Abstract:
There seems to be a significant gap between the theoretical and the practical aspects of
scheduling problems in the job shop environment. Theoretically, scheduling systems are designed on
the basis of an optimum approach to the scheduling model. However in the practice, the optimum that
is built into the scheduling applications seems to face some challenges when dealing with the dynamic
character of a scheduling system, for instance machine breakdown or change of orders. Scheduling
systems have become quite complex in the past few years. Competitive business environments and
shorter product life cycles are the imminent challenges being faced by many companies these days.
These challenges push companies to anticipate a demand driven supply chain in their business
environment. A demand-driven supply chain incorporates the customer view into the supply chain
processes. As a consequence of this, scheduling as a core process of the demand-driven supply chain
must also reflect the customer view. In addition, other approaches to solving scheduling problems, for
instance approaches based on human factors, prefer the scheduling system to be more flexible in both
design and implementation. After discussion of these factors, the authors propose the integration of a
different set of criteria for the development of scheduling systems which not only appears to have a
better flexibility but also increased customer-focus.
