Transformation of levelled production plans into detailed schedules in make‐to‐order manufacturing

Levelling the workload of resources in the planning of make‐to‐order production can be realised through scheduling manufacturing activities within the timing constraints of each order. Such levelled schedules may be generated by Aggregate Production Planning (APP). This paper presents and examines the transformation of aggregate production plans into detailed shop‐floor schedules. The conditions and methods for creating feasible schedules are analysed in the cases of continuously divisible resources, single machines and parallel machines. Illustrative solutions and experimental results are provided.