Multiple-stage production planning research: History and opportunities

This paper is a survey of the multiple-stage production planning literature. It shows that this sizeable body of research is largely inspired by single-item production planning. The authors suggest several promising research opportunities, including the possible development of scheduling techniques not derived from older, single-item procedures. The paper highlights the need for further comparative testing between existing ‘improved’ techniques, as well as the wealth of work yet to be done in multiple-stage production planning with limited resources and possible extensions to supply chain management.