Patent ID: 7668614
Filing Date: 2010-02-23
Classification: G05B,G06Q,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A computer implemented method of scheduling the processing of workunits, comprising: defining a plurality of workunits and a plurality of processing stations, each workunit of the plurality of workunits containing one or more items to be serviced by at least one of the plurality of processing stations; aggregating, with a processor, the plurality of workunits into a discrete number of workunit type-service type groupings consisting of a workunit type combined with a service type, wherein a service type is a type of service to be performed on each workunit; allocating to each processing station a total processing time for each workunit type-service type grouping for which the processing station is qualified based on an optimization of a first objective function which load balances the total processing time across the processing stations and minimizes a number of setups on the processing stations; disaggregating the plurality of allocated workunit type-service type groupings by assigning particular workunits to each processing station to achieve the allocated total processing time for each processing station; and determining a relative start time for each workunit assigned to each processing station to batch the workunit type-service type groupings on each processing station based on an optimization of a second objective function.