Multi-item, multi-level lot sizing with an aggregate capacity constraint

This paper presents a heuristic approach to finding the least cost MRP schedule when end products and their components are produced under a single aggregate capacity constraint. A multi-phase algorithm first obtains a feasible solution. It then proceeds to develop better cost solutions by making controlled changes to the initial feasible schedule. The best cost solutions found by the algorithm differ, on the average, by less than 1% from the corresponding best known solutions. For small problems, the average computation time is about -th of that required by an exact integer programming model.