Work Scheduling through Manufacturing Cells

Aspects of work undertaken at a large sheet metal‐manufacturing facility are examined. The adoption of a new strategy involved the creation of a cell layout together with new systems of control. It is shown that the proper choice and use of appropriate scheduling rules have a considerable effect on performance criteria. With adequate resources and retrieval of information from the MRP system, the use of structured rules enables the master production schedule to be revised to reflect changes in the anticipated demand and capacity.