Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

THE SUPPLY CHAIN LINK

Scheduling is the final planning step before a product is built or a service performed. The detailed schedule shows when work on a specific customer order is to begin and when it is to be completed. These two valuable pieces of information are shared with members of the supply chain, who can then track the progress of the order. Visibility into actual production performance can improve communications among the supply chain members and alert members when execution problems occur. Detailed scheduling often requires using the due-date information for the different jobs to be scheduled. These due dates should reflect the objectives of the supply chain. Different priority rules can be tested to see which rule provides the best schedule performance when considering supply chain objectives. The linkage of customer order priority and supply chain objectives should provide more effective operations.