A practical heuristic for the group technology economic lot scheduling problem

Abstract

In some flexible manufacturing systems, group technology principles divide parts naturally into groups so that substantial set-ups occur only when switching production between groups. We discuss the scheduling of one such real-life manufacturing process. We develop a practical heuristic for the economic lot scheduling problem in this group technology environment. The heuristic is relativelysimple,yet performs well. An example is solved in detail. Acomputational study verifies the heuristic's capabilities and suggests extensions for improvement.