Integrative versus separate cycle scheduling heuristics for capacitated discrete lot sizing and sequencing problems

This study investigates the effect of integrating lot sizing and lot sequencing decisions for a capacitated production system with a discrete shipping schedule. The authors compare integrative cycle scheduling heuristics, which explicitly consider both decisions, with traditional separate approaches. Experiments are conducted for both zero and positive setup cost situations with different daily demand variations, weekly demand patterns and number of items. The results of the total inventory cost and CPU time performance indicate the superiority of the integrative heuristics, the importance of an intelligent sequencing scheme, and the influential role of demand variations and the number of items. Insights from this study can be applied to a number of manufacturing settings, from corrugated paper making to component subassembly operations.