This paper describes a simulation exercise of a hypothetical machine shop consisting of five non-identical machines. Jobs arrive in batches, each job having its own routing and operation time specifications, the average times being normally distributed. Nine alternative loading rules are investigated and the SI rule (the selection of the job with the shortest imminent operation) is found to be the most effective in reducing the mean job throughput time and delay factor, when the batch size is comparatively small. For large batches, however, the results suggest that the SI rule is not the most effective. Ways to reduce the variance of job waiting times are also investigated.
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