Variable priority dispatching rules: An analytical approach

Scheduling techniques and dispatching rules are widely studied because of their strategic role in achieving optimal management of manufacturing systems. In the case of flexible and CIM-orientated plants, it is essential to evaluate the effects of different dispatching rules to foresee the system performance. The authors proposed an analytical technique, based on the Markov Chain Theory, enabling the analysis of the behaviour of some common-practice dispatching rules. The results obtained in the previous studies suggested the application of the analytical method to a dispatching rule observing a variable priority criterion. This research aims to show the possibility of extending the method to the investigation of such dispatching rules, offering some of the results that this kind of approach may lead to.