Optimization Methods for Lot-Sizing Problem in an Automated Foundry

Abstract

Abstract In the paper we studied a production planning problem in a mid-size foundry that provides tailor-made cast products in small lots for a large number of clients. Assuming that a production bottleneck is the furnace, a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model is proposed to determine the lot size of the items and the required alloys to be produced during each period of the finite planning horizon that is subdivided into smaller periods. As using an advanced commercial MIP solvers may be impractical for more complex and large problem instances, we proposed and compared a few computational intelligence heuristics i.e. tabu search, genetic algorithm and differential evolution. The examination showed that heuristic approaches can provide a good compromise between speed and quality of solutions and can be used in real-world production planning.