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Planning and Replanning The Master Production Schedule Under Demand Uncertainty
Planning and Replanning The Master Production Schedule Under Demand Uncertainty
Abstract
The Master Production Schedule (MPS) is essential in maintaining customer service levels and stabilising production
planning in a Material Requirements Planning (MRP) environment. Traditionally, an MPS is derived from a demand
forecast and aggregate production plan but the associated cost to cover demand uncertainty is usually not considered.
Another di$culty in the MPS is its planning frequency. Frequent changes in the MPS reduce productivity whereas
a long-term frozen MPS results in a poor service level and an unfavourable inventory situation. This paper "rst
investigates the possibility to establish a method for planning the MPS under stochastic demand. Secondly, it aims to
evaluate the value of replanning actions. Finally, it provides a model for estimating appropriate MPS parameters such as
the length of the replanning interval and the length of the interval to freeze the plan. 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All
rights reserved.
Keywords: Master production schedule; Stochastic demand; Planning and replanning; Production-inventory system
0925-5273/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 5 - 5 2 7 3 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 0 0 - 6
324 O. Tang, R.W. Grubbstro( m / Int. J. Production Economics 78 (2002) 323}334
to study the bene"t from rescheduling. The Net which is a function of the method used to freeze the
Present Value approach was used and the planning MPS, the proportion of the MPS frozen and the
time is on a continuous scale. length of the planning horizon. This instability def-
In this paper, we "rst investigate the possibility inition has been followed in other studies [5,2,6,7].
to establish a method for planning the MPS under Still, stability is usually used together with other
stochastic demand. Secondly, we provide a model system performance measures, like the service level.
for replanning MPS assuming the lower-level In a similar way, Inderfurth [8] provided a de"ni-
schedule change cost is known. Then, using a tion of stability for this type of system.
similar method as in GrubbstroK m and Tang [1] In most of the MPS studies, simulation is used
and taking into account the schedule change cost, due to the complexity of the problem. Analysis of
we provide a model for estimating appropriate Variance (ANOVA) is usually applied to determine
MPS parameters such as the length of intervals the system performance when di!erent operation
to replan and freeze. Finally, we provide nume- policies are tested. Capacity constraints are often
rical examples and draw some conclusions in excluded from MPS studies, the only exception
a summary. being Kern and Wei [7]. In the following subsec-
tion, we provide a literature overview of the areas of
freezing the MPS and safety stocks in MPS.
2. Previous research in MPS
2.1. Freezing the MPS
Basically, two approaches have been suggested
to improve the quality of an MPS, namely freezing A rolling planning horizon is to replan MPS
the MPS and adding some safety stock into the each period whenever information is updated. This
forecast. When its operation and planning condi- tracks the development of demand closely, but gen-
tions such as forecasting quality, lot sizing policy, erates instability. One solution to avoid this is to
operation cost etc. are given, a high-quality MPS is freeze a portion of the planning horizon to stabilise
to select a proper planning horizon and a replann- the schedule. In a single-level deterministic demand
ing frequency as well as a safety stock. case, freezing this portion beyond 50% of the
Lin and Krajewski [2] provided a framework for planning horizon could reduce the instability but
studying the MPS. First they presented the con- increases cost tremendously [9,4].
cepts of a forecast window (planning horizon), For the demand uncertainty case, the forecast
a frozen interval and a replanning interval and quality has a large in#uence on the optimal frozen
discussed their relationships. Generally, the cost of interval and planning horizon [10]. Sridharan and
the MPS has been divided into two parts, a forecast Berry [11] point out that a long MPS frozen inter-
error cost and an MPS change cost. The latter has val may increase the need for safety stocks and
the same properties as in the similar approach by enlarges the lot-sizing costs at the MPS level. In
Carlson et al. [3], in which schedule change cost is a multi-level system, freezing the MPS is the most
a piecewise continuous function of time. The total e!ective way to reduce instability and reduce total
cost of the MPS model depends on the forecast costs [6]. This result is di!erent from single-level
window and the frozen interval and replanning and deterministic studies. In Kadipasaoglu's study
interval. But it should be reminded that the MPS in 1995 [12], it is indicated that freezing the MPS
change cost is more complicated and di$cult provides a bene"t in the stochastic case only. The
to estimated in reality when di!erent lot-sizing length of the frozen interval is recommended to
policies and a multi-level system are considered. cover the cumulative lead time.
