Production scheduling: An interactive graphical approach

Abstract This project developed an interactive computer graphics approach to construction and modification of schedules for a work center. The system handles problems involving sequence-dependent setup times for products of the work center and penalties for both early and late completion of jobs. A schedule of jobs is displayed as a Gantt chart. Jobs appear as color-coded bars whose lengths represent setup and processing times. If a job follows another of the same color, there is no setup time. The user can manually revise a schedule by “drag and drop” manipulation of the job icons and can invoke built-in routines to automatically reschedule. The system displays a number of quality measures and other schedule implications to aid the user in evaluating schedules.