Production planning and control in textile

industry: A case study

Nikos I. Karacapilidis
GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence Research
Division, Schloss Birlinghoven, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany
Costas P. Pappis
Dept. of Industrial Management, University of Piraeus, 185 34 Piraeus, Greece
This paper presents an interactive model based system for the management of production in textile
production systems focusing on the Master Production Scheduling problem. Because of the special
characteristics of the industry, that is mainly the multi-phase process with multiple units per phase,
different planning horizons and different production requirements for each phase, the scheduling of
these systems becomes quite complex. Apart from a comprehensive presentation of the set of the
modules the system is composed of, together with their interrelationships, the above characteristics
are analyzed, and their impact on the production control system is explained. The system is also
related to two well-known production control systems, namely MRP-II and Optimised Production
Technology. The systems attributes are presented with the aid of data structure diagrams, while the
complete algorithm concerning the Master Production Scheduling module, in a pseudo-code form,
and the corresponding part of the database are illustrated in the Appendix.
Keywords: Master Production Scheduling, Decision Support Systems, Production Planning, MRP-II,
Textile Industry.
1. Introduction
Textile production systems form an interesting area for the study of scheduling problems.
The industry has been developed following both vertical integration, particularly among spinning
and weaving firms, and horizontal integration, promoted by the idea that a full line of textile
products is necessary for effective marketing [1]. Such production systems comprise various
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production phases which are illustrated in Figure 1 together with the type of their output. Weaving
consists of crossing a yarn, called the weft yarn, with several thousands of yarns composing the warp.
Starching is a procedure that comprises synthesis and special treatment of some warps. Warp making
is the arrangement of the warp yarns in parallel on a roll. Each yarn is taken from a bobbin which is
put on a bobbin stand.
This paper describes YFADI, an interactive Decision Support System (DSS) for the
management of production in textile production systems. Focusing on a comprehensive description
of the Master Production Scheduling (MPS) problem, all related production control processes are
presented. The system differs from generic Production Management DSSs, in that it takes into
account the special characteristics of the textile industry. These characteristics are discussed below:
The textile industry imposes a variety of constraints concerning the integration of an overall
scheduling procedure. Typically, a textile production unit is characterized by a multi-phase
manufacturing process with multiple production units per phase (i.e., parallel machines). The mixed
character of a textile production system, which lies between job-shop and flow-shop, makes
production management quite complex. In addition, there are sequence dependent operations, and
different planning horizons and production characteristics for each phase. Consequently, different
production planning algorithms for each phase are required. For example, the weaving process is
characterized by long planning horizons and relatively slow speed of machines, very long setup
times, very large production batches, and mixed order and stock-based production. On the contrary,
the warp making process is characterized by short planning horizons and high speed of machines,
short setup times, small production batches and only orders-based production. The above phases
pose the most complex production scheduling problems.
Additional special characteristics of the textile industry, that have been taken into account in
the development of the YFADI production control system, are the following:
Most textile companies are ageing while the technology changes rapidly. These companies own
machines of different ages and production characteristics, such as processing speed, changeover
possibilities and facilities, etc.

Yarn spinning
& dyeing
Warp
making
Final
product
Finished and/or
dyed clothe
Yarn Unstarched
warp
Starched
warp
Clothe
Starching Weaving
Finishing
& Dyeing
Cutting
& Sewing
Figure 1: The textile manufacturing process.

page 3

The changeover (i.e., setup) times of the machines is dependent on the sequence of jobs on the
machines. Usually, there are two types of changeover times in the weaving phase, the total and the
partial ones, depending on the types of two clothes being processed in sequence. Partial
changeover times take place between two successive related jobs and are much smaller than the
total ones, which refer to unrelated jobs (see Appendix for the definition of relation between jobs).
Minimization of the total setup times is among the most significant objectives in the scheduling of
a textile industrial unit.
Throughout the set of phases, jobs can be splitted and processed in parallel. Nevertheless, job
splitting has to be weighed up with the advantageous results, mainly in terms of quality of
constant processing of a particular job in the same machine.
Simultaneous setting up of the weaving machines which have been charged with the parallel
processing of a particular job should be avoided. It is worth mentioning that the setting-up of a
weaving machine usually requires more than two workers, while only one worker can attend to
the normal operation of about 10 of them.
Textile production systems may be treated as a succession of local problems, one per each
production phase. The coherence of these local problems should be taken into account by
material requirements planning or just-in-time approaches [2].
The rest of the paper is organized as follows: A literature review is given in the next section.
The system architecture is presented in Section 3; the set of modules the system is composed of and
their coordination are also discussed. The MPS problem and the related algorithms that have been
developed for the system are comprehensively described in Section 4 (a pseudo-code form of these
algorithms, and the corresponding part of the database are illustrated in the Appendix), together with
an application example. The relation of YFADI with two well-established production control systems,
MRP-II and Optimised Production Technology (OPT), is illustrated in Section 5. Finally, concluding
remarks are given in Section 6.
2. Literature review
Production/operations management has been the focus of a wide literature covering all
aspects of planning and control of industrial processes [3-7]. Most of the related work has been based
on mathematical analysis and traditional Operational Research methodology. The advent of the
information technology has given rise to new approaches based on direct involvement and interaction
of the user when applying respective decision aids in the form of software tools. Thus, in recent years,
a lot of work has been done in the area of Decision Support and Knowledge Based Management
Support systems with applications in the scheduling of medium and large scale Make-To-Stock (MTS)
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and Make-To-Order (MTO) companies [8-12]. Most of the research in the area has certainly been
aimed at the first category. This is due to the fact that systems developed for MTS environments are
usually reckoned to be also applicable to the MTO ones. Differences in the requirements between the
two categories are extensively presented in [13], focusing on the application areas of production
scheduling, capacity control and setting of delivery dates, and discussing the issue whether the
available research can meet the needs of the MTO sector. However, the distinction made in [13]
between the above two categories of companies is sharp. As argued above, this is not the case in
textile production systems.
