Statistical search methods for lotsizing problems

This paper reports on the authors’ experiments with statistical search methods for solving lotsizing problems in production planning. In lotsizing problems the main objective is to generate a minimum cost production and inventory schedule, such that (i) customer demand is satisfied, and (ii) capacity restrictions imposed on production resources are not violated. The authors discuss their experiences in solving these, in general NP-hard, lotsizing problems with popular statistical search techniques like simulated annealing and tabu search. The paper concludes with some critical remarks on the use of statistical search methods for solving lotsizing problems.