Session 17

Theory of Constraint (TOC) Scheduling

• Theory of Constraint (TOC) Principles

• Determining Bottleneck Operations

• Information Flow in TOC Scheduling

• Constructing the Product Network

• Drum/Buffer/Rope Concept

• Scheduling Bottleneck Operations

• Process and Transfer Batches

• Repetitive Lot Scheduling

• Concluding Principles

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 Theory of Constraint (TOC)
Principles
1. An hour lost at a bottleneck is an hour lost forever.

2. An hour saved at a non-bottleneck is just a mirage.

3. Bottlenecks govern both throughput and inventory in the system.

4. Schedules should be established by looking at all constraints simultaneously.

5. The process batch should be variable, not fixed.

6. The transfer batch may not, and many times should not, be equal to the process batch.

7. Lead times are the result of a schedule and can't be predetermined.

8. Balance flow, not capacity.

9. The level of utilization of a non-bottleneck is determined not by its own potential but by some
other constraint in the system.

10. Utilization and activation of a resource are not synonymous.

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 Determining the Bottleneck
Operations
• Marucheck's plant has three departments: shaping, pickling and
packing

• Order size = 100 pieces

• Shaping Machines: S/u = 1 hour, Run Time = 1 minute/pc

• Pickling process: one tank with 1 load of 200 units every 4 hours.
(Baskets are loaded while a load is in-process.)

• Packing: four people perform packing, each person producing 25

units/hour.

Which is the bottleneck department?

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 Marucheck's Makeshift
Manufacturing

Dept S/U RT Hr/Batch Units/hr

Shaping (3 machines) 1 hr 1 min/pc 1+100 min/60 100/2.67 * 3

=2.67 hrs =112.5 pcs/hr

Pickling (brine tank) - 4 hrs/batch 4 hrs 200/4=50 pcs/hr

Packing (4 people) - 25 pcs/hr/person 1 hr 4x25=100 pcs/hr

Note: batch size = 100 pcs

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TOC/SERVE Information Flow

5
Sample Product Network

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 Drum/Buffer/Rope Concept

• Drum: The Schedule

• Buffer: Located at Bottleneck Stations
and at Finished Goods
• Rope: Pull Scheduling
at Non-Bottleneck Stations

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Scheduling Bottleneck Operations

8
Process and Transfer Batches

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 Ace Tool
The production manager selected an example order to use
in evaluating benefits and potential costs of the repetitive
lot concept approach. The transfer batch size is 100 units.
The example order is for a quantity of 1,000 units and has
the following routing data:
____________________________________________
Work
Operation center Setup time _Run time/unit__
1 1 40 minutes 2.4 minutes/unit
2 2 20 minutes 1.44 minutes/unit
____________________________________________

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 Ace Tool
a. Assuming a single-shift, eight-hour day, five-day period for work
centers l and 2, prepare a Gantt chart showing the earliest start-
and finish-time schedule for this order under a conventional
scheduling approach where all items in the order are processed at
one time. Do the same when the repetitive lot concept is used.
What are the earliest start and finish times for each transfer batch
at work center 2, assuming none of the transfer batches are
processed together to save setup time?

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 Ace Tool Solution
b. What's the difference in the order-completion times under the two
scheduling approaches in part a above?

Under No Transfer Option:

Work center 1: 2.4 min./unit X 1,000 units + 40 min. setup time
= 2,440 min. or 40.67 hours.
Work center 2: 1.44 min./unit X 1 ,000 units + 20 min. setup time
= 24.33 hours.
(The last operation is completed at hour 65.0 at work center 2.)

Under Transfer Option:

Work center 1: 2.4 min./unit X 1,000 units + 40 min. setup time
=2,440 min. or 40.67 hours.
Work center 2:
• First batch starts as early as 40 min. + 100 X 2.4 = 280 minutes or 4.67
hours.
• Each batch of 100 takes 4 hours to process at work center 1 and
20 min. + 1.44 min/unit X 100 = 164 min. or 2.73 hours on work center 2.
• The last batch can clear work center 2 as early as hour 43.40.

