Total punctuality approach for the jobbing industry

Presents results of a nine-year research and development project. At the beginning a scheduling simulation software was built and assessed in real contexts. Then it has grown into a technology for shop-floor planning and control in the jobbing industry, developing now into a philosophy for strategic jobbing production management, named here as "Total punctuality approach". Based on this approach, a conceptual model was developed to orientate control system design in the jobbing industry. The model was conceived on a manufacturing strategy base being clearly driven by punctuality which was identified as being the main order winning criteria in such markets, when quality and price issues have already been resolved. Flexibility, speed and costs were addressed as well according to their relative importance to competitiveness. Concepts extracted from the various technologies available are mixed up forming a special blend with regard to the total punctuality goal. Almost all aspects of the model were implemented in a software that has been successfully used in small Brazilian jobbing firms. Using the software, it is possible to assess a large range of shop-floor management practices in terms of their contribution to the competitiveness of the company.