Dispatching Rule based on Chromaticity and Color Sequence Priorities for the Gravure Printing Operation

Abstract

This paper presents a method to measure the similarity of assigned jobs in the gravure printing operation based on the chromaticity and color sequence, and order the jobs accordingly. The proposed dispatching rule can be used to fulfill diverse manufacturing site requirements because the parameters can be adjusted to prioritize chromaticity and color sequence. In general, dispatching rules either ignore the job-changing time or require that the time be clearly defined. However, in the gravure printing operation targeted in this study, it is difficult to apply the general dispatching rule because of the difficulties in quantifying the job-changing time. Therefore, we propose a method for generalizing assignment rules of the job planner, allocating relative similarity among assigned jobs, and determining the sequence of jobs accordingly. Chromaticity priority is determined by the arrangement of the color assignments in the printing operation; color sequence priority is determined by the addition, deletion, or change in a specific color sequence. Finally, the job similarity is determined by the dot product of the chromaticity and color sequence priorities. Implementation of the proposed dispatching rule at an actual manufacturing site showed the planner present the same job order as that obtained using the proposed rule. Therefore, this rule is expected to be useful in industrial sites where clear quantification of the job-changing time is not possible.