This book provides a comprehensive set of optimization and prediction techniques for an enterprise information system. Readers with a background in operations research, system engineering, statistics, or data analytics can use this book as a reference to derive insight from data and use this knowledge as guidance for production management. The authors identify the key challenges in enterprise information management and present results that have emerged from leading-edge research in this domain. Coverage includes topics ranging from task scheduling and resource allocation, to workflow optimization, process time and status prediction, order admission policies optimization, and enterprise service-level performance analysis and prediction. With its emphasis on the above topics, this book provides an in-depth look at enterprise information management solutions that are needed for greater automation and reconfigurability-based fault tolerance, as well as to obtain data-driven recommendations for effective decision-making.

This book has resulted from the activities of IFAC TC 5.2 “Manufacturing Modelling for Management and Control”. The book offers an introduction and advanced techniques of scheduling applications to cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0 systems for larger audience. This book uncovers fundamental principles and recent developments in the theory and application of scheduling methodology to cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0. The purpose of this book is to present recent developments in scheduling in cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0 and to systemize these developments in new taxonomies and methodological principles to shape this new research domain. This book addresses the needs of both researchers and practitioners to uncover the challenges and opportunities of scheduling techniques’ applications to cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0. For the first time, it comprehensively conceptualizes scheduling in cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0 systems as a new research domain. The chapters of the book are written by the leading international experts and utilize methods of operations research, industrial engineering and computer science. Such a multi-disciplinary combination is unique and comprehensively deciphers major problem taxonomies, methodologies, and applications to scheduling in cloud manufacturing and Industry 4.0.

The first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject rather than a collection of papers. The author is a recognized authority in the field as well as an outstanding teacher lauded for his ability to convey these concepts clearly to many different audiences. A handy reference for practitioners in the field.

Advanced modeling techniques are a necessary tool in order to design and manage manufacturing systems effectively. This book contains a set of tutorial chapters on topics ranging from aggregate production planning to real time control, including predictive and reactive scheduling, flow management in assembly systems, simulation of robotic cells, design of manufacturing systems under uncertainty and a historical perspective on production management philosophies. The book will be of interest both to researchers and practitioners, including graduate students in Manufacturing Engineering and Operations Research.

This book concentrates on real-world production scheduling in factories and industrial settings. It includes industry case studies that use innovative techniques as well as academic research results that can be used to improve production scheduling. Its purpose is to present scheduling principles, advanced tools, and examples of innovative scheduling systems to persons who could use this information to improve their own production scheduling.

This book presents a collection of thoroughly refereed papers drawn together from three meetings on multi-agent systems. Five of the tutorial lectures included were presented at the ACAI/EASSS 2001 summer school on MAS, held in Prague, Czech Republic, in July 2001; seven revised reviewed student papers dealing with various aspects of MAS are included as well. A workshop on Adaptability and Embodiment using MAS, AEMAS 2001, also held in Prague, Czech Republic, concurrently with the ACAI/EASSS summer school, is represented by three papers. Finally, a further nine papers were selected from an International Workshop on Industrial Applications of Holonic and Multi-Agent Systems, HoloMAS 2001, held in Munich, Germany, in September 2001.

The symposium Operations Research 2007 was held from September 5-7, 2007 at the Saarland University in Saarbru ̈cken. This international conference is at the same time the annual meeting of the German - erations Research Society (GOR). The transition in Germany (and many other countries in Europe) from a production orientation to a service society combined with a continuous demographic change generated a need for intensi?ed Op- ations Research activities in this area. On that account this conference has been devoted to the role of Operations Research in the service industry. The links to Operations Research are manifold and include many di?erent topics which are particularly emphasized in scienti?c sections of OR 2007. More than 420 participants from 30 countries made this event very international and successful. The program consisted of three p- nary,elevensemi-plenaryandmorethan300contributedpresentations, which had been organized in 18 sections. During the conference, the GOR Dissertation and Diploma Prizes were awarded. We congratulate all winners, especially Professor Wolfgang Domschke from the Da- stadt University of Technology, on receiving the GOR Scienti?c Prize Award.