COMPARISON BETWEEN SIMPLE INFINITE LOADING AND LOADING CONSIDERING A WORKLOAD STATUS UNDER UNCERTAINTY IN JOB OPERATION TIMES

Two loading approaches are compared, concerning the problem of selecti on between infinite loading and finite loading, which has been one of the fundamental themes in operations management. One is a loading appr oach that considers a workload status in setting planned lead times fo r the jobs. The other is an approach that does not take the workload s tatus into account. Performances by these two approaches under uncerta inty in job operation times were examined through two simulation study phases: a loading phase and a sequencing and executing phase. Results obtained show the superiority of loading considering a workload statu s, and also suggest that the superiority would be lost in real-life si tuations, where many disturbances occur.