Objectives and Functions of Operations Scheduling

Scheduling is the process of arranging, controlling and optimizing work and workloads in a production process or manufacturing process. Scheduling is used to allocate plant and machinery resources, plan human resources, plan production processes and purchase materials. Scheduling brings order to what would otherwise be a chaotic situation. Designing and sticking to a schedule is an everyday activity for most people.

It is an important tool for manufacturing and engineering, where it can have a major impact on the productivity of a process. In manufacturing, the purpose of scheduling is to minimize the production time and costs, by telling a production facility when to make, with which staff, and on which equipment. Production scheduling aims to maximize the efficiency of the operation and reduce costs.

Operations scheduling helps in the confirmation or the revision of the tentative delivery date that has been promised in the original quotation. Sometimes during the operations scheduling of the work order, it may be discovered that the delivery date originally and tentatively promised cannot be met. All this may be due to the several problems like the materials that are required may not be available at that particular time or may not be available immediately. This problem can also occur due to the increased plant loading while the customer is deciding whether or not to award the quoted job to this company.

Companies use scheduling to get the best performance from existing capacity, human resources, and facilities and equipment. This also includes minimizing idle time and overtime, and getting the best performance from the resources allocated to the task.

It has been observed that the operations scheduling has a direct effect on the effectiveness of the production function and this relation was actually explained by Vollman. According to Vollman, “The priority planning and the shop floor control and the scheduling elements ultimately determine the performance of the production system.”

If the operations scheduling is carried out in an efficient manner, then there occurs a considerable improvement in the performance in the delivery. Also helps in the achievement of the goals that have been set by the company. Efficient operations scheduling playa a very critical part in the reduction of the production lead times.

Objectives of the Operations Scheduling

• Making efficient use of the labour.
• Making best possible use of the equipments that are available for the use.
• Increasing the profit.
• Increasing the output.
• Improving the service level.
• Maximizing the delivery performance i.e. meeting the delivery dates.
• Minimizing the inventory.
• Reducing the manufacturing time.
• Minimizing the production costs.
• Minimizing the worker costs.

Functions of the operations scheduling

• Allocation of the resources.
• Shop floor control.
• Making maximum use of the plant at minimum possible cost.
• Ensure that the needs of the manpower are optimum.
• Determination of the sequence of the jobs.
• Specifying the start and the end time for each job (actively scheduled).
• Getting quick feedback from the shops regarding the delays and the various interruptions.
• Possess up – to – date information for the availability of the materials, expected delivery dates etc.
• Possess up – to – date data on the machine regarding its breakdown, servicing etc.
• Keep itself abreast of the hiring, dismissals, holidays etc. of the work force.