JIT APPROACH TO INTEGRATING PRODUCTION ORDER SCHEDULING AND PRODUCTION ACTIVITY CONTROL

Two of the most desirable features in integrating production order scheduling and production activity control is sustaining a finite workcentre capacity assumption for accurate production order scheduling, and efficiently performing a what-if sensitivity analysis to handle the dynamic uncertainties in production activity control. A finite workcentre capacity assumption leads to too many constraints that tends to slow down the computation process, and a what-if analysis tends to put too much strain on the design of the database system for production activity control With a finite workcentre capacity and what-if sensitivity analysis capability as the basis, a holistic approach towards production planning and control is emphasized in this paper by simplifying the system based on JIT principles such as shallow levels in bill of material, a pull type backward planning and a clear identification of the type of operational environment for which the designed system is readily applicable, and data integrity by tight integration of the various modules in production planning and control. As an illustration, a system is designed and has been successfully applied to a rapidly changing made-to-order printed circuit board manufacturing environment.