Production scheduling in agent-based supply chain for manufacturing efficiency improvement

Manufacturing efficiency improvement can be achieved by different means, e.g., effective load of equipment, reduced manufacturing time, production cost decrease and Lean manufacturing. The paper reviews the mentioned improvements and focuses on production scheduling aimed to reduce the overall production time. The sequence of simultaneous launch for production is often not considered, but it affects the overall production time. The elaborated production sequence eliminates waste waiting time, reduces production cost and manufacturing time, and thus improves the manufacturing efficiency. The authors propose to apply a software agent, which is engaged with production scheduling and production process improvement that includes the following tasks: effective workload of equipment, production lead-time decrease, organization of continuous product flow on production department. The agent uses such priority levels, as order deadline and class affiliation of ABC analysis in its production scheduling. The paper presents a case study on elaborated production scheduling for manufacturing efficiency improvement. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.