Open Access

ARTICLE

Heuristic Scheduling of Job Orders in a Build-to-Order Manufacturing System

Chia-Nan Wang¹, Chien-Chang Chou², Yu-Chi Chung^1,*, Nguyen Ky Phuc Phan³, Van Thanh Nguyen⁴, Viet Tinh Nguyen⁴

1 Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, 80778, Taiwan
2 Department of Shipping Technology, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, 80778, Taiwan
3 Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, International University, Ho Chi Minh City, 70000, Vietnam
4 Faculty of Commerce, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, 70000, Vietnam

* Corresponding Author: Yu-Chi Chung. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Impact of Industry 4.0 on Supply Chain Management and Optimization)

Computer Systems Science and Engineering 2022, 40(3), 1059-1072. https://doi.org/10.32604/csse.2022.018259

Received 03 March 2021; Accepted 02 May 2021; Issue published 24 September 2021

Abstract

With the continuous development of technology, traditional manual work has been becoming more and more automated. Most large or medium-sized companies have applied Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software into their business and production activities. However, since many small firms cannot afford ERP because of its expensive cost, they often still employ manual work for the same tasks this software resolves, especially for scheduling. This paper aims to provide a possible solution for small businesses to try automated scheduling and discover whether it can help much. There are two main ways to make this determination: a mathematical model and a heuristic model, which are suitable for assessing low- and medium-sized workloads, respectively. This case study was carried out in a small domestic interior furniture company, particularly in scheduling for their customized products in two-stage flow shop. Normally, they produce according to the sequence of customers’ orders. However, when we applied these supportive tools with batch-processing machines, they experienced enhanced production performance due to diminishing setup time for distinctive items and a more streamlined arrangement of job sequences. These changes were implemented for some small companies that do not use many production stages and have a suitable number of jobs and customers. If this method were applied to larger demands, it would need further improvement and development to become a complete tool that can perform like a part of an ERP system.

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Keywords

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