BOTTLENECK RESOURCE-ALLOCATION IN MANUFACTURING

Many resource-allocation problems in manufacturing and service operati ons require selecting integer-valued levels for various activities tha t consume ''nondecreasing amounts'' of limited resources. System produ ctivity, to be maximized, is limited by the least productive (bottlene ck) activity. We first review a basic bisection method that can solve this discrete, monotonic resource-allocation problem even with a nonli near objective and constraints. We then generalize the basic algorithm to solve an enhanced version of the problem containing additional cou pling constraints on the allocation decisions. This generalization app lies to assembly-release planning (ARP) in a multiproduct assemble-to- forecast environment with part commonality. The ARP problem requires d eciding the number of kits for each product to release for assembly in every time period, using the;available parts, to achieve if possible the target service levels for all products and time periods or minimiz e the maximum deviation of the actual service levels from the targets. We also consider extensions of the ARP model incorporating precedence constraints and part substitutability, and show how to modify the bis ection method to solve these problems.