An efficient heuristic for medium-term planning in shampoo production

Cédric Mocquillon (1) , Christophe Lenté (1) , Vincent t'Kindt (2)

1 LIFAT - Laboratoire d'Informatique Fondamentale et Appliquée de Tours
2 ROOT - Recherche Opérationnelle, Ordonnancement, Transport ERL 7002

This paper presents a single machine problem which occurs in shampoo production at medium-term planning phase. The considered production plant is linked to subsidiary companies which are themselves linked to final customers. The aim is to answer subsidiary companies requests by keeping their stocks in a window defined by their safety stock and maximum inventory levels. After an introduction, we present a formal definition of the problem. Next, we present a two-phase heuristic algorithm: the first phase is based on a greedy algorithm and the second phase on the Goldberg and Tarjan algorithm for the minimum cost flow problem. Experimental testings close to industrial instances show that the heuristic performs very efficiently.

Mots clés: Shampoo production; Single machine problem; Production planning; Greedy algorithm; Min cost flow

Domaines: Recherche opérationnelle [math.OC]

Cédric Mocquillon, Christophe Lenté, Vincent t'Kindt. An efficient heuristic for medium-term planning in shampoo production. International Journal of Production Research, 2011, 129 (1), pp.178-185. ⟨10.1016/j.ijpe.2010.09.023⟩. ⟨hal-01003797⟩