Scheduling within a specialist make-to-order manufacturing company

The paper reports on the methodology used to define and resolve issues relating to the selection of production parameters and the identification of the functionality requirements in scheduling from order receipt through to product delivery, by a specialist make-to-order capital goods manufacturing organisation. The development of a decision support tool to re schedule and re-optimise a manufacturing system subject to multiple work orders, a large number of engineering design and performance changes, changing work structures and a fluctuating resource provision is considered and examined.