Adaptive/predictive scheduling: review and a general framework

Abstract

Abstract. Effective production scheduling can have a dramatic impact on manufacturing productivity. In modern automated manufacturing systems, the ability to revise and adjust the schedule can help reduce indirect costs which comprise a large portion of manufacturing costs in those systems. The objective of the research discussed here has been to study the feasibility of automatically scheduling multi-machine complexes and adjusting the schedule on a real-time basis by a unified computer system. We arc investigating selective real-time schedule adaptation by distinguishing between schedule generation and regeneration tasks (which might not be cost-effective) from schedule adaptation/recovery tasks (basically, causing less cosily disruption of the original plans). The article describes our general framework for automatic adaptive/predictive scheduling that includes five main functions: scheduler; monitor;comparator; resolvcr; recovery adaptor. Some experimental results demonstrating the effectiveness of the framework are discussed.

Notes

SHIMON Y. NOF is a Professor of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University. His primary teaching, research and consulting interests are in design and control of intelligent production systems, industrial robotics and information systems. His current research projects involve interactive robotics and computerized planners of cooperative work. He has also investigated knowledge-based scheduling and manufacturing decision support systems. Dr Nof is the editor of the Handbook of Industrial Robotics (John Wiley & Sons, 1985), Robotics and Material Flow (Elsevier Science Publishers, 1986), consulting editor of Wiley's International Encyclopedia of Robotics (1988) and Concise International Encyclopedia Robotics Applications and Automation (1990), and co-editor of Advanced Information Technologies for Industrial Material Flow (Springer Verlag, 1989). Dr Nof is a Fellow of HE and a member of ACM and TIMS.

F. HANK GRANT is Director of the Measurement and Manufacturing Systems Laboratory at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, He graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor, Masters, and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering. Prior to joining Hewlett-Packard, Dr Grant worked at Pritsker & Associates from 1975 through 1981, when he was Vice-President in charge of government contraction activities. The contracts included many development and application projects, specializing in the development of new simulation systems, as well as the application of simulation in solving industrial type problems. From 1981 to 1983, Dr Grant was an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Evansville. In 1983 he rejoined P&A, and was involved in a variety of consulting activities. He also focused on the development of FACTROL and its first product, FACTOR. On April 1, 1985, Dr Grant became FACTROL's President. Dr Grant has published numerous technical papers in various journals. He is a member of ORSA, TIMS, HE, and Tau Beta Pi. As the fifth employee with P&A, Dr Grant's experience included the initial start-up growth phase of P&A. Throughout his career with P&A and FACTROL, he has had extensive experience in managing large scale software development efforts, was heavily involved in the growth of both companies and their management, and was involved in marketing and sales of software products and consulting services.