Multi-stage, multi-facility, batch production system with deterministic demand over a finite time horizon

Researches on multi-stage production systems, so far, have tended to schedule production according to the overall optimal batch size of the entire shop with little consideration of the influence of the individual stages of production on the batch sizes that are considered optimal. The authors have attempted, in this paper, to investigate the effects of scheduling according to the optimality of the respective production stages. The results are compared with those of the more common case of overall optimal batch scheduling