Title: Performance measurement of dispatching rules in hybrid flow shop

Authors: Sook Mun Toh; Hasnida Ab-Samat; Shahrul Kamaruddin

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Campus Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Seberang Perai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Campus Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Seberang Perai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Campus Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Seberang Perai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Abstract: Production scheduling often poses a huge challenge due to the ever-changing production environment and competitive global market. The changes result to various layout design modifications from simple flow line and job shop to hybrid flow shop (HFS). This research is conducted to determine a scheduling rule suitable for the HFS production area. Simple and combined priority dispatching rules are tested to identify the most effective rule in producing products on time and to avoid penalties caused by production delay. WITNESS software is utilised to develop the production line layout model and to simulate scheduling rules. The rules are then analysed through one-way analysis of variance. Newman-Keul's test is performed to compare the significant difference of each rule from the others. Analysis shows that the shortest imminent rule is the most significant rule that can be implemented in the production environment to achieve effective scheduling and maximised throughput.

Keywords: layout design; hybrid flow shops; HFS; production scheduling; dispatching rules; WITNESS; analysis of variance; ANOVA; flow shop scheduling; modelling; simulation; throughput; performance measurement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2013.058214

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2013 Vol.6 No.4, pp.345 - 360

Received: 12 Aug 2012
Accepted: 08 Jul 2013

Published online: 18 Jul 2014 *

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