Production Scheduling: High Mix/Low Volume, Shared Resource Inspections
Hello Everyone!
I am a Production Scheduler, by trade, and I have to try to figure out how to build a measurable schedule for a work center that is managed entirely by manual, daily prioritization.
This awful shared resource is Inspection. We have a large high mix, low volume machine shop, with complex routings that bounce all over the floor, but which always route through inspection, after each machining operation.
We schedule machines by lot, but for some reason, we schedule Inspection piece by piece, as it shows up to the department (and there is ALOT of material churn and demand, in this department). Whereas we are running machines efficiently in lots, we will dink and dunk through inspections, one or two or three units at a time. Available work changes every day, priority changes every day.
How do I create a measurable schedule for this type of work center? Or is a traditional schedule not the right approach, for a work center that functions like this?
Thanks in advance!