Hospitals Cut ER Waits—New "Fast Track" Units, High-Tech IDs Speed Visits; See a Doctor in 17 Minutes

Manufacturing Execution Systems

The Nature and Importance of Work Centers

Typical scheduling and control functions	Work center defined
Objectives of work-center scheduling	Infinite loading defined
Job sequencing	Finite loading defined
	Forward scheduling defined
	Backward scheduling defined
	Machine-limited process defined
	Labor-limited process defined
	Dispatching defined
	Sequencing defined
	Priority rules defined

Priority Rules and Techniques

Scheduling n jobs on one machine	Johnson's rule defined
Comparison of priority rules	Assignment method defined
Scheduling n jobs on two machines
Scheduling a set number of jobs on the same number of machines
Scheduling n jobs on m machines

Shop-Floor Control

Gantt charts	Shop-floor (production activity) control defined
Tools of shop-floor control	Input/output (I/O) control defined
Input/output control
Data integrity
Principles of work-center scheduling

Personnel Scheduling in Services

Scheduling consecutive days off

Scheduling daily work times

Scheduling hourly work times

Conclusion

Case: Keep Patients Waiting? Not in My Office