Rights statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Production Research on 15/12/2020, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207543.2020.1857451
Accepted author manuscript, 1.17 MB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Direct Workload Control
T2 - Simplifying Continuous Order Release
AU - Fernandes, Nuno Octavio
AU - Thurer, Matthias
AU - Stevenson, Mark
N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Production Research on 15/12/2020, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207543.2020.1857451
PY - 2022/2/28
Y1 - 2022/2/28
N2 - Workload Control withholds orders from the shop floor in a backlog from which they are released to meet certain performance metrics. This release decision precedes the execution of orders at shop floor stations. For each station there are consequently three types of workload: indirect, released work that is still upstream of the station; direct, work that is currently at the station; and, completed, work that is still on the shop floor but is downstream of the station. Most release methods control an aggregate workload made up of some representation of at least two of these three workload types. Yet the core objective of Workload Control release methods relates to only one of the three types – that is, to create a small, stable direct load in front of each station. Clearly, order release would be greatly simplified if only the direct load had to be considered. Using discrete event simulation, we show that Direct Workload Control leads to performance levels that match those of more complex and sophisticated approaches to Workload Control. Further, it greatly simplifies continuous order release, decentralising the release decision by allowing it to be executed at each gateway station. This has important implications for research and practice.
AB - Workload Control withholds orders from the shop floor in a backlog from which they are released to meet certain performance metrics. This release decision precedes the execution of orders at shop floor stations. For each station there are consequently three types of workload: indirect, released work that is still upstream of the station; direct, work that is currently at the station; and, completed, work that is still on the shop floor but is downstream of the station. Most release methods control an aggregate workload made up of some representation of at least two of these three workload types. Yet the core objective of Workload Control release methods relates to only one of the three types – that is, to create a small, stable direct load in front of each station. Clearly, order release would be greatly simplified if only the direct load had to be considered. Using discrete event simulation, we show that Direct Workload Control leads to performance levels that match those of more complex and sophisticated approaches to Workload Control. Further, it greatly simplifies continuous order release, decentralising the release decision by allowing it to be executed at each gateway station. This has important implications for research and practice.
KW - Bipolar disorder
KW - Decision making
KW - Qualitative
KW - Risk taking
U2 - 10.1080/00207543.2020.1857451
DO - 10.1080/00207543.2020.1857451
M3 - Journal article
VL - 60
SP - 1424
EP - 1437
JO - International Journal of Production Research
JF - International Journal of Production Research
SN - 0020-7543
IS - 4
ER -