A Model for Multi-Plant Production Planning Coordination

Conrad Oboulhas, Xu Xiaofei, and Zhan Dechen

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Abstract: This paper deals with the problem of coordinating production planning process that becomes more complex in today’s highly competitive manufacturing environment. Our main concern is to develop a model for coordinating the multi-plant production planning when the demand at any plant can be satisfied by producing at any other plant. The proposed model uses the multi-agent system and linear programming technique to achieve minimized production cost, increased flexibility and faster response.

Keywords: Multi-plant production planning, coordination, linear programming, multi-agent system.

Received January 26, 2004; accepted August 22, 2004