Operations Management: Operations Scheduling

Overview/Description
Operations scheduling involves the distribution and use of an organization’s resources – in other words, its human resources, equipment, and facilities – to produce the goods and services needed to meet forecasted customer demand. Two important activities within the scheduling function are loading and sequencing. Loading means assigning production-related work to appropriate organizational resources. Sequencing establishes the order for performing the work needed to meet production priorities and targets. These scheduling activities enable operations managers to optimize the use of organizational resources during production. This course presents basic concepts about scheduling in both manufacturing and service organizations. It walks you through the main objectives, benefits, and levels of scheduling. Using the example of staff scheduling in a service situation, it explores the practical considerations of scheduling. The course also discusses two approaches to loading work centers and helps you understand how to use various sequencing rules to schedule work orders.

Target Audience
Anyone working in operations management or another functional area, who is looking to gain a working understanding of the operations functions in a service or manufacturing organization

Expected Duration (hours)
1.0

Lesson Objectives

Operations Management: Operations Scheduling

identify the main objectives of scheduling

identify the key areas with which each level of scheduling is concerned

identify the main challenges of scheduling of staff in a service environment

calculate the minimum number of employees needed daily and weekly in a given service related scenario

match approaches to loading work centers with their characteristics

sequence jobs using a variety of sequencing rules