Scheduling across the supply chain

Work undertaken in collaboration with BPICS, Cincom (UK) Ltd and ICI Engineering supported by funding from the EPSRC (CDP). The project reviewed planning and scheduling procedures in over 30 industrial companies over a two‐year period to establish best practice in shop‐floor scheduling and to identify the key factors for scheduling success. Outlines the research approach briefly to provide a framework for the analysis of scheduling performance by industrial sector and by scheduling tool. This includes a powerful method for the performance measurement of supply‐chain management systems which allows the comparison of effectiveness in different operating environments and when using a variety of scheduling approaches. Important elements of the project were the review and comparison of scheduling performance in conventional MRPII environments (usually a manual activity based on expediting or the use of shop floor control) with that of more recent finite capacity‐based tools and a classification of scheduling approaches. Some clear lessons have been learned. Concludes by presenting these along with an outline of the success factors which underpin effective scheduling performance in the range of best practice companies identified.