The quality of a company’s production schedule links directly to its cost of production. The schedule, and the constraints it embodies, can restrict or enable the efficient utilisation of the company’s resources and ultimately its success.
Scheduling problems exist in many forms and guises but all essentially come down to specifying when activities are to be undertaken and what resources to use for them. Activities may be as varied as fitting a car door, processing a batch of chemicals, driving a bus or taking an exam. Resources can generally be grouped into people, machines and raw materials. Usually there are many constraints that the schedule must respect, the most common ones being to do with resource availability or temporal relationships between activities. Almost certainly, finding a good or optimal schedule is extremely hard. Over recent years, with the advance of computing power and the wider availability of powerful scheduling tools, some of these hard problems may now be attempted. Software systems exist for common problems and modelling languages allow experts to build tailored solutions for specific needs.
The advance of graphical user interfaces has also had a part to play in the practical implementation of scheduling tools. Almost always, there will be exceptional situations which are beyond the scope of the tool, which users must be able to handle manually. Making a manual change is rarely simple because of the constraints but a graphical representation can help guide the users towards the best alternatives. Equally, the graphical presentation of the schedule allows for better understanding of it and the processes it is encapsulating.
Also known as
Timetabling, Rostering or Sequencing
Our Capabilities
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Problem Structuring |
Understanding a problem is always the first step to solving it. Having been to visit the company/site in question and gathered information on the scheduling problem, we will produce a comprehensive document describing in detail, all the activities, resources and constraints involved. |
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Rapid Prototyping |
With an understanding of the scheduling problem, we can, working closely with the client, quickly build a prototype scheduling engine. This may take into account all of the problem or just a subset of it. The model will demonstrate our capability, and that of the tools we use, as well as giving the client some automated support to the scheduling process. |
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Systems Implementation |
Our prototype models can be packaged within a stand alone tool to be used operationally by itself or called from another system e.g. An E.R.P. system such as SAP or BaaN. This will allow the user to perform complex scheduling assignments at the touch of a button. |
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Decision Support Systems |
Decision Support Systems help users by guiding their choices and making suggestions. Our models can include the ability to ask and get sensible answers to what-if? type questions. Some examples might be what if we had another two operators? or what if one of the machines broke down? |
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Strategic Reviews |
Over the longer term, a company must look at the assets it requires to carry out its business. We can help by modelling the resource flows and processes to determine the optimal requirements and locations for resources. E.g. How many machines do we need? What sort should they be? |
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Package Selection |
We can assist in the selection of scheduling packages: understanding the problem, structuring it and analysing whether particular packages will be suitable and/or what sort of customisation would be needed. We can also advise on the possibility of bespoke solutions as described above. |
Business Benefits
- Increased utilisation of resources
- Reduced cost of production
- Quicker production times
- Schedule robustness
- Reduced human error
- Better understanding of the business
- The ability to react quickly for operational reasons
- The ability to react quickly to specific customer requests
- Less reliance on key personnel to produce a schedule
Common scheduling problems
Production line sequencing, Job-shop scheduling, Flow-shop scheduling, Transport scheduling, Personnel rostering, Academic timetabling, Sports event scheduling.
Related Success Stories
Vehicle Launch PlanningWe have worked with a leading automotive client to produce production plans for
the launches of several new vehicles. The model contributes to the planning process
by: Bringing issues and potential problems into the open well in advance of a
model launch; Scheduling of production to make full use of capacity; Spreading
the pain of minor production limitations; Impact analysis of late changes in production
capacity to inform strategic decision making.
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Annualised HoursWe surveyed available commercial annualised hours rostering packages for the
transportation arm of a major domestic energy supplier. The selected rostering
package was driven by workload profiles which determine the number of employees
required to be available each hour of the day.
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At Navion, Capgemini built a Tanker Scheduling System using ILOG’s Optimisation Suite. This generates schedules taking into account thousands of constraints including labour laws, shipping regulations and refinery production schedules. It also prioritises orders to meet contractual obligations, minimise port duties and manages ship servicing. | |
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