DICTUM is an interactive model-based decision support system, worth mentioning for the
analysis and synthesis of large-scale industrial systems [14, 15]. The system has been developed in
order to primarily meet the needs of chemical production systems. Besides elements such as an
information system consisting of data banks and database management systems, it also includes a
flexible model generating system for formulating system models, a simulation and multicriteria
optimization system for evaluation of consumed resources, a sophisticated user interface and
modules for report generation. It is argued that DICTUM is applicable for any complex system
characterized by linear input-output relations. In addition to the development of decision support
systems, various expert systems have been also developed for production scheduling and planning
(see for example [16]). Studies on the evaluation of these approaches reveal that they have been
developed mainly to perform certain scheduling/planning functions just as good as humans do, with
considerably greater speed and less human effort [17]. These systems can generally demonstrate
greater consistency, which is certainly a worthy objective. However, in order to be really helpful in
real production applications, they must have the ability to adjust to new problem environments and
improve their knowledge state. In order to implement advanced systems in the area, key factors seem
to be the ability of enumerating alternatives before changing the problem description, and the
successful employment of embedded algorithmic knowledge. Classical OR approaches have a lot to
contribute to this last point (see for example [18]).
Some of the special problems of the textile industry discussed above have been addressed by
specialized algorithms, based on graph theory [2]. However, they strictly distinguish MTO and MTS
environments, and are not applicable to a hybrid case. In addition, their application to a multi-phase
production line is not reported. As it is made clear in [2], these algorithms allow sequencing of jobs in
the machines only if the jobs succession characteristics are not complex, and are rather inefficient in
terms of computation time and data size. In order to reduce the complexity of the scheduling
problem, multi-phase production systems are often decomposed in separate production units, and
different types of control are introduced [19, 20]. For example, [19] distinguishes between goodsflow
and production unit control, which concern planning and control decisions on the factory and the
production unit level, respectively. Co-ordination of the production process, through the production
units mentioned above, is the basic problem in these systems; it may refer to different production
phases, specific types of jobs, inventory levels, etc.
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Work on the development of an on-line environment for the manager in the textile industry
has been reported in [21, 22]. Again, it addresses only one phase of the production line, namely, the
weaving phase. In this work, previous methods of work allocation in weaving have been investigated
and improvements are suggested. The main motivation behind the development of such an
environment is that a computer simulation of the weave room operations can lead to an efficient
real-time decision making system.
3. The YFADI DSS
YFADI, meaning weft in the Greek language, is a decision support system that has been
developed for the production planning and scheduling of a Greek textile industrial plant. In its first
release it covers the operations of warp making, starching and weaving (the shaded area in Figure 1),
but a future release will cover all the production phases of the industry, that is, from yarn spinning to
the final sewing of clothes. Its main objective is to provide the manager with efficient production
management tools, applicable to the multi-phase production of a variety of products. The alternative
production plans, provided by the system, help the user to make decisions about the production rates
for each product [23-25]. YFADI is characterized by:
Openness: The system has been developed taking into consideration the characteristics of the
textile industry, with its mixed manufacturing type of process, and the variety of the type of the
final product (clothe, textile or warp). Several textile enterprises have been contacted, and the
related users requirements have been identified before the application of the system to the
specific textile enterprise. It was among our main objectives during the development of the
system to keep it open for further applications and extensions. This has been achieved via the
proper identification of the objects involved (e.g. machines, products, shifts, setups, personnel,
planning horizons etc.) and the appropriate design of both the Database and the Model Based
Management System described explicitly in the sequel. Special attention has been also paid to the
modelling of the multi-phase production.
Rapid and efficient data interchange in order to cope with frequent changes in production
schedules and the remoteness of the sites where the various operations often take place.
User-friendliness: Keeping in mind that the textile industry in Europe mainly consists of small
and medium size enterprises and employ mostly persons with limited computer education, the
system requires limited, in time and cost, training of them.
The software of the system consists of three parts: the Database Management System
(DBMS), the Model Based Management System (MBMS) and the User Interface. The commercially
available Oracle RDBMS has been used in our implementation. Its main advantages, in comparison
with a third generation language, are the easiness of model development, the modular design and
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implementation, interoperability within the widely applied operation systems (i.e., DOS, UNIX, etc.),
the unlimited number of records, the possibility of definition of variable length fields that results in
lower system memory requirements, and the encouraging results of previous systems developed on
it. The MBMS has been developed by the research team involved in the project and includes all the
algorithms and models needed. It is written in mixed C and SQL programming languages, with the
aid of Pro*C tool of Oracle RDBMS. The system requires CPU capable of supporting Oracle (i.e., IBM
80386, HP, VAX, etc.). The User Interface, in the first release, has been designed using exclusively
Oracle tools. Furthermore, YFADI may either be a stand-alone system or consist of a server connected
via a network (Ethernet has been selected) with simple terminals, depending on the needs of the
specific user enterprise.
In order to better analyze the user needs and coherently develop the system, the MBMS was
partitioned into the following eight modules (see Figure 2 illustrating the backbone of their
interdependencies), interrelated via the Oracle DBMS:
Forecasting
Orders Processing
Aggregate Production Planning
Master Production Scheduling
Material Requirements Planning
Inventory Control
Purchasing
Work in Progress.
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Master
Production
Scheduling
Aggregate
Production
Planning
Material
Requirement
Planning
Forecasting
Orders
Processing
Inventory
Control
Work In
Progress
Purchasing
Database
Figure 2: The modules of the YFADI Decision Support System.
In particular, the Forecasting module makes the short, medium and long term forecasts and
measures their accuracy. Historical sales data, branch sales, bids results, the time horizon of the
forecasts and some experts' forecasts compose the inputs to the module. Multiple regression analysis,
extrapolative forecasting and an adaptive Holt-Winters forecasting are the methods employed. The
module produces reports containing forecasts, comparative results and graphics for the short,
medium and long term forecasts. The module can be used as a stand-alone decision support system.
The outputs produced are stored in the database and are input to the Aggregate Production Planning
module. Forecasting is particularly important in the textile industry, due to its long planning
horizons.