However, in order to build an analytical model, we The freezing portion depends on the planning
adopted this simpli"cation in our study. horizon. A longer planning horizon actually may
An alternative and more frequently used measure worsen the MRP performance in a demand uncer-
for MPS quality is in terms of its stability. Srid- tainty situation, whereas improve its performance
haran et al. [4] suggested a measure of instability, in a deterministic case [10].
O. Tang, R.W. Grubbstro( m / Int. J. Production Economics 78 (2002) 323}334 325
Chung and Krajewski [13] study the interface Nevertheless, in all the studies we have mentioned
between aggregate planning and master production above, the level of safety stocks is considered as
planning in a hierarchical planning environment. a constant. In a situation where a portion of the
They concluded that the cost structure of aggregate planning horizon is frozen, we suggest that the level
planning has a high in#uence on the replanning of safety stock should vary for the reason that the
frequency of the MPS. forecast quality is impaired along with time. Our
previous studies show that the level of safety stock
2.2. Safety stocks follows a square root of time relation when demand
is a renewal process [17].
The safety stock is used to provide a bu!er for
uncertainty in the MPS. However, safety stocks
should be applied with great care. Maintaining 3. The planning decision
a safety stock level should not be the objective of
scheduling the MPS. An MPS that allows safety The objective of planning is to determine the
stocks to be added to inventory merely in the initial production volume for a given demand forecast
scheduling can create derive more bene"ts from its and an initial net inventory R . The initial net
operation than an MPS that carefully tracks safety inventory is de"ned as the di!erence between
stocks and reschedules accordingly. There are also cumulative production and cumulative demand so
studies considering safety stocks on both MPS and that it is either positive or negative. Instead of using
component levels in order to provide a #exible techniques like exponential smoothing, we here use
schedule in a multi-level system [14]. statistical methods for forecasting. Since our objec-
Metters [15] studies di!erent strategies for using tive in this study is to investigate the planning and
the safety stock. An explicit approach distinguishes replanning problem under uncertainty, we use the
the safety stock from normal demand and lets this variance of the demand forecast to express the
amount of stock battle the uncertainty. A new forecasting error (forecast quality). Another as-
order (replanning) is trigged only when there is sumption we have adopted is that the setup cost is
a real stockout. On the other hand, an implicit relatively low. This results in a setup in each time
approach triggers a new order whenever an inven- period so that we do not need to consider the
tory falls down to the safety stock level. Metters impact from the lot-sizing policy. Because of this,
also recommends a third approach, namely the the system instability due to the rolling horizon
stable safety policy. In this case, an explicit e!ect is reduced.
approach is used when there is no order in the old At any time, the following relation holds for
schedule and implicit approach when there is an a production-inventory system with backlogging:
order in the old schedule. Similarly, Sridharan and
B "DM !PM #S !R . (1)
LaForge [5] provide an intelligent safety policy G G G G
concept which does not permit a scheduling of the However here the time period is discrete, thus
MPS solely for the purpose of meeting a safety i"1, 2, 2 . In each interval, we must also have the
stock. following relation:
Even though a safety stock increases the service
E(B )"E(DM )!PM #E(S )!R . (2)
level, it does not necessarily provide a stable MPS. G G G G
In fact, a high safety to meet demand increases Because of the uncertainty in demand, there is
instability. Studies by Sridharan and LaForge [5] either an excess inventory when the cumulative
and Metters [15] support such a conclusion. production level is high, or stockouts when there is
Hsu and El-Najdawi [16] carried out a study a shortage of supply. It is apparent from Eq. (1) that
concerning how to determine the safety stock level. the system service level depends not on the demand
They incorporated safety stocks into the lot-sizing forecast error in each period, but on the forecast
policies. Four techniques to determine the optimal error of cumulative demand. When replanning is
safety stock level are examined and compared. not possible within a frozen interval, the error will
326 O. Tang, R.W. Grubbstro( m / Int. J. Production Economics 78 (2002) 323}334
be accumulated. Our previous studies [17] have where h and b are the unit holding cost and
G G
shown that the optimal safety stock may vary and stockout cost for period i, respectively, and n is
be a function of time in the continuous-time case. the planning horizon. The Lagrangean function
We assume that external cumulative demand of this minimisation problem with the constraints
DM at the end of the ith period follows a probability Eq. (6) is
G
density function, which depends on time explicitly:
L
¸" ((h #b )E(S )#b (E(DM )!PM !R ))
0 for x(0, G G G G G G
Pr(x)DM (x#dxi)" (3) G
G f (x) dx for x*0.
