Assignment task: Scheduling and Sequencing
You are the manager of a mail order warehouse operation. Each day, you are given the list of orders outstanding, detailing the estimated time it will take your pickers to assemble each order and the date on which it was received. When customers place their orders, they indicate whether they want the order urgently, routinely or are prepared to wait longer than routine for it. Their packing charges are varied according to their time preferences. The warehouse has a policy that all urgent orders will be dispatched that day and all others will be dispatched within one week of receipt. Discuss the range of rules you could use to sequence the orders, and the implications your choice of rule will have for your objective of operating the warehouse efficiently and within policy guidelines. Which rule do you prefer? Why?