Models for a multi-item production system

Abstract

To minimize work-in-process, or equivalently mean flow time of capital has been an emphatic objective in production. It deserves still greater attention in today's Turkish Economy governed by monetaristic austerity measures. This study proposes models for two problems of a multiitem production system. One of them is an algorithm organizing activities at three levels of the production process. The second one is an implicit enumeration algoritm rendering selection of orders for simultaneous release when the current inventory is incapable of satisfying ali of them. Both are designed so as to serve the aim of minimizing mean flow time of capital bound to the process. These models can be implemented separately or in combination depending on the inventory/sales policy of the application.