On the optimality of myopic production controls for single-server, continuous-flow manufacturing systems

In this note, we consider a broad class of dynamic scheduling problems asso ciated with a single-server, multiclass, continuous-flow manufacturing syst em. Using a general framework, we provide conditions under which the soluti on to these problems is the implementation of a class of production control s called myopic scheduling policies. The proof of optimality, which is intu itively appealing, applies to more general production models than existing proofs in the literature, which typically either use the maximum principle or solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. We also present severa l counterexamples that explicitly illustrate the potential limitations of m yopic scheduling policies.