Impact of Real‐time Information for Scheduling a Car‐body Shop – A Simulation Study

In a system where two material flows with sequence dependency are matched, the use of real‐time information to monitor and control the sequencing buffer improves the system′s ability to schedule many different models, compared with a system with no information at all. In the latter case, the system is upset considerably when more than four different models enter the system. Shows how the performance of a car‐body shop is affected when real‐time information about progress in sub‐systems is available to the scheduler. A case study at a car plant and a simulation study were carried out.