The selection and scheduling of textile orders with due dates

This paper describes a case study of a textile firm. The problem was reduced to a 0-1 integer program which selects the best subset of orders that maximizes revenue while meeting due dates (a problem that is NP-hard). Because of the limited technical competence of the firm’s employees a ‘best of three heuristic’ solution procedure was proffered. Each of the heuristics are greedy with polynomial complexity of O(n²) where n is the number of possible orders available for selection. These algorithms were tested using real problem data and gave results of 4.5 (on average) percent error of maximum revenue. This was within the five percent limit specified by the firm. Initial successful implementation followed by disbandonment due to economic downturn displays the need for more strategic approaches to abet the implementation of operations research methodologies.