mgt305a8

Note: The following problem is fictitious but employs names of, and news from, real organizations. The idea is to increase the reality of the situation, and to improve your awareness of various industries and organizations.

You are working as a summer intern at Positrol Workholding, a small Cincinnati company that manufactures machine parts. The director of operations has asked you to review the company’s practices for scheduling customer orders. Currently, the company schedules work on a first come, first served (FCFS) basis.

The director of operations is wondering whether a shortest processing time (SPT) or earliest due date (EDD) sequencing rule might work better.

Using the data table in Table 1, compare the effectiveness of the current and two alternative sequencing rules.

Table 1: Job Scheduling Data

Job	Date Order Received	Operating Time	Due Date
XC	Mar 3	5.1	12
EFF	Mar 20	3.2	20
ABC	Feb 2	4.5	10
RBP	Feb11	6.0	16
SDS	Mar 8	2.9	18

For evaluating the “goodness” of the alternatives, focus on the average flow time, the number of late jobs, and the average lateness that results with each rule.