Optimizing the order and timing of individual processes to improve efficiency and reduce waiting times.
Production planning and control: A process that involves determining the requirements for products or services and scheduling the resources needed to meet those requirements.
Capacity planning and management: The process of determining the amount of capabilities and resources required to meet demand.
Job sequencing and scheduling: The process of scheduling jobs in an order that minimizes waiting times, reduces lead times, and maximizes efficiency.
Load balancing: The process of distributing workloads evenly across resources to optimize capacity utilization.
Critical path analysis: A technique used in project management to identify the sequence of activities that are essential to meeting project deadlines.
Gantt charts: A visual tool that presents a project schedule in the form of a chart, showing the start and end dates of a project's activities and their duration.
Material requirement planning: A system that plans and schedules the materials needed for production or operations.
Lean manufacturing: An approach to production scheduling that focuses on minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency.
Just in time (JIT) manufacturing: A scheduling system that focuses on producing products as they are needed, rather than producing them in advance.
Theory of constraints: A management philosophy that aims to optimize production by identifying and improving the weak links in the manufacturing process.
Forward scheduling: This is the most common type of scheduling used in operations management. It involves scheduling tasks from the earliest start time, working forward to the final completion date.
Backward scheduling: This type of scheduling involves scheduling tasks from the final completion date and working backward to determine the earliest start date.
Gantt chart scheduling: This scheduling method involves creating a visual timeline or Gantt chart to represent tasks and their timelines. It is commonly used to manage complex projects.
Critical path scheduling: This type of scheduling identifies the critical path, or the sequence of tasks that must be completed in a particular order to ensure a project is completed on time.
Resource-constrained scheduling: This type of scheduling takes into account the availability of resources, such as personnel or materials, when scheduling tasks.
Job shop scheduling: This type of scheduling is used in manufacturing environments where different orders require different sequences of operations.
Flow shop scheduling: This type of scheduling is used in manufacturing environments where a series of operations must be performed on a product in a specific sequence.
Dispatching: This involves assigning tasks to workers or machines based on their availability, skill level, and other factors.
Sequencing: This involves determining the best sequence in which to perform operations to optimize efficiency and minimize costs.
Production scheduling: This involves planning and scheduling production processes to ensure that products are delivered on time and at the lowest possible cost.