Horizon extension for rolling production schedules: Length and accuracy requirements

This paper examines the effect of forecast length and accuracy in extending the planning period beyond the frozen horizon of rolling-production schedules. Extensive computational testing is carried out through a simulation study in which the performance of the Wagner-Whitin algorithm and the Silver-Meal heuristic are compared. Results indicate that horizon extension is worthwhile for relatively large forecast errors and improves the Wagner-Whitin in more instances than previous research has indicated.