A practical heuristic for the group technology economic lot scheduling problem

SUMMARY

In some flexible manufacturing systems, group technology principles divide parts naturally into groups so that substantial set-ups occur only when switching production between groups. We discuss the scheduling of one such real-life manufacturing process. We develop a practical heuristic for the economic lot scheduling problem in this group technology environment. The heuristic is relatively simple, yet performs well. An example is solved in detail. A computational study verifies the heuristic's capabilities and suggests extensions for improvement.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

HSIU-WEI KUO

The authors are now at J Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA

ROBERT R. INMAN

Operating Sciences Department, General Motors Research Laboratories, 30500 Mound Road, Warren, Michigan 48090-9055, USA.