As a first step, the scheduling procedure starts by creating time slots for each machine. These time slots are found in the different machine calendars. The slot starts at the indicated start time. Its length is equal to the length of the slot multiplied by the yield of the machine. For example, if a slot is 8 hours long and the machine has a yield coefficient of 85%, the length of the slot will be 6.8 hours.
For the M type work centers, the number of machine calendars that are created equals the value in the Capacity coefficient field.
If no machine is explicitly defined in a work center, a single machine is nevertheless associated to type F or M work centers.
If the Prepare schedule option is selected, the time slots are created but the automatic scheduling is not started. In this case, the different work orders can be scheduled by clicking on the Sched. button in the corresponding firm/open order page.
As a second step, the scheduling method has to be chosen. Two major types of scheduling procedures are available:
•a global scheduling approach, which sequentially introduce each work order operation in the planning, either forward or backward,
•a scheduling by simulation approach, which defines the planning via priority rules for each operation in a work center.