G L\
# (PM !PM ), (7)
Its cumulative probability function, denoted F (x), G G G>
G G
is assumed to be less than unity for "nite values of
where the are nonnegative Lagrangean multi-
x, and is shown to have the following property. G
pliers. The necessary Kuhn}Tucker conditions for
the optimal solution are
Lemma 1.
¸
F (x)(F (x).
G> G "(h #b )F (PM #R )!b # ! *0
PM G G G G G G G\
G
Proof. Writing g as the density function for de-
" for i"1, 2, 2, n,
mand during the (i#1)th period, i.e. for D , we
G> (8)
have
¸
F (x)"Pr(DM #D )x) "PM !PM )0 for i"1, 2, 2, n!1, (9)
G> G G> G G>
G
V
" F (y) ) g (x!y) dy together with the complementarily conditions
G "
W
¸
V PM ) "0 for i"1, 2, 2, n, (10)
)F (x) ) g (x!y) dy)F (x). G PM
G " G G
W
¸
Necessary for the equality to hold, we need ) "0 for i"1, 2, 2, n!1, (11)
G
V g (x!y) dy"1, which is impossible for G
W "
a "nite x. Hence the inequality is strict. 䊐. where for convenience we de"ne " "0.
L
Since setup costs are disregarded, the objective of Hence
the planning is here interpreted as minimising the b # !
uncertainty cost C (a term adopted from [2]) F (PM )* G G\ G for i"1, 2, 2, n, (12)
G G h #b
G G
L with equality whenever PM '0. We "rst note that
E(C )" (h E(S )#b E(B )) G
G G G G due to the non-decreasing property of the PM , the
G G
L optimal sequence will start with a (possibly empty)
" ((h #b )E(S )#b (E(DM )!PM !R )), subset PM "PM "2"0 followed by a second
G G G G G G
G (possibly empty) subset PM , PM , , PM '0.
(4) L\I L\I> 2 L
A strict inequality in Eq. (12) can therefore only be
with valid for the "rst of these subsets (if it is nonempty).
In Theorem 1 we provide a su$cient condition
.M G>0 for determining the structure of the sequence
E(S )" (PM #R !x) f (x) dx, (5)
G G G PM , PM , 2, PM .
V L
subject to the constraints
Theorem 1. If the ratio between unit stockout cost
PM *PM *0 for i"1, 2, 2, n!1, (6) and unit holding cost is non-decreasing in time, i.e.
G> G
O. Tang, R.W. Grubbstro( m / Int. J. Production Economics 78 (2002) 323}334 327
(b /h )*(b /h ), i"1, 2, 2, n!1, then we i"1, 2, 2, n!1. If PM , is the earliest positive cumu-
G> G> G G H
have the following conditions regarding the produc- lative production, then the multipliers from j!1 on-
tion sequence. wards are all zero, i.e. " " "
H\ H H>
2" "0.
If F (R )'b /(h #b ), then PM "PM "2"PM " L\
H H H H H
0; if F (R )(b /(h #b ), then PM , PM , , PM '0. Proof. PM being the earliest positive production
H H H H H H> 2 L H
requires "0. We rearrange Eq. (12) as an
Hence, this theorem o!ers a means for deciding H\
where the sequence of positive cumulative produc- equality for i"j and i"j#1:
tion levels should start. ! b
F (PM #R )# H H\ " H ,
H H h #b h #b
H H H H
Proof of Theorem 1. Assume (i) that F (R )'
H ! b
b /(h #b ), then b /(h #b ))b /(h #b )(
H H H G G G H H H F (PM #R )# H> H " H> .
F (R )(F (R ) for 1)i(j. H> H> h #b h #b
H G H> H> H> H>
Based on Eq. (12), we always need Since the right-hand member is nondecreasing,
F (R #PM )*(b ! )/(h #b ). If PM '0, then so must the left-hand member also be. Assume
F (R #PM )"(b ! )/(h #b )'F (R )'b that '0, then PM "PM ; and therefore
H H H>
/(h #b ) which creates a contradiction since F (PM #R )(F (PM #R ), which implies
H> H> H H
*0. Hence we obtain PM "0. ( ! )/(h #b )'( ! )/(h #b ).