The Orders Processing (OP) module integrates the customers' orders in a well-structured form
in order to facilitate the follow-up by the manager. Retrieval of orders of a certain customer or a
certain kind of product during a certain period and presentation of the related reports are easily
obtained, due to the design of the database. The manager may alter the policy of the company
concerning a certain customer or product by considering these reports. The module provides input to
the Aggregate Production Planning module.
The Aggregate Production Planning (APP) module deals with the middle-range production
planning problem of the enterprise, with the objective of meeting a varying pattern of demand over a
page 8
horizon of 3 to 15 months. More specifically, the managerial decisions involved in the problem
concern the specification of aggregate production rates, and work force and inventory levels for each
period within the above planning horizon. The decisions taken refer to overtime, work subcontracted,
number of shifts, inventory levels, and production rates. The modules inputs originate from the
Forecasting module and refer to demand estimated for each period of the planning horizon (usually,
per month); the OP module and refer to existing orders; the Inventory Control module and refer to
the existing (on-order, in-progress and available) level of inventories and the consequent make-to-
stock demand; the Database and refer to each products requirements and the status of the
production environment (i.e., availability of machines, number of working days, etc.). As described in
the sequel (Section 3), the module is strongly interrelated with the MPS module. Alternative
aggregate plans for the satisfaction of the total demand are produced and evaluated in the APP
module, considering cost data for overtime, subcontracting, inventory holding and delay of orders.
The best scenario is suggested, the criterion being the total cost minimization. Outputs of the module
are the Aggregate Production Plans (usually per month, but the user can adjust the related
parameter), the Personnel Employment Program, the Machine Utilization Program and various
spreadsheets concerning inventory and subcontracting status. The cumulation of demand for various
products in a total demand has to be performed using a common unit of measurement. For the textile
industry, the machine-hour is the most appropriate planning unit. In other words, all quantities of
demand, either estimated for each period of the planning horizon or originated in the existing orders,
have to be converted and expressed in machine hours. The critical capacity at the APP level is
decided upon the number of the available machine-hours. Overtime production and subcontracting
are quite common options in the textile industry.
The Material Requirement Planning (MRP) module is aimed at the efficient scheduling of the
requirements of raw materials and intermediate products, in order for the necessary quantities to be
available in the right time. Operation Sheets and Bills of Materials are employed. The module is
closely collaborating with the MPS module as it is made clear in the next section. Using a backward
procedure, the MRP module defines the requirements in intermediate products and, finally, in raw
materials in order to fulfil the production schedules. By aggregating the material requirements for
each production order, MRP derives analytical schedules of what is needed (both quantities and due
dates). The main inputs of the module are: the Production Schedules produced by MPS; the Bills of
Materials, that are available in the Database and, the available stocks that are provided by the
Inventory Control module. The MRP module also collaborates with the Inventory Control and
Purchasing modules providing information concerning quantities of materials already available and
ordered, respectively.
The Inventory Control (IC) module deals with the management of the inventory of each
product. Attention is given both to MTS and MTO products. Safety stocks, re-order points and
economic order quantities (EOQ) are determined and the size of lots for batch production is
evaluated. The module is updated about the reserved inventory by the MPS, and calculates the
page 9
actual inventory status by obtaining daily (or, periodically, upon users wish) data from the Work in
Progress and Purchasing modules. The main outputs here are spreadsheets concerning the safety
stocks, re-order points, EOQs for the made-to-stock products, available inventories of raw
materials and finished products, in-progress and on-order inventories. Such reports can be easily
classified per kind of product, supplier, size, quality requirements, place of storage, usage, date of
entry, availability, etc.
The Purchasing module deals with the evaluation of alternative schedules for the supply of
the necessary materials, considering various cost elements and quality requirements. The module is
fed with data from the MRP, concerning the scheduled materials requirements; the IC module,
concerning the available stocks and the Database, concerning costs and lead times for alternative
suppliers. The module specifies the best placement of orders. Algorithms have been developed for
the appraisal of various suppliers, combined with possible quantity discounts. After the orders have
been placed, the module monitors their progress. Every time an order arrives, the IC module is
updated. Reports about orders in progress, orders received or delayed, and order cost and quantity
are some of those produced by the module.
The Work in Progress module, based on data on the current production situation concerning
each work centre, reports on the progress regarding the implementation of schedules. The module
receives information about the production status of each work center and the progress of each order,
and compares them with the scheduled ones (usually on a daily basis). As a next step, the IC and the
MPS modules are informed about the actual production situation and any eventual deviations. The
user may alter previous production schedules, through the MPS module, taking these deviations into
account. Two main reports are available: one about the progress of the orders and another about the
progress of each work center (including machines and personnel). Aggregated data are also
produced, concerning deviations for long term production periods, aiming at adjusting the
corresponding parameters of the MPS module, in order for the latter to be more effective in the
future.
4. The Master Production Scheduling module
The MPS module is at the core of the MBMS. For a predefined time horizon, usually between
3 and 6 months, it helps the manager to determine the exact quantities to be daily produced and the
corresponding jobs sequencing and machine loading. As mentioned above, the variety in the form of
customers' orders (clothes, textiles or warps) and the multitude of phases in the textile industry make
scheduling not an easy task. Figure 3 illustrates the scheduling procedure implemented in our system.
It refers to the weaving, starching and warp making phases.
page 10
Priorities
and
Scheduling Policies
Specification
System orders
for starched warp
Production orders
for weaving
MPS
Weaving
MRP
Weaving
Customer orders
for starched warp
MPS
Starched
Warp Making
System orders
for unstarched
warp
Customer orders
for unstarched
warp
Priorities
and
Scheduling Policies
Specification
MRP
Starched
Warp Making
MRP
Unstarched
Warp Making
MPS
Unstarched
Warp Making
Priorities
and
Scheduling Policies
Specification
Figure 3: Flow chart for scheduling in YFADI DSS.
page 11
The customers' orders concerning textiles requiring weaving, from the OP module, and the
corresponding estimates for the demand, from the Forecasting module, are cumulated into
production orders for weaving. These orders feed the MPS module, where the scheduling of the
above phases takes place. The module primarily takes into account the available capacity determined
by the APP module. The user may specify the desired capacity levels and preferences about the set of
orders. He can also consider alternative scenaria, produced by the MPS module, and relate them to
the available capacity, determined by the APP module for different policies regarding subcontracting,
number of shifts, etc. The production orders are converted into purchasing orders corresponding to
the requirements for yarn, both for warp and weft, via the MRP module. More explicitly, in each
phase the MPS procedure produces a schedule that feeds the MRP module, which in turn, feeds the
MPS module of the previous, according to the sequence of phases a clothe is constructed, phase.
Working first in a backwards scheduling way the scheduling procedure starts from the
weaving phase. After retrieving the set of the orders concerning weaving from the database, the
system interacts with the user in order to define priorities of the jobs, the scheduling policy and the
rules of sequencing (Figure 4). As described in the Appendix, the allowable values for the status of a
job are:
Scheduled but not in-progress;
Unscheduled;
In-progress, and
Finished.
Priorities and Scheduling Policies Specification
A. Consider:
1. Only the unscheduled jobs
2. Every job that its processing has not
started yet
B. Priorities specification to be made:
1. By the user
2. By the system
C. For the jobs with the same priority consider
as tie-braker:
1. Their due date
2. Their release date
1
2
1
Figure 4: Specification of priorities and scheduling policies.
page 12
The system asks the user to specify whether he wishes to schedule only the unscheduled jobs,
i.e., jobs that are considered for scheduling for the first time, or both scheduled but not in-progress and
unscheduled ones. In the latter case, the system may reconsider previous decisions, concerning
scheduled jobs, in order to produce more preferable job sequences. The user may either specify
priorities, indicating preferential treatment of some customers, or consider all the jobs having a
common priority index. The priority of each job is considered as the most significant criterion in job
sequencing. For the jobs with the same priority index the tie-breaker can be selected between the due
date (Earliest Due Date rule) and the release date of the job (FIFO rule).
4.1. An example
We first illustrate the scheduling procedure by an application example. Let A.10.023.00 be the
job code of a job requiring weaving of 70,000 meters of a particular clothe with due date June 25,
1996. The system retrieves from the database three related jobs that are either already scheduled or
in-progress. The corresponding machines are the WM1, WM4 and WM10 and the information
retrieved is shown in Figure 5a. Note that, in this case, job setup stands for partial changeover times
since the jobs are related. The maximum production volume that each machine can produce until the
due date of the job under consideration (that is, for the period between the date that the machine is
available and the due date) is calculated (see Figure 5b). The algorithm takes both setup and
transportation times into account. In our example, the total quantity that may successively be
scheduled to the related jobs is 65,900 meters and, therefore, 4,100 meters remain unscheduled. The
system identifies from the database the machines that can process the job A.10.023.00, and retrieves
the appropriate data (Figure 5c). WM3 and WM5 are the only candidate machines and their
maximum production volume is also calculated (Figure 5d). WM3 is selected by the system for the
production of the remaining 4,100 meters, as it can produce the maximum volume. The set of
decisions (i.e., production orders) concerning the scheduling of the job are demonstrated in Figure 6a.
As one can see, the finish times of three out of four job parts coincide. A basic constraint in our case
study was that no more than two job parts were allowed to finish on the same day (in order to avoid
co-occurring changeover times). This is achieved by the application of the schedule improvement
procedure, which produces the outputs illustrated in Figure 6b.
page 13
job code: A.10.023.00 qty: 70,000
due date: 25/06/96
WM1 300 10 3 23/06/94 12:00
WM4 200 10 4 21/06/94 17:00
WM10 250 8 3 18/06/94 09:00
machine
code
job
process
job
setup
job trans.
time
machine
available
job code: A.10.023.00 qty: 70,000
due date: 25/06/96
WM3 200 20 4 22/06/94 12:00
WM5 300 25 4 23/06/94 12:00
machine
code
job
process
job
setup
job trans.
time
machine
available
(a)
(c)
job code: A.10.023.00 qty: 70,000
due date: 25/06/96
WM1 35 300 10,500
WM4 77 200 15,400
WM10 160 250 40,000
machine
code
slack
time
job
process
production
volume
scheduled
qty
(b)
unscheduled
qty
65,900
4,100
job code: A.10.023.00 qty: 70,000
due date: 25/06/96
WM3 48 200 9,600
WM5 19 300 5,700
machine
code
slack
time
job
process
production
volume
scheduled
qty
(d)
unscheduled
qty
65,900
4,100
qty(m), job process(m/hr), job setup(hrs), job transportation time (hrs), slack time (hrs), production volume (m).
Figure 5: Example data for the scheduling of the weaving phase.
job code: A.10.023.00 qty: 70,000
due date: 25/06/96
WM1 23/06/96 12:00 25/06/96 12:00 10,500
WM3 20/06/96 12:00 22/06/96 09:00 4,100
WM4 21/06/96 17:00 25/06/96 12:00 15,400
WM10 18/06/96 09:00 25/06/96 12:00 40,000
machine
code
start
time
finish
time
production
volume
(a) before schedule improvement procedure
qty(m), production volume (m).
job code: A.10.023.00 qty: 70,000
due date: 25/06/96
WM1 23/06/96 12:00 25/06/96 12:00 10,500
WM3 20/06/96 12:00 23/06/96 15:00 10,100
WM4 21/06/96 17:00 25/06/96 12:00 15,400
WM10 18/06/96 09:00 24/06/96 12:00 34,000
machine
code
start
time
finish
time
production
volume
(b) after schedule improvement procedure
Figure 6: Example data for the schedule improvement procedure.
page 14
Figure 7 summarizes the results of the scheduling of the starching phase for the last
production order in the weaving phase (concerning WM10). Since the maximum length of the warp in
WM10 is 10,000 meters the required number of starched rolls is 4. The machine does not require all of
them simultaneously, thus four jobs, corresponding to four starched rolls of 8,500 meters each, are
created. These jobs have then to be scheduled in the starching machine.
Finally, Figure 8 gives an example of the creation of the appropriate jobs in the warp
making phase. In our case, the maximum allowable number of cones was 672. Thus, for the
production of a warp consisting of 6,476 threads, six rolls of 648 threads each plus four rolls of 647
threads each have to be scheduled in the warp making machines. The length of each roll from the
warp making phase is equal to the length of the roll required in the starching machine. Note that the
due date of all ten rolls of the warp making machines is equal to the start date of the corresponding
job in the starching machine. In this case, job setup and transportation times are considered to be very
small and, consequently, negligible.
1 18/06/96 09:00
2 20/06/96 06:00
3 21/06/96 16:00
4 23/06/96 02:00
machine
code
start
time
finish
time
production
volume
qty(m), production volume (m), max warp(m), job process(m/hr), roll length (m).
WM10 18/06/96 09:00 24/06/96 12:00 34,000
Part No. due date
jobs created: max warp: 10,000
job process: 250
number of rolls: 4
roll length: 8,500
Figure 7: Example data for the scheduling of the starching phase.
warp density: 6,476
maximum allowable number of cones: 672
number of rolls from the warp making machines: 10
starching job start date: 10/06/96 15:00
warp making jobs due date: 10/06/96 15:00
Figure 8: Example data for the scheduling of the warp making phase.
page 15
4.2. Schedule procedure
The MPS module of the system tries to consecutively schedule related jobs in order to achieve
minimization of the sum of their changeover times. Jobs belonging to the same category have
identical relationship indices and require only partial changeover times, while jobs from different
categories require total changeover times, between their consecutive processing. The current status of
the database is traced in order to retrieve the relationship indices of both in-progress and scheduled
jobs, and the corresponding machines that these jobs have been already allocated to (WM1, WM4,
and WM10 in the example above). For each machine in which a job J has been scheduled or is in-
progress, the production volume for the period between the scheduled finish time of J and the due
date of the job the system considers for scheduling is calculated. Additionally, the unscheduled jobs
are grouped according to their relationship indices. The consecutive scheduling of jobs in each of
these sets is cost effective, but may lead to violations of customers requirements (i.e., due dates). This
can be balanced through interactions with the customers (influencing the OP and APP modules)
before finalizing the production plans. The algorithms for the minimization of the changeover times
are analytically described in Step 4 of the MPS procedure in the Appendix. The machine loading is
done in such a way that the number of the machines required is minimized, while the current due
dates requests are attained.
After the above matching procedure of jobs, some parts of them may have not been
scheduled yet. This case was made clear with the example above. In this case, the set of machines
capable to process the job is considered and the unscheduled part is scheduled following the machine
loading procedure for the non-related jobs (Step 6 in the Appendix). The machine loading of the non-
related jobs, for which there are no related jobs in-progress or scheduled, is quite similar with the above
procedure. The basic difference is that, in this case, job setup stands for the total changeover time.
Because of the large changeover times during the weaving phase, avoiding too many set-ups
during the same day is a special requirement in the textile industry. In our case study, no more than
two changeovers during the same day were allowed. The schedule improvement procedure takes the
schedule determined so far as input and, by reallocating work loads among the appropriate
machines, leads to a schedule that conforms with the above constraint (see Figure 6b for the example
above). The corresponding algorithm is analytically presented in Step 7 of the MPS procedure in the
Appendix.
As made clear in the introduction, a weaving machine is fed by rolls of starched warps and
the necessary weft, that crosses the yarns of the warp. Due to the fact that the machine does not
require all the rolls simultaneously, a warp scheduling procedure has been developed in order to specify
a schedule for feeding the weaving machines. This schedule will be translated into job orders for
the starching and the warp making phases. The maximum allowable length of a warp (10,000 meters
page 16
for the WM10 in the example above) is defined according to the dimensions of the roll that a weaving
machine may accommodate and the kind of the associated yarn. The part of the database concerning
orders for starched warp is fed with both the orders derived from the requirements of the weaving
machines and the (usual) customer orders. In our case, due to the horizontal integration of the
enterprise, jobs defined by the warp scheduling procedure are characterized by maximum priority.
Consequently, during the scheduling of the starching and warp making machines, jobs that have been
ordered by the customers are less favoured than the ones determined by the above procedure. The
scheduling of the starching phase is done taking into account the priority of the jobs, primarily, and
the jobs due date, secondarily (see again Figure 7 in the example above).
Each warp making machine is characterized by a maximum allowable number of cones (or
bobbins) of yarn in its corresponding bobbin stand. The jobs concerning warp making are
characterized by a variable called warp density, that is the number of the threads in a warp, and by the
maximum number of cones (6,476 and 672, respectively, in the example above). A special procedure
has been developed for the specification of the feeding of the starching machine. This is essential for
the minimization of the setup times. As in the case between the phases of weaving and starching, the
part of the system database concerning orders for unstarched warp is fed with orders derived from
the requirements of the starching machine (which keep the same priority index that they had in the
starching phase) and usual customer orders. The starching machine processes the rolls produced by
the warp making machines in parallel. Thus, the due date of all jobs in a warp making machine that
correspond to a job J in the starching machine, is set equal to the estimated start date of J (10/06/96
15:00 in the example above). Finally, due to the fact that, in our case, each job for unstarched warp
can be processed at a specific warp making machine, the scheduling of these jobs is done similarly to
those of the starching phase (the system is able to consider the general case though).
As it has been made clear from the above, the MPS and MRP modules in YFADI are tightly
interrelated (see Figure 3). We should mention here that the distinction between them as two separate
modules is only conceptual. The only motivation for that is the adoption of the MRP concept as a
"standard" procedure, independently of the type of the production system.
5. Relation to MRP-II and OPT production control systems
This section aims at providing an overview of the relation of YFADI DSS with the production
scheduling concepts of two well-known computerized production control systems, MRP-II
(Manufacturing Resources Planning) [26, 27] and OPT (Optimised Production Technology) [26-29].
Their architecture is illustrated in Figures 9 and 10, respectively.
page 17
Business
plan
Production
plan
Master Production
Schedule
Material Requirements
Planning
Capacity Requirements
Planning
Aggregate Capacity
Planning
Shop Floor Purchasing Distribution
Common
Database
Forecasts
Demands
Bills of
materials
Lead times
Workcentre
capacities
Labour
Routings
Sufficient
capacity ?
Figure 9: Schematic of MRP-II (from [26]).
Integrated
Bill Of Materials
and
Routing File
Minimum Tranfer
Batch Sizes
Rough-cut capacity check
to determine bottleneck resources
Detailed finite forward schedule of bottleneck
and post-bottleneck resources
Backschedule pre-bottleneck resources
Order
Completion
Dates
Brain of OPT
Lead
Times
Figure 10: Schematic of OPT system (from [26]).
page 18
MRP-II systems generally use backward scheduling. OPT, on the other hand, uses a
combination of forward and backward scheduling techniques (Figure 11). Non-critical pre-bottleneck
operations of an order are backscheduled, from the scheduled start time of the bottleneck operation,
using a procedure similar to MRP-II. YFADI makes no distinction between critical and non critical
resources. Its scheduling technique is primarily based on a backward scheduling technique, since the
due dates of the jobs are taken into account. Following the scheduling procedure dictated by the
special characteristics of the industry, after the specification of the work loads in each machine, a
forward scheduling technique is adopted, taking the earliest date that each machine is available into
account. This kind of iterations between backward and forward scheduling, combined with the
interactions of APP and MPS modules discussed above, help the user to consider alternative scenaria
and, consequently, to refine his plans and make the final decisions.
MRP-II systems do not take capacity constraints into account when processing the
requirements from the master schedule. Thus, it is quite possible that the capacity requirements
exceed capacity availability on a resource for some periods of time. It may be possible to increase
capacity in some way by employing more people, buying new machines or subcontracting, but in the
short term this may not be possible. In this case MRP-II usually attempts to replan the master
schedule to ensure that there are no capacity overloads. This process is often described as loading to
infinite capacity or as capacity requirements planning. OPT, on the other hand, deals with this problem
by avoiding the scheduling of resources other than bottlenecks. In a finite loading procedure capacity
is given and the schedule is treated as a variable. YFADI, in its first version, has been specifically
designed for a textile industrial unit, the policy of which is to accept every customer order because
subcontracting is easily available and quite profitable. This may be interpreted as scheduling with
infinite capacity. As discussed in the previous section, the MPS module of YFADI schedules
considering finite capacity, as it has been determined via the APP module. However, what has been
adopted in our implementation is that all orders are primarily considered for a draft production plan
from the MPS module. Successive interactions of the latter with the APP module refine the final
plans, incorporating adjustments of the number of machines in operation and/or work shifts for a
specific period, as well as about the volume to be produced by subcontractors. At this point, YFADI
works similarly to MRP-II systems.
The OPT system, via its Brain module, comprises a non-interactive algorithm that determines
process batch sizes, production sequences and buffer stocks for the critical resources, based on their
capacity limitations, to maximize throughput. On the contrary, the scheduling procedure of YFADI
interacts with the user in order to specify priorities and scheduling policies at each production phase.
YFADI also avoids the two main criticisms that OPT faces so far. The first is that OPT relies on the
existence of a fairly well defined bottleneck for its principles to be valid. In many plants the
bottleneck is not clearly defined, and manufacturing contingencies may cause it to wander within the
timescale of an OPT schedule. The second objection is concerned with the tightness of the OPT
schedules, which must be precisely adhered to if the plan is to retain its integrity, and make little
page 19
allowance for any random interruptions. OPT gives no guidance on schedule recovery. These
disadvantage does not exist in YFADI, because the schedules produced by it are not tight. The system
enables the user to interact at various points, in order to achieve fine tuning of schedules. The user
may simulate what-if questions and create alternative selections. Additionally, the Work in
Progress module has been designed in order to report the progress regarding the implementation of
schedules. The user may consider possible deviations from goals, and rerun the remaining plan
through the MPS and APP modules.
YFADI makes, as in OPT, an implicit distinction between transfer and process lot sizes,
allowing both of them to be variable. This is described in the scheduling procedure of the weaving
machines, where not all the starched rolls are required simultaneously, as well as in the scheduling
procedure of the starching machine, where the complete set of the corresponding unstarched rolls
from the warp making machines has to be provided before the starching procedure starts.
Another specific characteristic of YFADI is the way that its MPS and MRP modules operate
and collaborate. Due mainly to the special characteristics of the industry, the analysis of the
components of the final product, i.e., the clothe in our case, that have to be produced by the
enterprise is effected through the MPS module following a capacitated scheduling procedure. Further
analysis of the requirements of a clothe in terms of requirements for starched rolls, and of the latter in
terms of requirements for unstarched rolls of warp, are typical examples of such a cooperation. MRP
in YFADI uses the same bill of materials structure as in the MRP-II and OPT systems. Generally
speaking, the scheduling procedure in YFADI has been developed being oriented to the textile
industry and, therefore, is superior to other, general purpose, systems in the way that it treats the
existing specific characteristics mentioned above.
Backward
scheduling
Assembly
Backward
scheduling
Forward
scheduling
Component 1 Component 2
Work Centres
Bottleneck
Figure 11: Scheduling in OPT (from [27]).
page 20
6. Conclusion
The objective of this paper has been to present work done on designing a DSS for the
production management in the textile industry. After a short discussion of the model based
management system, the paper gives a comprehensive analysis and synthesis of the MPS procedure
in such an environment. This procedure has been developed by taking into account the specific
features of the industry as well as some particular methods and heuristics that management adopts.
A particular example has been presented, which covers most of the scheduling parameters. Finally,
the system has been related to two well-known production management systems, MRP-II and OPT.
YFADI has been developed aiming at inventory reduction, increased productivity, improved
customer service and control of the business in a textile industrial unit. The phases covered (weaving,
starching and warp making) are the most difficult ones in terms of scheduling. The system has been
integrated in a structured form, oriented by the textile manufacturing process phases. Two particular
features of YFADI are that:
a production order can be splitted up into a set of jobs which are then assigned to multiple parallel
machines;
all customer orders are accepted and the available capacity is adapted accordingly, basically due
to the ease of subcontracting.
Both features may characterise production units in the textile and other industries as well. The system
is certainly applicable to them, and especially to those characterized by multi-phase production
environments, such as the chemical industry. Implementation issues such as the interrelations of its
modules, the existence of multiple machines per phase, various planning horizons and production
requirements, can be adapted to any characteristic and/or scheduling policy of such a company.
There are two basic reasons that advocate it. First, the coordination of the systems modules through
the aid of the database; Oracle plays a central role here, supporting a proper modular design and
implementation environment. Secondly, the object-oriented approach during the implementation of the
system; the set of objects identified and used for the specific case study can be easily modified in
order to cover the needs of a similar firm.
Acknowledgements: The authors thank the anonymous referees for their useful suggestions and comments on
the structure and contents of earlier versions of this paper.
page 21
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page 23
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page 24
Appendix
1. The system database
The database of the MPS module is composed of the following tables:
(i) The table mpsjobs, with the fields:
job_code The code of a job; it is of alphanumeric type.
product_code The code of the specific product; it is of alphanumeric type and
characterizes the operation type (i.e., weaving, starching or warp making).
qty The quantity of the specific job (in meters).
job_in The date, on which the order related to the specific job was received.
job_dd The due date of the job.
job_start_date The date, on which the processing of the specific job has been scheduled to
start.
job_end_date The date, on which the processing of the specific job has been scheduled to
be completed.
priority The priority index of the job; it is of numeric type.
job_status The status of a job; the allowable values are: S (scheduled, but not in-
progress), U (unscheduled), I (in-progress) and F (finished).
relation A number indicating the related jobs, that is jobs that the scheduler wishes
to be processed (mainly during weaving) consecutively in order to minimize
the setup time. All related jobs are assigned the same number.
(ii) The table job_machine, which relates the jobs to the various processing centers (i.e., machines
capable to process the specific job). It consists of the fields:
job_code As above.
machine_code The code of a machine capable to process the specific job. Usually, there are
more than one records with the same job_code indicating the alternative
processing abilities of the system. It is of alphanumeric type and
characterizes the type of the machine with the first two letters (i.e.,
WE for weaving machine, ST for starching machine and WA for warp making
machine).
job_setup The setup time for the specific job and the specific machine (in hours). It is
used when the previous job processed at the specific machine has not the
same relation with the specific job.
page 25
job_setup_rel The setup time for the specific job and the specific machine (in hours) when
the previous job processed at the specific machine has the same relation
with the specific job.
job_process The speed of the machine ("picks" or meters per hour). It varies depending
on the machine and the kind of the product.
job_trans The transportation time of a job from the specific processing center to the
next one.
prod It indicates the quantity of the specific product that can be produced at the
specific machine for the time interval between the date that it is free and the
due date of the job.
(iii) The table machine_status, with the fields:
machine_code As above.
status The status of the machine. Allowed values are B (busy), F (free), O (out of
order) and M (maintenance).
product_code As above. In the case that the field status is F, it is assigned null.
job_code As above.
start_mach_stat The date that the specific status starts.
end_mach_stat The date that the specific status ends.
2. The MPS procedure
This section describes the MPS module of the system, in pseudocode. It should be noted that
the first version of YFADI covers the operations of weaving, starching and warp making.
Step 1: Retrieve all orders concerning weaving from database.
Step 2: Define:
- priorities of the jobs
- jobs to be scheduled, (i.e., only unscheduled jobs or both scheduled, but not in
progress, and unscheduled jobs)
- rules of sequencing (i.e., due date or FIFO).
Step 3: For every job with code job_code, quantity qty and relationship index relation find from tables
machine_status and mpsjobs
(i) machine_code and
page 26
(ii) job_code,
with identical relationship index and
job_status='S' (scheduled) or job_status='I' (in progress),
grouped by machine_code and job_code.
Step 4: For all related jobs and the corresponding machines:
find machine_code, job_code, max(end_mach_stat).
From the job_machine table find:
(i) job_process;
(ii) job_setup_rel, and
(iii) job_trans.
Compute
slack=(job_dd of job to be scheduled)-(job_trans)-
-(job_setup_rel)-(max(end_mach_stat));
prod=(job_process)*slack.
Find the machine with the maximum prod.
If prod qty:
{ compute the necessary time for the production of qty;
update the tables machine_status and mpsjobs }
else
{ schedule prod in this machine;
set qty=qty-prod;
continue as above with the machine that is able to produce the
maximum but one prod;
update the tables machine_status and mpsjobs }.
Step 5: Proceed as in Step 3, for non-related jobs.
Step 6: Compute rest, that is the part of the job that possibly has not been scheduled yet. For all jobs
and the corresponding machines, i.e., those that are capable of producing them,
Find machine_code, job_code, max(end_mach_stat).
From the table job_machine find:
(i) job_process;
(ii) job_setup, and
(iii) job_trans.
Compute:
avail=(job_dd of job to be scheduled)-(job_trans)-
page 27
-(job_setup)-(max(end_mach_stat);
prod=(job_process)*avail.
Find the machine with the maximum prod.
If prod rest:
compute the necessary time for the production of rest
else
{ schedule prod in this machine;
continue as above but with rest=rest-prod and the next machine, i.e.,
that is capable of producing the maximum but one prod }.
Update the tables machine_status and mpsjobs.
Step 7: For every job scheduled for weaving:
Find from the tables machine_status and job_machine:
(i) job_process;
(ii) end_mach_stat, and
(iii) machine_code.
Set the above records in descending order in respect to end_mach_stat .
Let: maxend the maximum end_mach_stat, and
proc the corresponding job_process.
Find:
(i) the minimum end_mach_stat, minend;
(ii) its machine_code, machmin, and
(iii) its job_process, minproc.
If (maxend-minend) > 1, and
until there are no more than 2 identical end_mach_stat
/* The avoidance of more than two identical end_mach_stat guarantees that there will not appear
more than two changes of warps in the weaving machines at the same day, which is a basic constraint
because of the large setup times during that operation. */
{ For the machine corresponding to maxend,
set end_mach_stat = end_mach_stat - 1.
For the machine corresponding to minend,
setend_mach_stat=end_mach_stat + ceil(proc/minproc) }
/* The function ceil(x) produces the next integer which is greater than x. */
Update the tables machine_status and mpsjobs.
Step 8: For all jobs concerning weaving
{ for every machine scheduled to process it
page 28
{ find (i) job_start_date;
(ii) qty;
(iii) max_warp, and
(iv) job_process.
/* The max_warp is a variable indicating the maximum allowable length of a warp and it is defined
according to the dimensions of the roll that a weaving machine may accept and the kind of the yarn.
Thus, this variable defines the jobs concerning starching and warp making, since a weaving machine
does not require all rolls simultaneously. */
Compute:
numb = ceil(qty/max_warp);
posot = qty/numb.
For k=1 to knumb, with step 1
{ create records concerning starching in the table mpsjobs, with
qty = posot;
job_status = 'U';
if k=1 then job_dd = job_start_date
else job_dd = job_start_date +
+(k-1)(posot/job_process)/24 + job_trans, + job_setup;
job_pr=0 }.
/* The jobs created in this Step are characterized by job_pr=0, since they are of maximum priority.
Consequently, the jobs concerning warp making and starching that have been ordered from the
various customers are characterized by job_pr greater than zero.
A variable x/24 is used for the addition of hours to a date type (DD/MM/YY HH:MI, i.e.,
day/month/year hour:minute) variable. */
} }.
Step 9: Define:
- priorities of the jobs on the starching machine;
- jobs to be scheduled on the starching machine (see Step 2).
Step 10: Order jobs concerning starching by:
first key the job_pr (increasing), and
second key the job_dd (increasing).
From the table machine_status find the maximum end_mach_stat,
let free, of the starching machine, where status = 'B'.
/* The maximum end_mach_stat, where status = 'B', is identical with the date that the machine is free.
*/
page 29
For every job {
update tables mpsjobs and machine_status with
{ job_start_date = free;
job_end_date=free+(job_setup+(qty/job_process)+job_trans)/24;
job_status = 'S' }
set
free = free+(job_setup+(qty/job_process)+job_trans)/24 }.
Step 11: For all jobs concerning starching
{ find (i) job_start_date;
(ii) qty;
(iii) warp_dens, and
(iv) job_process.
Compute
number = ceil(warp_dens/numcone);
/* The field numcone indicates the maximum allowable number of cones of yarn in a warp making
machine. In this application, numcone=672. */
amount = ceil(warp_dens/number);
/* The jobs concerning warp making are defined by warp_dens, that is the number of the threads at a
warp, and by numcone. For example, for a warp consisting of 6,476 threads and if numcone=672, the
manager has to schedule 6 rolls with 648 threads and 4 rolls with 647 threads for the warp making
machines. This is essential for the minimization of the setup times of the above machines. */
ol = amount * number;
dif = ol - warp_dens.
For k=1 to kdif, with step 1
{ create records concerning warp making in the table mpsjobs, with:
qty = qty of the corresponding starching job;
job_status = 'U';
job_dd = job_start_date of the corresponding starching job;
job_pr = job_pr of the corresponding starching job, and
numthreads = amount-1 }.
/* The field numthreads indicates the number of threads in a roll of a warp making machine. */
For m=1 to mnumber-dif, with step 1
{ create records concerning warp making in the table mpsjobs, with:
qty = qty of the corresponding starching job;
job_status = 'U';
job_dd = job_start_date of the corresponding starching job;
page 30
job_pr = job_pr of the corresponding starching job, and
numthreads = amount }
}.
/* Since the starching machine processes the rolls of the warp making machines in parallel, the due
date of a job in a warp making machine is the job_start_date of the corresponding starching job.*/
Step 12: Keeping in mind that the table job_machine has only one record for each job concerning warp
making, that is, each job is processed at only one warp making machine, the scheduling of these jobs
is similar with those concerning starching (Step 10).
page 31
Nikos I. Karacapilidis is currently a post-doctoral Research Associate at the Artificial Intelligence
Research Division of GMD (German National Research Center for Information Technology). He holds
a B.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering (1989) and a Ph.D. in Operational Research (1993), both from
the University of Patras, Greece. He has also worked as a post-doctoral Research Assistant at the
Dept. of Electronic Engineering, Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London (1993-94).
His research interests include the topics of Collaborative Group Decision Making Systems,
Distributed and Constraint-Based Planning and Scheduling, Mediation and Argumentation Systems,
and applications of Planning/Scheduling combining AI and OR techniques. He has published papers
in international scientific journals (Computers in Industry, Decision Support Systems, Journal of
Operational Research Society, Computers and Chemical Engineering, International Transactions in
Operational Research, Fuzzy Sets and Systems) and conference proceedings.
Costas P. Pappis is currently an Associate Professor of Production / Operations Management at the
University of Piraeus, Greece. He holds a BS degree in Production Engineering from the Technical
University of Athens, a Diploma in Management Studies from the Polytechnic of Central London and
a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of London. He has worked as an operations analyst, as an
Engineer in the Technical Services of the National Bank of Greece and as Director of the Offsets
Department of the Ministry of National Economy of Greece. He is Vice-President of the European
Association of OR Societies (EURO), and of the Hellenic OR Society. He has published papers in IEEE
Systems, Man and Cybernetics, European Journal of Operational Research, Fuzzy Sets and Systems,
Journal of Operational Research Society, Decision Support Systems, Computers in Industry,
International Transactions in Operational Research and Engineering Cost and Production Economics.