Numerical investigation of optimal policies for production flow control and set-up scheduling: Lessons from two-part-type failure-prone FMSs

The optimal set-up change and production control policy for a failure-prone machine to meet constant demand rates for two part-types is obtained numerically. Computational experience is reported for several instances of the problem under different assumptions on holding/backlog costs and set-up change times. The work reported here has significant practical applications in the context of hierarchical production planning and control.