Hierarchical structure in manufacturing systems: a literature survey

This paper surveys the research literature of hierarchical structures in manufacturing systems. The research literature is given by classifying categories for an organisation structure and a production plan. In the category of the organisation structure, this paper presents the new trend in multi-division models and/or decentralised models. The research literature that is classified into organisation structure reflects decomposition principle, bi-level planning, and principal-agent problem. In the category of the production plan, this paper presents the new trend and shows several application models in hierarchical production planning (HPP), aggregation-disaggregation model, and multi-level lot sizing problem.