| A new integrative approach is developed to make production planning and scheduling decisions in large job shops with large number of parallel processors. At the aggregate level, a new PSH model which can integrate a large number of constraints without adversely affecting the computational time is developed. At the disaggregate level, three algorithms are constructed. These algorithms generate the production plans, allocate the machines to the production of items, and test the feasibility of the generated production plans for the family items. Management information system, decision support system and expert systems have important roles in this approach.;The hierarchical scheme has been tested on a real world problem resulting in substantial cost savings. |
