The performance of combinatorial priority rules in a manufacturing flow shop

Some of the previous research indicates that no single priority rule could perform excellently on those common performance measures. This study focuses on evaluating the impact of deploying combinations of four single priority rules on a three-stage manufacturing flow shop, i.e., different rules are employed at different workstation. Full factorial combinations of four commonly used priority rules, leading to 64 rule combinations, are analysed. Besides, variations in buffer capacity and due date allowance are taken into account. Both terminating and non-terminating systems are investigated in this study. For terminating system, variations in production volume are also considered. Simulation experiments have been conducted and the performance of the combinations is analysed by monitoring four measures, namely: 1) mean lead time; 2) mean tardiness; 3) number of jobs completed; 4) percentage of tardy jobs. [Received 13 November 2010; Revised 8 March 2011; Accepted 18 March 2011]