Title: Application of a mathematical model to an intermediate- to long-term real-world steel production planning problem based on standard software

Authors: Andreas Witt, Stefan Voss

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Hochschule Fulda, 36039 Fulda, Germany. ' Institute of Information Systems (IWI), University of Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany

Abstract: In this paper, a case study accomplished for the production planning of a German steel producer is presented. This includes the description of a lot-sizing problem and a related simple mathematical model formulated in order to meet the requirements for the mid- to long-term planning of the steel producer. Both the mathematical model and the representation of the results had to be implemented based on standard software products, namely the |ILOG OPL-Studio| from IBM and the |Advanced Planner and Optimizer| (APO) from SAP. The main focus is on the model and its implementation. That is, we show that a real-world problem can be solved by means of a simple mathematical model and standard software products reducing the individual programming effort. [Submitted 02 February 2009; Revised 06 November 2009, 16 February 2009; Accepted 23 February 2010]

Keywords: production planning; lot sizing; campaign production; commercial solvers; steel industry; Germany; mathematical modelling; standard software.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIE.2011.037227

European Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2011 Vol.5 No.1, pp.81 - 100

Published online: 22 Oct 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article