Two heuristics based on branch and bound (B&B) are developed to solve closed-loop material requirements planning (MRP) lot-sizing problems that have general product structures and variable costs. A “look ahead method'’(LAM) heuristic allows for variable production/purchasing costs and uses a...

The research on lot sizing is extensive; however, no author in the literature reviewed to date provides an optimal solution algorithm to a prevalent problem which is found in manufacturing. A multi-level, general product-structure, variable-cost model is presented which follows the procedure of a...

In the economics of joint production one often distinguishes between the two cases: the one in which a firm produces multiple products each produced under separate production process, and the other "true joint production" where a number of outputs are produced from a single production process,...

In this paper we explore whether the incorporation of systematic time series analyses and mathematical optimization procedures in the practical planning process has the potential to improve production program decisions. The cases of four German cash crop farms are investigated over six planning...

We provide results for an efficient analytical valuation of partial moments of the multivariate Gaussian distribution over convex polyhedrons to aid the solution, sensitivity analysis and structural analysis of a large number of two-stage resource acquisition and allocation problems. These...

Conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) for measuring the relative efficiency of a set of decision-making units (DMUs) requires the observations to have precise values. When observations are imprecise and represented by interval values, the efficiencies are also expected to reflect interval...

Designing optimal products is one of the most critical activities for a firm to stay competitive. Except for genetic algorithms, previous approaches that solve the optimal product line design problem provide the decision maker with a single best solution. Furthermore, they assume a static...

The high cost of a product failure makes it imperative for a company to assess the market penetration of a new product at its early design. In this context, the Optimal Product Line Design problem was formulated thirty five years ago, and remains a significant research topic in the area of...

We consider a production-inventory planning problem with time-varying demands, convex production costs and a warehouse capacity constraint. It is solved by use of the Lagrangian form of the maximum principle. The possible existence of strong decision and forecast horizons is demonstrated. When...