Production Planning and Control with Learning Technologies: Simulation and Optimization of Complex Production Processes

Since the early 1970s order processing has increasingly been supported by engineering data processing (EDP) systems in German-speaking countries. This tremendously fast development in data processing has created the ability to cover the entire order processing chain, from customer request to delivery (invoicing). However, reality shows a generally negative response concerning the actual improvement through the application of such EDP systems. It is mainly the validity of the extensively calculated production plans that is criticized: "The production plan is obsolete even before it is introduced into manufacturing!" This is the most commonly heard reproach of EDP systems. However, many are not satisfied with production planning and control (PPC) and complain about long lead times, huge workloads, and backlogs. Even though many claims are made that the situation has fundamentally changed, the so-called vicious manufacturing cycle established in the mid 1970s by W. Plossl has not lost any of its validity. Reasons for the latter are widely discussed among professionals, yet the most common is the limited Consecutive Planning Approach to Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP II), on which most of the PPC systems are based. Because of this, there is a constant demand for new planning approaches