Sequencing rules and due date setting procedures in flow line cells with family setups

The purpose of this study is to investigate due date setting procedures and dispatching decisions in a flow line cell with family setups. In this environment, setups are not required when switching from a job in a given family to a job in the same family. However, switching from a job in one family to a job in another family requires a setup. Family setups in this shop are sequence independent. The dispatching decisons in this shop are threefold: (1) when should the decision to switch from one part family to another be made; (2) once the decision to switch families is made, how should the next part family be chosen (next family decision); and (3) how should the jobs within a family be prioritized (next job decision)? If the decision to switch classes can only be made after the current family is exhausted, the rule is called a class exhaustion rule. Otherwise the rule is a truncated rule. The results indicate that the due date setting procedure has a major impact on how dispatching should be performed in the shop. The family exhaustion procedure using the APT next family rule and the SPT next job rule is the best performer for mean flow time. When setup times are long, the SEQ due date rule using the family exhaustion procedure with the FCFS next family and the EDD next job rules performed well for due date criteria. When setup times are short, the EDD/T, Sawicki truncation rule and the family exhaustion rules performed well for due date criteria.