Presents a classification for production systems in manufacturing and processing industries. The proposed classification is intended to enlarge the scope of production systems that can be meaningfully classified. This is accomplished by including production system properties used in previous...

Industrial robots are increasingly used by many manufacturing firms. The number of robot manufacturers has also increased, with many of these firms now offering a wide range of robots. A potential user is thus faced with many options in both performance and cost. Proposes a decision model for...

Addresses an actual problem of assigning customers to employees in a mail order firm. The management of the firm groups customers based on the first letter of the last name. To make assigning responsibility for handling customer orders easier, management specifies that no letter group can be...

In some manufacturing systems, the type of production technology selected dictates the lot size, or sets an upper limit on it. In this paper, we formulate a model in which the lot sizing decision has to be made at the technology selection stage. Furthermore, the cost of the technology depends on...