Manufacturing control of a serial system with binomial yields, multiple production runs, and non-rigid demand: a decomposition approach

In this paper, the problem of ordering a series of production runs to meet a single make-to-order demand, where the various stages in the production p rocess have binomial yields, is addressed. The use of additional procuremen t of part-finished material or reworking defective material previously made to supplement yield at any stage is considered. The costs of this and manu facture, disposal of surplus or shortage are assumed to be proportional to the numbers involved. Set-up costs may or may not be incurred. The treatmen t follows from, and builds on, a previous single-run analytical result by d eveloping an approximation in which the problem is decomposed into a series of single runs.