Abc analise

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

European Journal of Operational Research 187 (2008) 978–984 www.elsevier.com/locate/ejor

Editorial

The significance of reducing setup times/setup costs
Ali Allahverdi a a,*

, H.M. Soroush

b,1

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat, Kuwait b Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat, Kuwait Available online 7 November 2006

Abstract Scheduling with setup times or setup costs plays a crucial role in todays modern manufacturing and service environments where reliable products/services are to be delivered on time. Scheduling activities profoundly depend on the times/costs required to prepare the facility for performing the activities. However, the vast majority of existing scheduling literature ignores this fact. We define and emphasize the importance, applications, and benefits of explicitly considering setup times/costs in scheduling research. Moreover, a review of the latest research on scheduling problems with setup times/costs is provided. Ó 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Scheduling; Setup time; Setup cost

1. Introduction The decision to provide multiple products/services on common resources results in the need for changeover and setup activities. Setup activities due to changeovers represent costly disruptions to production/service processes. Therefore, setup reduction is an important feature of the continuous improvement program of any manufacturing/service organization. It is even more critical if an organization expects to respond to changes like shortened lead times, smaller lot sizes, and higher quality standards. Every scheduler should under-

stand the principles of setup reduction and be able to recognize the potential improvements. We provide a formal definition of setup times/ costs, discuss the importance and benefits of reducing setup times/costs, give some