The Department of Clothing Design and
Technology The Department of Clothing Design and
TechnologyOnce the team and style data has been entered, the Decision Support System (DSS)can be used to allocate operators to specific tasks.
The DSS is based on a software package called Kappa-PC. It uses heuristic knowledge drawn from management to suggest decisions applicable to the data selected.
The control panel allows the user to read from the database and set up the desired team/style combination.
Selecting Read Factory Data allows the
factory data to be transferred to the working memory of Kappa-PC.
Selecting Setup allows the user to set
up a particular style/team combination.
Selecting DSS opens another window in
which the findings of the DSS are written.
First the pitches are defined for this team/style combination.
Second, all possible combinations of operators to pitches are stated, based on operator
skills and factory heuristics. Where skills are lacking from a team, the training
requirements can be supplied by the DSS.
This information provides pre-production solutions RAPIDLY for the problems of team design, using heuristics employed by management.
Quitting from the control panel takes us back to the main screen of the database.
Having obtained possible allocations from the DSS, each solution can be examined in more detail using simulation (COATS).
Next: 4. COATS Simulation
1. The Database 2. Production Scheduling 3. Decision Support System 4. Coats Simulation 5. Overview