Article ID: | iaor20108312 |
Volume: | 129 |
Issue: | 1 |
Start Page Number: | 178 |
End Page Number: | 185 |
Publication Date: | Jan 2011 |
Journal: | International Journal of Production Economics |
Authors: | Lent Christophe, Mocquillon Cdric, TKindt Vincent |
Keywords: | scheduling, manufacturing industries |
This paper presents a single machine problem which occurs in shampoo production at medium-term planning phase. The considered production plant is linked to subsidiary companies which are themselves linked to final customers. The aim is to answer subsidiary companies requests by keeping their stocks in a window defined by their safety stock and maximum inventory levels. After an introduction, we present a formal definition of the problem. Next, we present a two-phase heuristic algorithm: the first phase is based on a greedy algorithm and the second phase on the Goldberg and Tarjan algorithm for the minimum cost flow problem. Experimental testings close to industrial instances show that the heuristic performs very efficiently.