THE SYNERGISTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRODUCTION SCHEDULING AND PRODUCTION LINE BALANCING IN ENHANCING OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE: AN APPLIED STUDY AT SAMARRA PHARMACEUTICAL FACTORY
Keywords:
Production scheduling, Production line balancing, Operational performance, Phar-maceutical manufacturing, Operations management, Scheduling integration, Samarra Pharma-ceutical FactoryAbstract
This study investigates the synergistic relationship between production scheduling and production line balancing in enhancing operational performance at Samarra Pharmaceutical Factory. The research addresses an important gap in production and operations management literature, where scheduling and line balancing are often examined as separate operational practices despite their practical interdependence in pharmaceutical manufacturing. A quantitative, field-based research design was adopted, and data were collected through a structured bilingual questionnaire distributed to employees, supervisors, and managers working in different functional areas of the factory. The final sample consisted of 43 valid responses. Production scheduling, production line balancing, operational performance, and scheduling–line balancing integration were measured using multi-item Likert scales. The data were analyzed using reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression-based hypothesis testing. The findings show excellent internal consistency for all constructs, with Cronbach’s Alpha values ranging from 0.929 to 0.976. The results reveal that production scheduling has a significant positive effect on operational performance, while production line balancing demonstrates a stronger positive effect. The combined regression model explains 67.3% of the variance in operational performance, and the moderation model explains 69.5%. However, the interaction term between production scheduling and production line balancing is not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. These findings suggest that the synergistic value of the two practices appears mainly through their complementary direct effects and operational integration rather than through a formal moderation effect. The study offers practical implications for improving scheduling responsiveness, reducing bottlenecks, minimizing idle time, and strengthening coordination between scheduling and line-balancing decisions.
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