H> H H> H> H H\ H H
Based again on Eq. (12), we always need Therefore, also '0, which creates PM "
H> H>
F (R #PM )*(b ! # )/(h #b ). If PM PM . Continuing this process, we end up with
H>
'0, then F (R #PM )"(b ! # )/(h # ! /(h #b )'0, which contradicts the non-
L\ L L
b )'F (R )'b /(h #b ). This requires negativity of the multipliers. Therefore we conclude
! # '0, therefore '0, which creates that "0. Analogously we get "0, etc.
H H>
a contradiction. Hence we obtain PM "0. Follow- Hence, no multiplier , for i*j!1, may be posit-
G
ing the same procedure for i"3, 4,2, we end up ive. This concludes our proof. 䊐.
with PM "0.
H
Assume (ii) that F (R )(b /(h #b ). Then By using Theorems 1 and 2, we are now in
H H H H
F (R )(F (R )(2(F (R )(b /(h #b ) a position to construct a solution procedure to the
L L\ H H H H
(b /(h #b ) for all j)i(n. Since F (R # stated problem of minimising the uncertainty cost.
G G G L
PM )*(b # )/(h #b )*b /(h #b )'F (R ), This procedure is stated in the following theorem.
L L L\ L L L L L L
we must have PM '0. If we assume PM "0 and take
L H
into account F (R #PM )*(b ! # )/ Theorem 3. As before, we assume a non-decreasing
H H H H H\
(h #b ), we obtain b /(h #b )'F (R )* sequence of unit cost ratios b /h )b /h , i"
H H H H H H G G G> G>
(b ! # )/(h #b ), which leads to ! # 1, 2, 2, n!1. The solution PM H to the minimisation
H H H\ H H H H
(0. Therefore '0 and we have problem Eq. (4) subject to the constraints Eq. (6) then
H\ H
PM "PM "0. satisxes
H> H
With PM "0 and b /(h #b )'
H> H> H> H> b
F (R )*(b ! # )/(h #b ), we PM H"0 if F (R )' H ,
H> H> H> H H> H> H H h #b
obtain ! # (0 and therefore '0. H H
H> H H>
Hence we have PM "PM "0.
H> H> F (PM H#R )"
b
H if F (R ))
b
H .
By repeating the above procedure, we obtain H H H
h #b h #b
PM "0, which contradicts PM '0. Therefore we H H H H
L L
"nally obtain PM , PM , , PM '0. 䊐 If all F (x) are monotonically increasing functions,
H H> 2 L H
the solution must be unique.
Theorem 2. We assume as in Theorem 1 that the ratio
between unit stockout cost and unit holding cost is Proof of Theorem 3 follows immediately from
non-decreasing in time, i.e. b /h )b /h for our previous results. The theorem shows that this
G G G> G>
328 O. Tang, R.W. Grubbstro( m / Int. J. Production Economics 78 (2002) 323}334
(P !P ) if P *P , the total cost function of replanning (Eq. (13)) is
" G G G G G (14)
G (P !P ) if P (P , convex. Then the optimal replanning decision
G G G G G P falls into the interval between the old production
G
where and both are nonincreasing functions of plan P and P*, the latter being the optimal solu-
G G G G
the time period i. This means that in order to tion when minimising the uncertainty cost based only
reschedule, whether adding orders or cancelling on the initial net inventory R and demand forecast,
2
the orders, it is always at least as expensive to see Fig. 1.
change the earlier schedule as the latter one. In
practical terms, these costs may relate to the time Proof. The proof follows from Lemma 2 and
fences, which are the guidelines to note various our assumption regarding the monotonic behav-
restrictions in schedule changes related to lower- iour of the schedule change cost with respect to
level items. P !P . 䊐
G G
O. Tang, R.W. Grubbstro( m / Int. J. Production Economics 78 (2002) 323}334 329
Combining Eqs. (13) and (14), we may write the 5. The planning and replanning model
total cost as
Essentially establishing the MPS is a dynamic
C "E(C )#C planning and replanning process. Fig. 2 illustrates
the decision scheme following a similar interpreta-
L>2 tion as in Lin and Krajewski [2]. The replanning
" ((h #b )E(S )#b (E(DM )!PM !R )# ).
