Five Approaches to Aggregate Production Planning

Abstract

Abstract Production scheduling problems are reviewed briefly and the smoothing problem is defined as planning the aggregate production level for each period in a given horizon to meet forecast demand. Five approaches to the problem are reviewed: (1) the HMMS linear decision rule for production and employment; (2) the DE rule for production, in which time lag is incorporated; (3) the management coefficients method; (4) the use of LP models; (5) the production switching method. The assumptions and objectives inherent in each approach are discussed and certain shortcomings are indicated.