Production to Order : Models and Rules for Production Planning

In this book, production rules are studied for situations which share some important elements. The most important one is that the products are manufactured according to customer specifications and they will not be manufactured unless they have been ordered. Other elements are the set-ups on the machines, which make a clustering of orders necessary, the backlogging of late orders, a production process with one bottle-neck and a stochastic demand. The purpose is to find a simple production rule, which offers possibilities for a simple adaptation to the varying wishes or to additional complications. The production rules under consideration are well-known heuristics such as the Silver-Meal heuristic and the Wagner-Whitin heuristic, which can be adapted for backlogging and for the stochastic demand. Also a new, simple rule is introduced: the (x, T)-rule. To determine and compare the performance of the production rules different techniques have been used, such as simulation, dynamic programming and markovian models. Among the situations that have been considered are situations with capacity restrictions, overtime possibilities and situations where the clients react to the performance of their orders.