Software frameworks for production scheduling and analytical benchmarking

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1225699 (Table of Contents)

This study is composed of two technical real world problems which are widely encountered in industrial engineering applications. The problems are selected from production scheduling and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) which are discussed in two stand-alone chapters. Both of the studies develop practical solutions and software development frameworks to the selected problems. An innovative software accompanies each study in which it is tested and implemented in real world projects. In the first study, a general software framework that integrates optimization into daily production planning in chemicals industry is discussed. The number of re¬quired washes during changeovers in a single mixer is minimized through effective production sequencing which converts each production setting into a single Travel¬ing Salesman Problem (TSP). The application of the software at a hygiene products manufacturer yielded significant saving in the consumption of clean water. In the second study, DEA results are considered with a data mining perspective. In order to integrate DEA results with data mining and information visualization techniques, a formal representation of DEA results is proposed in a framework.