A Primer of Job Shop Scheduling

Delta Dynamics Incorporated

Delta Dynamics’ Primer of Job Shop Scheduling is a collection of published articles and Speed to Market management briefings on job shop scheduling, capacity management, reducing lead time, and related topics (eleven articles, 40 pages). It is intended as an educational resource to provide the perspective and information required to understand job shop scheduling and associated problems more fully.  

One of the things we do extremely well at Delta Dynamics is to study and design scheduling and production systems.  We can show you the hidden costs associated with scheduling problems, as well as design a better system that will improve on-time delivery, reduce current costs, and increase customer satisfaction. Call Vincent Bozzone at 248-333-0482 or 248-961-1389 (cell) for a candid discussion of your situation.  There is no cost or obligation for this consultation...but study this Primer first.

 Table of Contents

• Job Shop Scheduling…Tacking Into the Wind.  An overview of factors that make scheduling difficult in job shops and similar order-driven businesses.  Outlines Delta Dynamics’ systems-based solution strategy.

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• When Scheduling is Out of Control.  Originally Chapter 8 in Speed to Market: Lean Manufacturing for Job Shops. This chapter introduces the concept of dynamic scheduling, offers a perspective on “out of control scheduling,” and suggests some things you can do to get it back under control.

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• You Can’t Put Ten Pounds of Anything in a Five Pound Bag.  Describes how on-time ship performance is destroyed by overselling capacity, not managing work in process adequately, and relying on an organization chart model to manage your business.

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• Level Loading in a Job Shop?  Describes the problems associated with trying to level–load work in an order–driven environment, and suggests managing capacity as a more effective method for handling the erratic nature of demand in this type of business.

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• How Not to Manage Capacity in a Job Shop.  This article, from our correspondent in the field, describes the chaos created by uneven demand in his shop, and management’s efforts to deal with it.  Many shops fail to actively manage capacity, which extends lead times, and is a major cause of late shipments. 

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• The Ins and Outs of Job Shop Quoting.  A critical look at the time-honored practice of lowering your price to increase sales. Could you be loading your shop with unprofitable work because you are blindly following the logic of this rule?

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• Job Shops are Service Businesses.  When you think in service terms, it tends to make you think about how to add value for your customers. Service-oriented companies search out new ways to provide more value, rather than just relying on orders coming in the door.  Includes an exercise that will help you determine how to add value from your customers’ point of view.

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• The Computer is Not the Solution: A Perspective on Job Shop Scheduling.  A job shop owner in Canada who is attempting to make a decision regarding a new computer system wrote us and asked for some guidance.  This article is our response to his request.

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• Do You Know How to Play the Accordion? Managing Capacity in a Job Shop Environment   This article shows how the old and new value paradigms change the rules of competition, and outlines half a dozen strategies you can use to manage capacity to maintain or reduce lead time when the volume of new orders coming into your business varies. The strategies described in this article are not “quick fixes;” rather, they are developmental efforts that must be undertaken to achieve profitable growth in a job shop, order-driven business.

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• Changing the Ground Rules: Cutting Lead Time in Job Shops & Custom Manufacturing Environments.  Cutting lead time is easier said than done. Effective lead time management requires a change in the ground rules of your organization, and is an ongoing process, not a one time event. Changes in thinking as well as the disciplined application of process improvement methods are required. Above all, job shops must be recognized and managed as service businesses that just happen to manufacture things.

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• Hockey Stick Blues   Hockey stick is a term used to describe a pattern common to job shops in which a great effort is expended during the last week of the month to ship as much as possible in order to “make the numbers.” The hockey stick image represents the pattern of more or less equal shipments during the first three weeks of the month with a big spike at the end. Once established, this pattern is inefficient, costly, and very difficult to break. This article describes a work-out strategy

This Primer of Job Shop Scheduling is available as a downloadable PDF file for $29.95.  Proceeds will be used to support the publication of Speed to Market Newsletters, so if you find these valuable and want to see them continue, now's your chance to make a contribution. 
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