The Legacy of Taylor, Gantt, and Johnson: How to Improve Production Scheduling

Abstract

The challenge of improving production scheduling has inspired many different approaches. This paper examines the key contributions of three individuals who improved production scheduling: Frederick Taylor, who defined the key planning functions and created a planning office; Henry Gantt, who provided useful charts to improve scheduling decision-making, and S.M. Johnson, who initiated the mathematical analysis of production scheduling problems. The paper presents an integrative strategy to improve production scheduling that synthesizes these complementary approaches. Finally, the paper discusses the soundness of this approach and its implications on OR research, education, and practice.