This note formulates an assignment problem for obtaining optimal level schedules for mixed-model assembly lines in JIT production systems. The problem was formulated as a quadratic integer programming problem in a recent paper by Miltenburg (1989) where, however, only enumerative algorithms and...

This paper describes a problem in which the "cost" of satisfying the demand at a particular location is a weighted average of the travel times for the items that are supplied. The greatest weight is given to the first-arriving item, with decreasing weights given to each succeeding item. In the...

The branch and bound principle has long been established as an effective computational tool for solving mixed integer linear programming problems. This paper investigates the computational feasibility of branch and bound methods in solving convex nonlinear integer programming problems. The...

Successive Linear Programming (SLP) has been used extensively in the refining and petrochemical industries for over 20 years. This paper concentrates on some recent work at Exxon to unify the treatment of nonlinear terms in "mostly linear" models. We first discuss the source of nonlinearities in...

In public policy decision making and in capital planning fractional criterion functions occur. For a given set of desirable target values (goals) \tau _i, this paper develops an algorithm for solving a nonconvex programming problem of the type: Min_{x\in s} Max_i{\phi _i(f_i(x)/g_i(x) - \tau _i), i = 1,...

Plywood manufacture includes two fundamental stages. The first is to peel or separate logs into veneer sheets of different thicknesses. The second is to assemble veneer sheets into finished plywood products. At the first stage a decision must be made as to the number of different veneer...

A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is an integrated, computer-controlled complex of automated material handling devices and numerically controlled machine tools that can simultaneously process medium-sized volumes of a variety of part types. FMSs are becoming an attractive substitute for the...

Successive Linear Programming (SLP), which is also known as the Method of Approximation Programming, solves nonlinear optimization problems via a sequence of linear programs. This paper reports on promising computational results with SLP that contrast with the poor performance indicated by...