10 - Periodic Scheduling

Summary

In Chapter 1, we discussed how the market environment affects the scheduling of manufacturing facilities primarily because the volume and variability of product demand determine the regularity and frequency in which scheduling is performed. The production of high-volume products with relatively constant demand or high-volume intermediates can be based on demand forecasts, rather than specific orders. If the forecasts do not exhibit significant fluctuations over time, one approach is to generate a schedule that can be repeated periodically, to maintain a certain level of stock. The process of generating such schedules, which is the topic of the present chapter, is termed periodic scheduling. In Section 10.1, we use the single-unit environment to motivate the need for periodic scheduling, define relevant notation, and present some preliminary concepts and models. In Section 10.2, we use the single-stage environment to discuss some additional concepts and one formulation. Finally, in Section 10.3, we present periodic scheduling in network environments.We consider processes without any of the processing features discussed in Chapter 8.