Integrated simulation–optimisation of pull control systems

Abstract

Pull policies are considered to be among the most efficient control strategy. Setting the correct parameters to maximise their efficiency is, however, not a trivial task. Simulation–optimisation techniques have received particular attention as a means to solve this problem. Nevertheless, they require the iterative solution of an optimisation model to generate the parameter values and a discrete event simulator to evaluate the resulting system performance. In the framework of simulation-optimisation, this paper proposes a combined solution of the optimisation and simulation problems for the optimal operation of pull control systems under several control strategies. Numerical experiments were performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed technique.

Keywords:

• mathematical programming
• simulation
• optimization
• pull systems
• production control

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank each of the three anonymous reviewers for their fruitful comments which substantially contributed to the improvement of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation of China under Grant 61473188 and Singapore Maritime Institute under Grant R-SMI-2013-MA-11.