Decision Sciences Journal
Volume 30, Number 2
Spring 1999
Supporting Quick Response Through Scheduling of Make-to-Stock
Production/Inventory Systems
M. Eric Johnson and Gary Scudder
Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
TN 37203, eric.johnson@owen.vanderbilt.edu;
scudderg@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
ABSTRACT
Scheduling of traditional job shops in make-to-order systems
has seen extensive research over the past three decades. In such
systems, performance is often related to various job completion
metrics such as average flow time, average lateness, etc. This
paper examines a scheduling problem in a make-to-stock environment
where individual job completion measures are irrelevant. In this
case, customer orders are satisfied through on-hand inventory
where customer service is more closely related to the manufacturer’s
ability to quickly satisfy demand. We consider the role of scheduling
in reducing inventories and improving customer service in the
context of a manufacturer who assembles several different products
on a single assembly line. We develop scheduling rules for such
a system and experimentally compare their performance to those
typically used in such environments. Our results indicate that
rules which consider the inventory position and demand forecast
outperform traditional fixed cycle rules.
Subject Areas: Integer/Binary Programming, Master Scheduling,
Production and Inventory Control Systems, Repetitive Manufacturing,
and Simulation. |