Reducing Manufacturing Flow Times: Job Shop Simulation and Reconfiguration

Smaller production companies, such as job shops, are often incapable of committing significant human or capital resources for the improvement of manufacturing flow times. However, there is considerable demand in these organizations for solutions that offer improvements without the risk involved in expending these resources. This paper investigates the impact of scheduling rules and reorganization (group technology) of manufacturing flows on a job shop as a low-cost solution to flow time improvement. It is proposed that a substantial reduction in flow times may be possible through the implementation of these alternatives. To ascertain these results, actual data from a job shop was used to aid in developing a simulation of their shop layout. With an initial baseline model, possible solutions were simulated to attain optimal flow times. The results indicated that the incorporation of scheduling rules and group technology led to a reduction in job arrival and process variation, which led to a significant reduction in flow times.