Title: Transformation of levelled production plans into detailed schedules in make-to-order manufacturing

Authors: Esko Niemi, Ville Toivonen

Addresses: Laboratory of Production Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 4200, TKK FI-02015, Finland. ' Institute of Production Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 589, Tampere FI-33101, Finland

Abstract: Levelling the workload of resources in the planning of make-to-order production can be realised through scheduling manufacturing activities within the timing constraints of each order. Such levelled schedules may be generated by Aggregate Production Planning (APP). This paper presents and examines the transformation of aggregate production plans into detailed shop-floor schedules. The conditions and methods for creating feasible schedules are analysed in the cases of continuously divisible resources, single machines and parallel machines. Illustrative solutions and experimental results are provided.

Keywords: aggregate production planning; APP; scheduling; resource levelling; divisible resources; variable-intensity activities; compatible schedules; make-to-order manufacturing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOI.2008.017702

International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics, 2008 Vol.3 No.1, pp.15 - 27

Published online: 27 Mar 2008 *

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