A newshop-based and predictive scheduling heuristic for cellular manufacturing

In this paper we develop a new efficiency-oriented subfamily queue selection heuristic for the cellular manufacturing environment. With the goal of minimizing aggregate times required for major sequence-dependent machine setups at a work centre, this heuristic includes a feature for dynamically assessing variations in a subfamily's arrival rate, enhancing its suitability for realistic transient-state conditions. Computer simulation is used to test the heuristic against several well known alternatives under various experimental conditions. The results indicate superior flowtime and due date performance by the new heuristic in a variety of situations.