Research Article Open Access

Design of a Finite Capacity Scheduling System for Bakery Operations (Flow shop Environment)

Abstract

Delivery reliability and responsiveness are key competitive performance goals for manufacturers in the bakery industry. The firm loses market share and customer goodwill when orders are delivered late. However, orders which are produced earlier than the due date attract high inventory holding costs. This paper presents the design of a Finite Capacity Scheduling System (FCSS) for optimum sequencing of daily bakery orders at a local bakery in Zimbabwe. The main objective of the FCSS was to generate a schedule that minimized the penalties caused by the late delivery and early production of a set of final orders. The system was a simulation-based tool capable of capturing real-time data of the resource status and order schedules so as to generate the optimum schedule based on the comparison of five heuristic sequencing rules using a basis objective function. The system established the optimum schedule for the defined set of orders before they were launched onto the shop floor and posted the results to an external excel spreadsheet for analysis and decision making by stakeholders.

M. T.Dewa, S. Mhlanga L. Masiyazi, D. Museka

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