A comparison of production scheduling policies on costs, service level and schedule changes

We consider a single product, single level, stochastic master production scheduling (MPS) model where decisions are made under rolling planning horizons. Outcomes of interest are cost, service level, and schedule stability. The subject of this research is the MPS control system: the method used in determining the amount of stock planned for production in each time period. Typically, MPS control systems utilize a single buffer stock. Here, two MPS dual-buffer stock systems are developed and tested by simulation. We extend the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology to aid in the evaluation of the simulation results, where DEA serves to increase the scope of the experimental design. Results indicate that the dual-buffer control systems outperform existing policies.