parfor works on local computer but not on a cluster

My code has the following form:

 clear all
 rng('shuffle')

 runtables = importdata('runtable.mat'); % a 40000x22 table of 22 parameters for 40000 different models to run in parallel (embarassingly simple type)

 numfiles  = numel(runtables(:,1));
 runind    = 3000:numfiles; % run models 3000:40000

 % function importing data that is the same for all models (prevents importing of 500 MB of data thousands of times)
 [O,P,normx,normy,normz,refractmat,away_area] = importraddata3Dphaseadhoc(5,mindist_thresh,[1 1 1 1 1],[1 1 1 1 1]); 

 nummods    = numel(runind); % total number of models to run
 runtables2 = runtables(runind,:); % table of parameters only for models to run

 % BEGIN CYCLING THROUGH MODELS
 parfor j=1:nummods
 curmodel = runind(j);

    % import properties of current case model
    param1    = runtables2(j,1);     % parameter 1
    param2    = runtables2(j,2);     % parameter 2
    % etc.

 % begin numerical analysis for current case model.

 parsave(savefilename,Esum,extdisti,extdist,Estp,freq_min,freq_max,radintensity,polys,effk); % function to save case model results to HD
 end

My problem is that the code works perfectly fine when run on a local machine with 16 cores. However, having tried to run the code on a cluster, I have been unsuccessful. The problem is that when it gets to the parfor line (parfor j=1:nummods) it returns the error:

 Index exceeds matrix dimensions

I have no idea why this occurs. On the other hand, the code runs correctly if I modify the code such that nummods==1.

The following link seems to address a problem like the one I am experiencing:

 http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/224150-index-exceeds-matrix-dimensions-error-when-using-parfor

but, I do not understand what to do, and I do not understand why my code works perfectly on a single multi-core machine but fails on a cluster.

Thanks.

[Christopher]

OK, it works on the cluster if I change the initial lines to:

 clear all
 rng('shuffle')

 runtables = importdata('runtable9.mat');

 [O,P,normx,normy,normz,refractmat,away_area]   = importraddata3Dphaseadhoc(5,mindist_thresh,[1 1 1 1 1],[1 1 1 1 1]); % 

 nummods = numel(runtables(:,1));

 parfor j=1:nummods
 % etc.

Why does this work and the previous code does not? I need to be able to only run specified case models, not every single one.