Routing

This chapter continues the discussion of Scheduling, Routing and Dispatch.

• Scheduling is deciding when the work is to be done.

• Routing is the order the work is to be completed.

• Dispatch is who does the work

In our second column, we discussed Scheduling, or deciding when work is to be completed, which is a tough clerical and planning problem for all companies. The clerical part is a challenge because this type of work is highly repetitive and detailed. The planning requires the balancing of scheduled jobs so that commitments which have been made can be kept. Some of the scheduling tools we discussed were:

• Shirt pocket

• Reminder list

• Work processor

• Spread sheet

• Scheduling program

• Scheduling combined with customer records

In this column we are going to look at the next piece of the puzzle, routing.