Although planning and scheduling optimization have been explored in the literature for many years now, it still remains a hot topic in the current scientific research. The changing market trends, globalization, technical and technological progress, and sustainability considerations make it necessary to deal with new optimization challenges in modern manufacturing, engineering, and healthcare systems. This book provides an overview of the recent advances in different areas connected with operations research models and other applications of intelligent computing techniques used for planning and scheduling optimization. The wide range of theoretical and practical research findings reported in this book confirms that the planning and scheduling problem is a complex issue that is present in different industrial sectors and organizations and opens promising and dynamic perspectives of research and development.

This book introduces readers to the many variables and constraints involved in planning and scheduling complex systems, such as airline flights and university courses. Students will become acquainted with the necessity for scheduling activities under conditions of limited resources in industrial and service environments, and become familiar with methods of problem solving. Written by an expert author with decades of teaching and industry experience, the book provides a comprehensive explanation of the mathematical foundations to solving complex requirements, helping students to understand underlying models, to navigate software applications more easily, and to apply sophisticated solutions to project management. This is emphasized by real-world examples, which follow the components of the manufacturing process from inventory to production to delivery. Undergraduate and graduate students of industrial engineering, systems engineering, and operations management will find this book useful in understanding optimization with respect to planning and scheduling.

Pinedo is a major figure in the scheduling area (well versed in both stochastics and combinatorics) , and knows both the academic and practitioner side of the discipline. This book includes the integration of case studies into the text. It will appeal to engineering and business students interested in operations research.

This book presents a unified optimal control approach to a large class of problems arising in the field of production planning and scheduling. It introduces a leading optimal flow control paradigm which results in efficient solutions for planning and scheduling problems. This book also introduces the reader to analytical and numerical methods of the maximum principle, used here as a mathematical instrument in modeling and solving production planning and scheduling problems. The book examines control of production flows rather than sequencing of distinct jobs. Methodologically, this paradigm allows us to progress from initial assumptions about a manufacturing environment, through mathematical models and construction of numerical methods, up to practical applications which prove the relevance of the theory developed here to the real world. Given a manufacturing system, the goal is to control the production, subject to given constraints, in such a way that the demands are tracked as closely as possible. The book considers a wide variety of problems encountered in actual production planning and scheduling. Among the problems are production flow sequencing and timing, capacity expansion and deterioration, subcontracting and overtime. The last chapter is entirely devoted to applications of the theory to scheduling production flows in real-life manufacturing systems. The enclosed disk provides software implementations of the developed methods with easy, convenient user interface. We aimed this book at a student audience - final year undergraduates as weIl as master and Ph. D.

Construction Scheduling, Cost Optimization and Management presents a general mathematical formula for the scheduling of construction projects. Using this formula, repetitive and non-repetitive tasks, work continuity considerations, multiple-crew strategies, and the effects of varying job conditions on the performance of a crew can be modelled.L This book presents an entirely new approach to the construction scheduling problem. It provides a practical methodology which will be of great benefit to all those involved in construction scheduling and cost optimization, including construction engineers, highway engineers, transportation engineers, contractors and architects. It will also be useful for researchers, and graduates on courses in construction scheduling and planning.

Billions of dollars are tied up in the inventories of manufacturing companies which cause large (interest) costs. A small decrease of the inventory and/or production costs without reduction of the service level can increase the profit substantially. Especially in the case of scarce capacity, efficient production schedules are fundamental for short delivery time and on-time delivery which are important competitive priorities. To support decision makers by improving their manufacturing resource planning system with appropriate methods is one of the most of production planning. interesting challenges The following chapters contain new models and new solution strategies which may be helpful for decision makers and for further research in the areas of production planning and operations research. The main subject is on lotsizing and scheduling. The objectives and further characteristics of such problems can be inferred from practical need. Thus, before an outline is given, we consider the general objectives of lotsizing and scheduling and classify the most important characteristics of such problems in the following sections.

If one accepts the premise that there is no wealth without production, whether at the individual or national level, one is immediately led to the conclusion that the study of productive systems lies at the forefront of subjects that should be intensively, as well as rationally and extensively, studied to achieve the desired 'sustainable growth' of society, where the latter is defined as growth in the quality of life that does not waste the available resources in the long run. Since the end of World War II there has been a remarkable evolution in thinking about production, abetted to a large measure by the nascent field of informatics: the computer technology and the edifices that have been built around it, such as information gathering and dissemination worldwide through communication networks, software products, peripheral interfaces, etc. Additionally, the very thought processes that guide and motivate studies in production have undergone fundamental changes which verge on being revolutionary, thanks to developments in operations research and cybernetics.