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 Ace Tool Solution (continued)
c.What are the benefits and potential costs of this scheduling approach?

•Shorter production lead time

•Less work-in-process inventory
•Improved customer service

Costs Using Transfer batches: There could be as many as 10 setups required

at work center 2 if none of the batches were run under the common setup.
Such a schedule is shown below.

Work Center 2
Under Transfer Batches
Batch # Early Start Time Time Batch # Early Start Time Time
1 4.67 7.4 6 24.67 27.4
2 8.67 11.4 7 28.67 31.4
3 12.67 15.4 8 32.67 35.4
4 16.67 19.4 9 36.67 39.4
5 20.67 23.4 10 40.67 43.4 13
 Repetitive Lot Scheduling
Consider the following data for three jobs processed in the boring machine
center for Conway Manufacturing.
________________________________________________
Setup time Run time/
Job (minutes) unit(minutes) Batch size
A 15 .05 200
B 10 .15 100
C 20 .10 200
________________________________________________

Queue data for the boring machine center:

Arrival Arrival
Job time Job time Job Arrival time
A 8:24 B 8:40 B 9:12
B 8:28 C 8:42 C 9:14
C 8:31 C 8:44 A 9:18
A 8:34 A 8:57 B 9:21
B 8:39 A 9:03 B 9:31
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 Boring Machine Center
a. If the boring machine center used a. first-come/first-served rule to
schedule jobs, how long would it take to process the queue?
(Assume no other jobs arrive, all jobs in queue are for one batch
each, and a job B has just been completed.)
Start Setup Run
Job Time Time Time Completion Time
A 8:24 AM 15 min. 10 8:49 AM
B 8:49 AM 10 15 9:14 AM
C 9:14 AM 20 20 9:54 AM
A 9:54 AM 15 10 10:19 AM
B 10:19 AM 10 15 10:44 AM
B 10:44 AM 15 10:59 AM
C 10:59 AM 20 20 11:39 AM
C 11:39 AM 20 11:59 AM
A 11:59 AM 15 10 12:24 PM
A 12:24 PM 10 12:34 PM
B 12:34 PM 10 15 12:59 PM
C 12:59 PM 20 20 1:39 PM
A 1:39 PM 15 10 2:04 PM
B 2:04 PM 10 15 2:29 PM
B 2:29 PM 15 2:44 PM

First-come, first-served finish time is 2:44 P.M.

Total flow time is 6 hours, 20 minutes. 15
 Boring Machine Center
b. How long would it take to process all jobs in the queue using a
repetitive lot logic?
Arrival Start Setup Run Completion
Job Time Time Time Time Time
A 8:24 AM 8:24 AM 15 10 8:49
A 8:34 AM 8:49 AM 10 8:59 AM
A 8:56 AM 8:59 AM 10 9:09 AM
A 9:03 AM 9:09 AM 10 9:19 AM
A 9:18 AM 9:19 AM 10 9:29 AM
B 8:28 AM 9:29 AM 10 15 9:54 AM
B 8:39 AM 9:54 AM 15 10:09 AM
B 8:40 AM 10:09 AM 15 10:24 AM
B 9:12 AM 10:24 AM 15 10:39 AM
B 9:21 AM 10:39 AM 15 10:54 AM
B 9:31 AM 10:54 AM 15 11:09 AM
C 8:31 AM 11:09 AM 20 20 11:49 AM
C 8:42 AM 11:49 AM 20 12:09 PM
C 8:44 AM 12:09 PM 20 12:29 PM
C 9:14 AM 12:29 PM 20 12:49 PM

Finish time is 12:49 P.M. 16

Total flow time is 4 hours, 25 minutes.
 Concluding Principles
• The MPC framework is useful in assessing where a
particular approach or system fits within the system.

• There is no "ultimate weapon'' in MPC systems. Firms

should continually evaluate improvements.

• A working MPC system should be in place before you

undertake improvements.

• You should concentrate on bottleneck resources to focus

material planning and capacity planning on the vital few.

• Variable lot sizes should be used to reduce

manufacturing lead time and reduce work-in-progress
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