Order release and dispatching in a sequence dependent job shop

Determining when order release should occur and how dispatching should be accomplished is critical to the success of a manufacturing enterprise. Although a significant amount of job shop production scheduling and control literature exists, a void with respect to order release and dispatching in a sequence dependent setup (SDS) environment remains. This research provides a comprehensive literature review of order review and release simulation based studies in job shop environments, and dispatching techniques in the SDS job shop. The literature review served as the basis for developing order release and dispatching mechanisms for the SDS job shop. The main effects and interactions of order release and dispatching mechanisms in a simulated benchmark job shop model were examined for these mechanisms and select mechanisms from the literature. Analysis of variance results demonstrated that the main effects of both order release and dispatching mechanisms are significant, as is the interaction between these variables. Simulation results also proved that the Work Load Control Machine Center order release and Similar Setup dispatching mechanisms yielded the most favorable and robust performance results.