Cyclic Schedules as part of a JIT implementation at a laminate plant

We brieey describe a Just-In-Time (JIT) implementation where cyclic schedules play a critical role. Central to the implementation is a clear understanding of the interactions between scheduling, due date quotation, capacity allocation, variability in production and demand, inventory management and customer service. Furthermore, a novelty of this implementation is that we used the new technology of simulation based optimization to compute certain inventory levels. The goal of this paper is to communicate a successful implementation of stochastic cyclic schedules that has had a signiicant impact at the plant level, as well as provide details of the entire implementation (as several changes have been made at the shop oor, the plant and the supply chain levels).