MT435 Unit 5 Job Scheduling Exercise Example

Course	MT435 Operations Management
Unit	Unit 5
Paper type	Job scheduling exercise
Length	About 920 words, 6 pages double-spaced
Format	APA 7 student paper
School	Purdue University Global
Program	BS in Business Administration
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for MT435 Unit 5

Four Rules, One Booth, Seven Orders: An MT435 Unit 5 Job Scheduling Exercise With Johnson's Rule

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

MT435: Operations Management

Unit 5 Job Scheduling Exercise

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Pacolet Bunk & Loft's orders, booth hours and due times are composite; every completion time was computed in sequence and checked, and the sources cited are real.

What this part is doingNaming which rule wins on which measure in the lead tells the grader the exercise will not crown a single best rule.

Part One: The Seven Orders

Seven orders, A to G, wait for the booth on Monday at 7:00 a.m. Times are counted in working hours from that moment. Order A needs 4.0 booth hours and is due at hour 10; B, 2.5 hours, due at 6; C, 7.5 hours, due at 20; D, 1.5 hours, due at 12; E, 5.0 hours, due at 14; F, 3.0 hours, due at 24; and G, 6.0 hours, due at 30. The booth handles one order at a time, and all seven together need 29.5 hours, so every sequence finishes at hour 29.5. The rules differ only in who waits.

Each rule is judged on four measures: average flow time, from Monday 7:00 to each order's completion; average tardiness, the hours by which orders miss their due times, counting on-time orders as zero; the number of late orders; and the worst single lateness.

First Come, First Served

In arrival order, A through G, completions fall at hours 4, 6.5, 14, 15.5, 20.5, 23.5 and 29.5. Order B misses its due time by 0.5 hours, D by 3.5 and E by 6.5. Average flow time is 16.21 hours, average tardiness 1.50 hours, three orders are late and the worst is 6.5 hours late.

Shortest Processing Time

Ordering by booth hours, shortest first, gives D, B, F, A, E, G, C. Completions fall at 1.5, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22 and 29.5. Average flow time falls to 13.00 hours, the lowest of the four rules, because short orders leave the queue quickly. But C, the longest order, waits until last and finishes 9.5 hours late, and A and E are also late. Three orders are late, with average tardiness of 1.79 hours.

Earliest Due Date

Ordering by due time gives B, A, D, E, C, F, G. Completions fall at 2.5, 6.5, 8, 13, 20.5, 23.5 and 29.5. Only C is late, by 0.5 hours. Average flow time is 14.79 hours, average tardiness 0.07 hours, and the worst lateness drops to half an hour.

Shortest processing time empties the queue fastest; earliest due date keeps the promises, and on this list they are not the same thing.

What this part is doingContrasting the two rules' strengths states the unit's lesson before the last rule is tested.

Critical Ratio

The critical ratio divides each order's time until its due time by its processing time, and orders with the lowest ratio go first. Computed once at the start, the ratios are B 2.40, A 2.50, C 2.67, E 2.80, G 5.00, D 8.00 and F 8.00, giving the sequence B, A, C, E, G, D, F. Completions fall at 2.5, 6.5, 14, 19, 25, 26.5 and 29.5. E finishes 5 hours late, D 14.5 and F 5.5. Average flow time is 17.57 hours, average tardiness 3.57, three orders are late and the worst is 14.5 hours late.

Critical ratio performs poorly here because it was computed once rather than updated as each order finished. A dynamic version, recalculated each time the booth frees up, would weigh D and F differently once time had passed. Pinedo (2016) notes that dispatching rules built on ratios are meant to be recomputed at each decision point.

Which Rule to Use

For Pacolet, where most orders carry a delivery date promised to a retailer or camp, earliest due date is the best fit on this list: it gives up 1.8 hours of average flow time against shortest processing time but keeps six of seven orders on time and limits the one late order to half an hour. If the goal were to reduce work in process on the floor, shortest processing time would be the better choice.

Part Two: Two Stations by Johnson's Rule

Six orders, P to U, each pass through the booth and then test assembly, in that order. Booth and assembly hours are: P 3.0 and 4.5; Q 5.5 and 2.0; R 2.0 and 3.5; S 4.0 and 5.0; T 6.0 and 3.0; and U 4.5 and 4.0.

Johnson (1954) showed that a two-station flow minimizes total completion time when orders whose shorter time is at the first station go first, in increasing order of that time, and orders whose shorter time is at the second station go last, in decreasing order of that time. R, P and S have shorter booth times, so they go first in that order. U, T and Q have shorter assembly times, so they go last, in the order U, T, Q.

The sequence R, P, S, U, T, Q finishes the last order at hour 27.0. Arrival order, P through U, finishes at hour 29.0. Johnson's rule saves two hours because it starts assembly sooner and keeps it fed, while orders with long assembly times run early and orders with short assembly times run last.

