Patent ID: 8059292

Claim:
A method for assigning a plurality of print jobs in a transaction printing environment among a plurality of autonomous cells including a first autonomous cell, a second autonomous cell and a third autonomous cell, capable of completely processing a print job, the method comprising: receiving, by a print job workflow management system, a plurality of print jobs, wherein each print job has a job size; selecting, by the print job workflow management system, a first threshold value based on at least the job sizes for the plurality of print jobs by determining a maximum device utilization for the third autonomous cell at which a percentage of print jobs processed late is less than a predefined maximum late job value, wherein the first threshold value maximizes a sheet volume for the third autonomous cell and wherein the maximum device utilization the third autonomous cell based on the first threshold value is greater than a predefined minimum device utilization value; and for each print job: if the job size for the print job is greater than the first threshold value, assigning the first autonomous cell to process the print job, if the job size for the print job is less than a second threshold value, assigning the second autonomous cell to process the print job, and otherwise, assigning the third autonomous cell to process the print job; wherein the first threshold value is greater than the second threshold value.