THE MULTI-MODEL COMPARISON AND COMBINED MODEL ANALYSIS OF AN AGGREGATE SCHEDULING DECISION

Given a fixed production process and facility capacity, the ability to respond to market fluctuations in terms of changes in production, work force, and inventory is the major task of production management. The costs involved are primarily payroll (regular and overtime), inventory carrying, and hiring and firing. The magnitude of these costs is usually a significant portion of the operating costs of the firm and consequently a small percentage saving due to astute aggregate scheduling can mean substantial absolute saving. At least three demonstrably optimal techniques have been developed for solving this aggregate scheduling problem. These three optimal are apparently LDR, PPP, and SDR. By combining these three different approaches, another optimal solution was obtained by me. I call this CDR (Combined Decision Rule). This approach appears to be useful. This approach may be generalizable to aggregate scheduling involving a short term resources.