Modeling multiple stage manufacturing systems with generalized costs and capacity issues

This study introduces one modeling methodology that describes a broad range of multiple stage production planning issues, including multiple limited resources with setup times and joint fixed cost relationships. An existing production system is modeled in this fashion, creating a new set of 1350 highly generalized benchmark problems. A computational study is conducted with the 1350 benchmark problems introduced in this paper and 2100 benchmark problems, with more restrictive assumptions, from the existing literature. The relative merits of a decomposition‐based algorithm and a neighborhood search technique known as NIPPA, or the Non‐sequential Incremental Part Period Algorithm, are assessed. NIPPA is generally the more successful of the two techniques, although there are specific instances in which the decomposition‐based algorithm displayed a distinct advantage. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2005