We develop a theory for the design of process flexibility in a multi-period make-to-order production system. We propose and formalize a notion of "effective chaining" termed the Generalized Chaining Gap (GCG), which can be viewed as a natural extension of classical chaining structure from the...

Problem definition: We introduce and formalize a concept termed as conditional leadtime flexibility (CLF), which refers to the industry practice where a manufacturer requests its upstream suppliers to dynamically adjust the leadtimes. We consider an assemble-to-order (ATO) manufacturer's...