A Resource Scheduling for Supply Chain Model

This paper presents an optimization formulation for resource scheduling in Critical Resource Diagramming (CRD) of production scheduling networks. A CRD network schedules units of resources against points of needs in a production network rather than the conventional approach of scheduling tasks against resource availability. This resource scheduling approach provides more effective tracking of utilization of production resources as they are assigned or 'moved' from one point of need to another. Using CRD, criticality indices can be developed for resource types in a way similar to the criticality of activities in Critical Path Method (CPM). In our supply chain model, upstreams may choose either normal operation or expedited operation in resource scheduling. Their decisions affect downstream's resource scheduling. The suggested optimization formulation models resources as CRD elements in a production two-stage supply to minimize the total operation cost