company can achieve its strategic objectives with effective scheduling.

What are the types of scheduling in operations management?

  1. Workforce scheduling: It basically means scheduling the employees of an organization. Workforce scheduling determines who should work where and with whom.
  2. Operations scheduling: It assigns workers to jobs or jobs to machines. Operations scheduling in job shops involve multiple activities. Let us understand them through an example. 

Example of operations scheduling:

Assume you have the M1, M2, M3, and M4 machines. Let the various positions be A, B, C, D, E, and F. Thus, one of the activities is which machines will be given what jobs. This activity is assigning job orders to different machines. 

Suppose jobs A & B are assigned to M1, and jobs C & D are assigned to M2. Which job should be processed first? This will be based on the priority of the job. So, between A and B, sequencing or prioritization will decide which job needs to be done first. 

Consider machines M1 to M4 are in the milling department. Once milling is done, they may have to go to other departments such as drilling, grinding, packing. This is called planning the route of movement of material from one department to another during processing i.e., which departments will these jobs flow through.  

After planning these activities, a dispatch list is issued to various work centres. It contains information about the work centre at which a customer order should be processed, the sequence of orders to process, and the amount of time the processing should take. 

Expediting ensures that all orders are processed on time, and if there is a delay, the execution is brought back on track. What if operations planning and scheduling is not done in an organization?

Absence of proper scheduling may lead to many problems. 

  • Delays in meeting due dates of customer orders.
  • High Inventory.
  • Higher set up time of machines. (Different example)
  • Higher overall completion time.
  • Uneven workload (Example of activities of scheduling). This in turn will result in low utilization of workers, machines and high cost of operations.

Hence, to avoid such problems, operations scheduling is a must. 

2) What is forward and backward scheduling? Forward scheduling works on the principle of starting as early as possible. For example, there is an order due on day 6, and the manufacturing takes 3 days. Suppose we are on day 0 today. If we apply forward scheduling, we are finishing the job as early as possible. What happens is, even if we finish manufacturing early, some customers want the product on that particular day itself (day 6 in this example). So, for 3 days, it’ll be in the inventory. Hence, inventory goes up in forward scheduling. Backward scheduling works on the principle of scheduling as late as possible. For example, there is an order due on day 6, and the manufacturing takes 3 days. We will start on day 3 even if the machine has been available since day 0. Here, the inventory is lower, but the risk of getting delayed is higher. Because if there are some urgent orders on day 3, one of the orders will have to be compromised.

3)What is finite and infinite loading?

Let us understand another important term of scheduling types in operations management, which is finite and infinite loading. Before jumping on to this topic, first understand what is loading? Loading means assigning tasks to machines or other resources like workers.
Every resource has a maximum production capacity for a normal working day. So, when you keep in mind, this maximum capacity while loading the resources with tasks, it is known as finite loading. It involves assigning tasks in the resources such that the maximum capacity of the resource is not exceeded at any given point in time.Infinite loading means overlooking the max capacity of a resource while assigning tasks to it. This scenario usually happens when you have some orders which have been delayed and you want to catch up or when you have more orders than the capacity and still you want to deliver on time. So, you overload your resources. Workers have to perform overtime or hire more workers.

4)What is workforce scheduling in operations management?

We will see how to develop a workday schedule for the service industry. Organizations that provide services, such as police stations and hospitals, need to have resources available 7 days a week. Now, if the organization also has a policy of giving two consecutive days to each and every resource, then how does the company go about determining which days should be given off to which employees? Let us look at the procedure that helps us schedule resources to operate 7 days a week and at the same time provide each employee with 2 consecutive days off. Example of workforce scheduling: Healthcare

Determine the net requirement of resources for the entire week. Let us take an example of nurses being scheduled in a hospital. So, the net requirement may look like:

Days in a week

Requirement of nurses

Monday

8

Tuesday

9

Wednesday

2

Thursday

12

Friday

7

Saturday

4

Sunday

2

Now, we have to select a unique pair of 2 consecutive days for which the net requirement adds up to be the lowest.

Sometimes you may have a tie for the lowest requirement. How do I prioritize which one to consider? Firstly, you can look at labour agreements. Secondly, you can ask the employee’s preference. And thirdly, you can give any arbitrary day off to the employees (random selection).Give the first employee the days off that we have chosen in steps 1 or 2. Suppose we chose Saturday and Sunday, which have the lowest net requirement and no tie. Then these days will be given to the first employee. Since that employee is going to work for the remaining 5 days, we reduce the net requirements. The net requirements for days become 7, 8, 1, 11, 6, 4, 2. Repeat the same steps for the next employee. Again, the lowest requirement of two consecutive days is Saturday and Sunday. Net requirements for days become 6, 7, 0, 10, 5, 4, 2. And so on for other employees. This type of scheduling is called fixed scheduling. Where every employee is given a fix date or day to work.Sometimes, some organizations go for a rotating schedule. In this type of schedule, the employees may have days off on every day of the week. Suppose in the first week, the employee has Saturday and Sunday off. In the 2nd week, he may have Monday and Tuesday off, and in the 3rd week, he may have Wednesday and Thursday off. Similarly with the shifts. The first week it might be the day shift, and the second week it might be the night shift. So, this type of scheduling gives equal opportunities to all employees.So, depending on the preferences of employees and the type of work, organizations may adopt either of the workforce scheduling systems. 
Introduction to operations scheduling:
Forward and backward scheduling:
Sequencing 'n' jobs on 1 machine:
Sequencing 'n' jobs on 2 machines:
Sequencing 'n' jobs on 3 machines:
Sequencing 'n' jobs on 'm' machines:
Workforce scheduling in service industry:
Workforce scheduling in police department:
Finite and infinite loading:
Workforce scheduling in banks:
Workforce scheduling - Example 1:
Workforce scheduling - Example 2:
Sequencing 2 jobs on 'm' machines: