A dispatching policy for stochastic scheduling simulation considering machine breakdowns

Abstract

We develop a dispatching policy for stochastic scheduling simulation especially for a continuous manufacturing system with machine breakdowns. The proposed dispatching policy computes an urgency index with the consideration of re-heating, setup cost and remaining due date. Prioritized by the index, we execute swapping or reassigning material sequences so as to minimize the total penalty cost. To evaluate the performance of the proposed policy, a discrete event simulation is developed. With 200 data sets and 20 iterations, we compare the performance of the urgency policy with those of SPT (Shortest Processing Time) and FCFS (First Come First Serve) which are the most common policies. The result shows that the proposed policy consistently gives the lowest total costs by reducing the penalty costs for lateness.