AN OPTIMAL ALGORITHM FOR THE BASIC PERIOD APPROACH TO THE ECONOMIC LOT SCHEDULING PROBLEM

This paper develops a global optimum solution to the Economic Lot Sche duling Problem (ELSP) using the restrictions of the basic period appro ach as originally formulated by Bomberger. The ELSP is a classic probl em in production which involves scheduling multiple products on a sing le facility, with the restriction that no two products may be produced at the same time. Ideally, a manufacturer could generate a schedule w hich would minimize the sum of setup and holding costs, but the comple xities involved have so far precluded the attainment of such an ideal. This article presents a real time solution method for practical sized problems using the basic period version of the ELSP. The authors beli eve this is the first global optimal algorithm for the basic period EL SP to be presented in the literature. It is anticipated that future re search will extend the idea presented in this article to cover more ge neral approaches to the ELSP. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.