Fuzzy modelling and simulation for aggregate production planning

The market demands and financial constraints in medium- to long-term production planning are often subject to uncertainties. As an extension of the author's previous paper, this paper focuses on a formulation and simulation analysis for multi-product aggregate production-planning problems with fuzzy demands and fuzzy capacities. The fuzzy production–inventory balance equation is formulated as a soft equation and can be interpreted as the possibility level of meeting the market demands, which is more meaningful and accepted by the practitioner than the previous one. With this interpretation, a fuzzy multi-product aggregate production-planning model is transformed into a parametric programming model. A simulation of a practical instance is conducted to illustrate the model and demonstrate the performance and effect of various parameters on the optimal aggregate production plan. The proposed formulation and simulation analysis can help the decision-maker make a reasonable and preferred aggregate plan to guarantee feasibility of the downstream family disaggregation plans.