Multi-objective microcomputer-based interactive production planning

Abstract

This paper presents a production-planning methodology which brings about interactions between the decision-maker and the analyst in a situation where multiple objectives are considered. An interactive goal-programming technique is developed in which the decision-maker bases his judgement on pairwiae comparisons of the values of the objective functions at each iteration. Three goals are considered: minimizing production cost, maintaining a balanced workforce level for the periods over the time horizon and last, but not least, minimizing the deviation between the actual production level and that specified by the government. A microcomputer-baaed procedure is adopted and its application to the case of a small diesel engine assembly factory is presented.