Appendix: Checking the Arithmetic

Each completion time was computed by adding processing times in sequence and checked against the total of 29.5 hours. For the two-station set, each order's assembly start is the later of its booth finish and the previous order's assembly finish. Slack and Brandon-Jones (2019) recommend laying out such calculations in a table so one error can be traced rather than carried through every later column.

What this part is doingShowing how the figures were checked lets a grader verify any single completion time.

References

Johnson, S. M. (1954). Optimal two- and three-stage production schedules with setup times included. Naval Research Logistics Quarterly, 1(1), 61-68. https://doi.org/10.1002/nav.3800010110

Pinedo, M. L. (2016). Scheduling: Theory, algorithms, and systems (5th ed.). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26580-3

Slack, N., & Brandon-Jones, A. (2019). Operations management (9th ed.). Pearson.

What the MT435 Unit 5 assignment asks for

The fifth unit asks students to sequence jobs at a single resource using several dispatching rules and, often, to order jobs through two stations with Johnson's rule. Instructors expect the job data stated, each rule's sequence and completion times shown, and each rule judged on the measures the course uses: average flow time, average tardiness, number of late jobs and worst lateness. Naming a best rule without saying best at what misreads the unit. Critical ratio should be computed as the prompt specifies, and the effect of computing it once rather than dynamically noted. For two stations, Johnson's rule should be applied step by step and the makespan compared with another order. Arithmetic is checked closely, so a table showing each completion time helps.

How this MT435 Unit 5 example is built

The sample states the seven orders and the four measures. Each rule then gets its own section with its sequence, completion times and the measures, from first come, first served through shortest processing time and earliest due date, under a highlighted line contrasting the last two. Critical ratio is computed once, its poor result explained, and Pinedo cited on recomputing at each decision. A section recommends earliest due date for a shop that promises dates. Part two lists six orders' booth and assembly times, applies Johnson's rule with the reasoning for each placement and compares makespans. An appendix explains how the arithmetic was checked, with Slack and Brandon-Jones on laying out the calculation.

MT435 Unit 5 rubric: what earns full points

Arithmetic is usually checked first in a scheduling exercise, and one slip in a completion time flows through every later column. Each rule should be tied to the measure it is judged on, because naming a best rule without saying best at what misreads the unit. Rubrics reward a results table comparing rules on every measure. Credit goes to explaining why shortest processing time and earliest due date win on different measures. Noting that static critical ratio can perform poorly shows understanding. Applying Johnson's rule correctly, with the reason for each placement, earns method marks. A recommendation tied to the shop's priorities completes the analysis, with job and results tables that let a grader trace each completion time.

MT435 Unit 5 help from the desk

The most common weak scheduling exercise computes one rule correctly and copies its format for the others with errors in the running totals. Another frequent mistake declares shortest processing time the best rule without noting that it can leave a long job very late. Students often compute tardiness as a negative number for early jobs, which lowers the average incorrectly. Critical ratio is sometimes computed as processing time over time remaining, inverted. Johnson's rule is often applied to the wrong station's times. Before submitting, check that every sequence's final completion time equals the total processing time. If one does not, an addition is wrong, and every measure for that rule is wrong with it.

Get an MT435 Unit 5 example written to your instructions

Job lists, processing times and due dates for Unit 5, plus the rubric and any rules the prompt requires, are enough to start. Each rule gets its own sequence and table in the composite exercise returned, with Johnson's rule worked where your prompt includes two stations. An initial custom sample costs you nothing, and turnaround runs 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.

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MT435 Unit 5 questions, answered

Which sequencing rule is best?

It depends on the goal. Shortest processing time usually minimizes average flow time and work in process. Earliest due date tends to minimize the worst lateness. First come, first served is simple and feels fair but rarely performs well on either measure. A strong answer states the operation's priority and picks the rule that serves it, rather than naming one rule best in general.

When does Johnson's rule apply?

When every job passes through the same two stations in the same order and the goal is to finish the whole set as early as possible. It does not handle due dates, or more than two stations, without extensions. If your problem has three stations, check whether the course covers the extension or expects a different method.

Should I use a spreadsheet or calculate by hand?

Either works if the method is shown. Hand calculation for one rule demonstrates understanding; a spreadsheet or short script then reduces slips across the rest. Many instructors want at least one sequence worked visibly. If you use software, include enough of the table that a grader can verify a job's completion time.

Where can I find a free MT435 Unit 5 sample paper?

You can read the whole MT435 Unit 5 exercise here, sequencing seven bed orders by four rules and six more by Johnson's rule.

Which rule keeps the most orders on time in the MT435 Unit 5 sample?

Earliest due date, with only one order late, by half an hour, though shortest processing time has the lower average flow time.