IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/jgu/wpaper/1001.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Problem-Specific and Effective Metaheuristic for Flexibility Design

Author

Listed:
  • Jörn Grahl

    (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Dept. of Information Systems & Business Administration Mainz School of Management and Economics)

  • Michael Schneider

    (Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Information Systems and Operations Research Department)

  • David Francas

    (Universität Mannheim, Chair of Logistics and Supply Chain Management)

Abstract

Matching uncertain demand with capacities is notoriously hard. Operations managers can use mix-flexible resources to shift excess demands to unused capacities. To find the optimal configuration of a mix-flexible production network, a flexibility design problem (FDP) is solved. Existing literature on FDPs provides qualitative structural insights, but work on solution methods is rare. We contribute the first metaheuristic which integrates these structural insights and is specifically tailored to solve FDPs. Our genetic algorithm is compared to commercial solvers on instances of up to 15 demand types, resources, and 500 demand scenarios. Experimental evidence shows that in the realistic case of flexible optimal configurations, it dominates the comparison methods regarding runtime and solution quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Jörn Grahl & Michael Schneider & David Francas, 2010. "A Problem-Specific and Effective Metaheuristic for Flexibility Design," Working Papers 1001, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, revised 28 Jan 2010.
    • Handle: RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://download.uni-mainz.de/RePEc/pdf/Discussion_Paper_1001.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2010
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William C. Jordan & Stephen C. Graves, 1995. "Principles on the Benefits of Manufacturing Process Flexibility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(4), pages 577-594, April.
    2. Kauder, S. & Meyr, H., 2009. "Strategic network planning for an international automotive manufacturer," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 36058, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    3. Ralf Bihlmaier & Achim Koberstein & René Obst, 2009. "Modeling and optimazing of strategic and tactical production planning in the automotive industry under uncertainty," Springer Books, in: Herbert Meyr & Hans-Otto Günther (ed.), Supply Chain Planning, pages 367-392, Springer.
    4. Santoso, Tjendera & Ahmed, Shabbir & Goetschalckx, Marc & Shapiro, Alexander, 2005. "A stochastic programming approach for supply chain network design under uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(1), pages 96-115, November.
    5. Seyed M. Iravani & Mark P. Van Oyen & Katharine T. Sims, 2005. "Structural Flexibility: A New Perspective on the Design of Manufacturing and Service Operations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(2), pages 151-166, February.
    6. Wallace J. Hopp & Eylem Tekin & Mark P. Van Oyen, 2004. "Benefits of Skill Chaining in Serial Production Lines with Cross-Trained Workers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(1), pages 83-98, January.
    7. Jan A. Van Mieghem, 1998. "Investment Strategies for Flexible Resources," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(8), pages 1071-1078, August.
    8. Charles H. Fine & Robert M. Freund, 1990. "Optimal Investment in Product-Flexible Manufacturing Capacity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(4), pages 449-466, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schneider, Michael & Grahl, Jörn & Francas, David & Vigo, Daniele, 2013. "A problem-adjusted genetic algorithm for flexibility design," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 56-65.
    2. Mabel C. Chou & Geoffrey A. Chua & Chung-Piaw Teo & Huan Zheng, 2010. "Design for Process Flexibility: Efficiency of the Long Chain and Sparse Structure," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 58(1), pages 43-58, February.
    3. Francas, David & Kremer, Mirko & Minner, Stefan & Friese, Markus, 2009. "Strategic process flexibility under lifecycle demand," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 427-440, October.
    4. Chou, Mabel C. & Chua, Geoffrey A. & Teo, Chung-Piaw, 2010. "On range and response: Dimensions of process flexibility," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(2), pages 711-724, December.
    5. Achal Bassamboo & Ramandeep S. Randhawa & Jan A. Van Mieghem, 2012. "A Little Flexibility Is All You Need: On the Asymptotic Value of Flexible Capacity in Parallel Queuing Systems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 60(6), pages 1423-1435, December.
    6. Bo Liao & Candace Arai Yano & Shiva Esturi, 2017. "Optimizing Site Qualification Across the Supply Network at Western Digital," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 47(4), pages 305-319, August.
    7. Rujeerapaiboon, Napat & Zhong, Yuanguang & Zhu, Dan, 2023. "Resilience of long chain under disruption," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(2), pages 597-615.
    8. Olivella, Jordi & Nembhard, David, 2016. "Calibrating cross-training to meet demand mix variation and employee absence," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(2), pages 462-472.
    9. Achal Bassamboo & Ramandeep S. Randhawa & Jan A. Van Mieghem, 2010. "Optimal Flexibility Configurations in Newsvendor Networks: Going Beyond Chaining and Pairing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(8), pages 1285-1303, August.
    10. Wallace J. Hopp & Seyed M. R. Iravani & Wendy Lu Xu, 2010. "Vertical Flexibility in Supply Chains," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(3), pages 495-502, March.
    11. Dipankar Bose & A. K. Chatterjee & Samir Barman, 2016. "Towards dominant flexibility configurations in strategic capacity planning under demand uncertainty," OPSEARCH, Springer;Operational Research Society of India, vol. 53(3), pages 604-619, September.
    12. Jiajia Cong & Wen Zhou, 2020. "Inflexible Repositioning: Commitment in Competition and Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(9), pages 4207-4225, September.
    13. Tanrisever, Fehmi & Morrice, Douglas & Morton, David, 2012. "Managing capacity flexibility in make-to-order production environments," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 216(2), pages 334-345.
    14. Volling, Thomas & Matzke, Andreas & Grunewald, Martin & Spengler, Thomas S., 2013. "Planning of capacities and orders in build-to-order automobile production: A review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 224(2), pages 240-260.
    15. Shixin Wang & Xuan Wang & Jiawei Zhang, 2021. "A Review of Flexible Processes and Operations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(6), pages 1804-1824, June.
    16. Lauren Xiaoyuan Lu & Jan A. Van Mieghem, 2009. "Multimarket Facility Network Design with Offshoring Applications," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 11(1), pages 90-108, October.
    17. Brian Tomlin & Yimin Wang, 2005. "On the Value of Mix Flexibility and Dual Sourcing in Unreliable Newsvendor Networks," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 37-57, June.
    18. Francas, David & Löhndorf, Nils & Minner, Stefan, 2011. "Machine and labor flexibility in manufacturing networks," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(1), pages 165-174, May.
    19. Manu Goyal & Serguei Netessine, 2007. "Strategic Technology Choice and Capacity Investment Under Demand Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(2), pages 192-207, February.
    20. Timothy C. Y. Chan & Douglas Fearing, 2019. "Process Flexibility in Baseball: The Value of Positional Flexibility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(4), pages 1642-1666, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Flexibility; Metaheuristic; Network Design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M11 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Production Management

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Research Unit IPP (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vlmaide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.