JOB-SHOP VS. HYBRID FLOW-SHOP ROUTING IN A DUAL RESOURCE CONSTRAINED SYSTEM

This paper studies the impact of job routing pattern on the performance of dual resource constrained (DRC) systems. Three markedly different job routing patterns are simulated using a DRC system model that incorporates labor transfer times. The problem is viewed from two perspectives: one portion of the analysis focuses on the relative performances of five different dispatching rules as the routing pattern varies; the other examines the effect of the routing pattern on each rule's individual performance. One generalized conclusion of this study is that routing pattern has no significant impact on the relative effectiveness of various dispatching rules. Consequently, findings from pure job-shop research studies may be applied to situations where a mixture of job-shop and flow-shop routings is present.