Shop Control Research Articles

A Loading and Balancing Methodology for Job Shop Control

An algorithmic procedure is devised for loading and releasing work to a job shop environment. The objective of the procedure is the control and balance of workloads in the shop. The importance of s...

Load Forecasting, Priority Sequencing, and Simulation in a Job Shop Control System

This paper reports the development, installation and evaluation of a simulation which sequences shop operations for the next shift. Simulation outputs give each foreman the priority of jobs currently in his section and those jobs which might be coming through his area during the next work period. The foreman can determine in advance what tools, raw materials, etc., are needed and obtain them, thus tending to eliminate queue time for hot jobs. In three months of operation, the simulation has been more successful than initially expected. Coordination and expediting efforts have been reduced, in-process inventory has been reduced along with worker idle time, and schedule performance has improved. An additional important result noted during this time is an enlargement of the foreman's job. He has less need for coordinators and expediters since he has the information needed to make rational decisions on sequencing the work. This effort illustrates the practicality and desirability of incorporating advanced concepts into operating systems if the system's demands on working personnel are made compatible with the objectives and capabilities of the workers.

Shop Control as a Manager Sees It

THE policy of a production manager is frequently held in suspicion by labor, labor feeling that any policy adopted by a production manager will necessarily favor the immediate interests of the owners of the business and therefore be detrimental to labor. This suspicion is the natural outgrowth of a tradition handed down by generations of workers who have uniformly acted on the theory that any move beneficial to the owner must necessarily be against labor's best interests.