G G G G G G 2 G interval is the time period until when no replanning
G2
(15) is under consideration. However, due to certain
production constraints in practice, such as the res-
Its "rst-order derivative is thus cheduling time fence, a portion of the old plan
needs to be "xed. Sometimes, because of unfavour-
C L>2 able economic consequences or system perfor-
" ((h #b )F (PM #R )!b )
P I I I I 2 I mance, part of the old plan needs to be kept. The
G IG
total length of the "xed part of the old plan is called
if PH'P , the frozen interval. During the time intervals be-
# G G G (16)
! if PH(P . yond the frozen interval, the production plan is
G G G allowed to be changed to improve the performance
Regarding the solution to the optimal replanning of the system by using the knowledge of the state
decisions, we have the following theorem. that was realised at the replanning time.
In GrubbstroK m and Tang [1], a decision tree
Theorem 5. method was used to address the rescheduling prob-
(i) If PH'P and (C /P ) '0, then we lem. Here we follow the same methodology for the
G G G . G
have the optimal solution P "P . planning and replanning problem. However, an
G G
(ii) If PH'P and (C /P ) (0, then the explicit schedule change cost has been added and
G G G . G
optimal P is such that (C /P ) G "0. the decision tree has been changed correspond-
G G .
(iii) If PH'P and (C /P ) HG '0, then the opti- ingly. As in Fig. 3, the replanning may take place at
G G G .
mal solution becomes P "PH. time ¹. The sequences of production decisions
G G
(iv) If PH(P and (C /P ) HG (0 and (C / prior to and at this point are denoted p and those
G G G .
P ) G (0, then the optimum will be beyond this point are denoted p. Let d and d
G .
P "P . represent stochastic sequences of a demand pro-
G G
(v) If PH(P and (C /P ) HG (0, and cess, before and after the possible replanning time
G G G .
(C /P ) G '0, then the optimal value of ¹ (Fig. 4).
G .
P is such that (C /P ) G "0. With this notation, the following planning and
G G .
replanning schemes can be interpreted in the form
Proof. The proof is obtained from Theorem 4 and of a decision tree. At time 0, we make a decision
the de"nition of the schedule change cost in combi-
nation with Kuhn}Tucker conditions. 䊐
6. Numerical examples
processes.
e\HG
concerning the production plan p followed by p. As for M"0,
f (M)"
G
shown in Section 3, this requires to determine + (i)H M!1
P*, for i"1, 2,2,¹, and P* for i"¹#1, e\HG H(1! )+\H (21)
G G j! j!1
¹#2,2,¹#n. At the replanning point, a state of H
for M"1, 2,2, .
the net inventory R will be realised based on the
2
outcome of the previous sequence of demand DM . where and are constants. The random variable
2
We now use the replanning model given in Section M, cumulative demand, has the mean
"i/ and
4 to decide P for i"¹#1, ¹#2,2, ¹#n. variance "i(2! )/ . This shows that for
G
The rescheduling cost in the current model, such a type of compound Poisson process, both the
depends on the state at which replanning occurs mean and variance of cumulative demand increase
(essentially on R ) and this cost will be di!erent for proportionally with the time period.
2
di!erent states in general. This is one of the major Given the production parameters b, h, , , we
di!erences from our previous study in GrubbstroK m calculate the optimal MPS according to the model
and Tang [1]. of Section 3. The safety stock SS equals the di!er-
The optimal frozen interval ¹ is therefore ence between cumulative production and expected
$
P "P , for all ¹(i)¹#¹ . (17) cumulative demand immediately prior to the time
G G $ of production.
The gain from replanning is the di!erence between A "rst example is given in Table 1, which shows
total costs for replanning and total costs for the that the optimal safety stock increases monotoni-
stay alternative. As illustrated in GrubbstroK m and cally with time, even if the demand forecast is
Tang [1], this gain has a non-negative value constant in each time period. The resulting produc-
C "C (R , P )!C (P R , P )*0. tion volume is then used for the purpose of the
2 G G 2 G MPS in this system. According to this production
(18)
plan, the production volumes tend to be close to
In this equation, the state R is a result of cumu-
2 constant except for the "rst few periods, and they
lative demand DM according to Eq. (1). Since cumu-
2 are all higher than expected demand. The increas-
lative demand at the replanning point ¹ has a
ing contribution to E(C ) shows that the system
cumulative density function F (x), the expected
2 needs to pay more to cover increasing uncertainty
gain from replanning is therefore
in later time periods.
