Automated scheduling at MDS Coating Inc.

This proposal deals with Intelligent Scheduling at MDS Coating Inc., a leader in designing and manufacturing erosion and corrosion resistant coatings for gas turbine engine compressor systems. It has both commercial and defense clients in the aerospace industry, a critical sector for Canada's economic and technological competitiveness. Over the last 20 years, MDS has delivered over 6 million compressor airfoils to global customers who have realized decreased operational and maintenance costs, fuel savings, and engine performance retention benefits. The shop has over 90 employees and receives varying quantities of part types from its customers daily. Each product has a process sequence that must be followed, and quality assurance testing that must be completed prior to shipping parts back to the customer.MDS Coating has contractual delivery guarantees, which can vary depending on whether the part is considered priority by the customer. Currently, MDS has a manual software platform to schedule jobs based on customer promises. In this project, an automated scheduling system will be developed to provide an optimized schedule. The automated system will also be helpful for MDS Coating to promise delivery dates for its customers. There are several outcomes in this proposal that will benefit Canada: better customer service by a private sector company in the high tech aerospace industry, training of HQP at the university, implementation of advanced optimization techniques in the aerospace sector, competitive advantage for Canadian high-tech employers, employment opportunities and job satisfaction for the Canadian workforce through informed production scheduling driven by good data, optimization models, and enhanced data analytics. Furthermore, the optimization models proposed for this research will support MDS as they expand their business and operations. These expansions will see MDS's annual volumes double as it grows both existing facilities and brings new sites online resulting in more than 50 additional HQP on staff at MDS.