APPARATUS AND A METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE RELEASE OF JOBS FROM A POOL OF PENDING JOBS INTO A FACTORY

A method is disclosed for controlling the release of jobs from a pool of pending jobs into a factory, which includes a plurality of machines processing jobs-in-progress, which comprises the following steps. First, a continuity index (CI) is calculated for one of the jobs in the job pool, which is related to the total amount of processing time required by that job, and the antipicated time to finish that job. Second, a mean continuity index (MCI) is calculated related to the CI of all of the jobs processed by the factory in a predetermined period of time. Third, a lower range (r.sub.1) and an upper range (r.sub.2) are calculated which are releated to the utilization factor of the machines and the fraction of jobs which are on time. Finally, a job is released from job pool into said factory if: EQU MCI-r.sub.1 .ltoreq.CI.ltoreq.MCI+r.sub.2 otherwise, the steps are repeated for the other jobs remaining in the job pool.