Methods and systems for routing large, high-volume, high-variability print jobs in a document production environment

A system of scheduling a plurality of print jobs in a document production environment, the system comprising:

• a plurality of print job processing resources;
• a computer-readable storage medium comprising one or more programming instructions for performing a method of processing a plurality of print jobs in a document production environment, the method comprising:
• receiving a plurality of print jobs and at least one setup characteristic corresponding to each print job, wherein each print job has a corresponding job size,
• determining, for each print job, whether the corresponding job size exceeds a job size threshold,
• grouping each print job having a job size that exceeds the job size threshold into a large job subgroup,
• grouping each print job having a job size that does not exceed the job size threshold into a small job subgroup,
• routing the small job subgroup to a small job autonomous cell comprising one or more resources for processing the small job subgroup,
• classifying the large job subgroup as a high setup subgroup or a low setup subgroup based on the setup characteristics corresponding to each print job in the large job subgroup,
• routing the large job subgroup to a large job autonomous cell wherein, if the large job subgroup is a high setup subgroup, the large job autonomous cell comprises one or more first resources for processing the large job subgroup and wherein, if the large job subgroup is a low setup subgroup, the large job autonomous cell comprises one or more second resources for processing the large job subgroup.