Decision Sciences Journal
Volume 32, Number 3
Summer 2001
A Decision Support System for Production/Distribution Planning
in Continuous Manufacturing
Sudhir Mallya
Consultant, Parsipanny NJ, e-mail: amallya@prodigy.net
Snehamay Banerjee
College of Business, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ 08102,
e-mail: snehamy@crab.rutgers.edu
William G. Bistline
Peter J. Tobin College of Business, St. John’s University,
Staten Island, NY 10301, e-mail: bistlinw@stjohns.edu
ABSTRACT. This paper presents a decision support system
(DSS) for managing production/distribution planning in a continuous
manufacturing environment. The vendor has multiple plants and
distribution centers (DCs). The trading partners have widely
varying independent demand patterns. The DSS is designed for
use in a multiproduct environment with overlapping raw materials
and processing requirements. The production and distribution
lead times at plants may span multiple planning periods. The
impact of any manual override of a suggested solution can also
be evaluated. The DSS is based on a linear programming model
with a rolling horizon and was originally designed for a large
process industry. Results of a pilot implementation using actual
data are also presented, which show potential for significant
savings for the company.
Subject Areas: Decision Support Systems, Linear Programming,
and Production/Distribution Planning. |