Tables 2 and 3 o!er examples of the replanning
E(C (¹))" C (x) dF (x). (19)
2 model for a positive and negative initial net inven-
V
tory, respectively. The frozen intervals are 1 and
Similarly, we obtain the expected value of the
3 time periods, respectively. The schedule change
frozen interval ¹ from
$ cost structure is of course the major component
in#uencing the frozen interval. In our examples we
E(¹ )" ¹ (x) dF (x). (20)
$ $ 2 assume a decay function e\G for adding an order
V
O. Tang, R.W. Grubbstro( m / Int. J. Production Economics 78 (2002) 323}334 331
Table 1
The planning decisions with b"30, h"1, "5, "0.5
Table 3
Replanning decision with b"30, h"1, "5, "0.5,
R"!40
1 10 1000.00 5.00 62 12 12
2 10 367.88 1.84 63 12 12
3 10 135.34 0.68 36 12 12
4 10 49.79 0.25 27 12 29
5 10 18.32 0.09 19 12 27
6 10 6.74 0.03 16 11 23
7 10 2.48 0.01 12 12 18 Fig. 4. Expected gain from replanning vs. replanning interval on
8 10 0.91 0.00 12 11 14 di!erent uncertainty levels. Mean demand rate"10, b"30,
9 10 0.34 0.00 12 12 15 h"1, n"30.
10 10 0.12 0.00 12 11 12
11 10 0.00 0.00 11 11 11
12 10 0.00 0.00 12 11 12
13 10 0.00 0.00 11 12 12
14 10 0.00 0.00 11 11 11
15 10 0.00 0.00 11 11 11
16 10 0.00 0.00 11 11 11
17 10 0.00 0.00 11 11 11
18 10 0.00 0.00 12 11 12
19 10 0.00 0.00 11 11 11
20 10 0.00 0.00 11 11 11
Fig. 7. Expected frozen interval vs. replanning interval on di!er- Fig. 9. Expected frozen interval vs. planning horizon on di!er-
ent schedule change cost levels. b"30, h"1, "5, "0.5, ent uncertainty levels when the replanning interval is optimal.
n"30. Mean demand rate"10, b"30, h"1.
Fig. 8. Optimal replanning interval vs. planning horizon on Fig. 10. Optimal replanning interval vs. planning horizon on
di!erent uncertainty levels. Mean demand rate"10, b"30, di!erent schedule change cost levels. b"30, h"1, "5,
h"1. "0.5.
7. Summary
the possibility for further studying replanning when [5] V. Sridharan, R.L. LaForge, The impact of safety stock on
several alternative replanning points are con- schedule instability, cost and service, Journal of Opera-
sidered. tions Management 8 (4) (1989) 327}347.
[6] S.N. Kadipasaoglu, V. Sridharan, Alternative approach for
The numerical examples demonstrate procedures reducing schedule instability in multistage manufacturing
to solve the optimal replanning interval and to under demand uncertainty, Journal of Operations Man-
estimate the expected frozen interval. An interest- agement 13 (1995) 193}211.
ing "nding is that the forecast error appears to be of [7] G.M. Kern, J.C. Wei, Master production re-
little importance to either of them when the safety scheduling policy in capacity constrained just-in-time
make-to-stock environments, Decision Sciences 27 (2)
stock bu!er is optimised according to our planning (1996) 365}387.
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horizon still remains an open question. cal results, OR Spektrum 16 (1994) 113}123.
In this paper, we have assumed that there is only [9] V. Sridharan, W.L. Berry, V. Udayabhanu, Freezing
one replanning point inside of the "rst planning the master production schedule under rolling planning
horizons, Management Science 33 (9) (1987) 1137}1148.
horizon. In future studies, it is of interest to remove [10] X. Zhao, T.S. Lee, Freezing the master production sched-
this assumption. Simulation studies may be needed ule for material requirements planning systems under de-
for dynamic replanning problems, in which re- mand uncertainty, Journal of Operations Management 11
planning decisions may be interpreted following (1993) 185}205.
the model in Section 4. Only after that, the interre- [11] V. Sridharan, W.L. Berry, Freezing the master production
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