A Hierarchical Production Planning System Simulator

This research develops and demonstrates a Hierarchical Production Planning System Simulator (HPPSS) for the analysis of feedback-and-control mechanisms between linear programming models at two levels within a Hierarchical Production Planning (HPP) system. This work focuses on planning levels dealing with tactical decisions. Three areas distinguish it from prior research. First, the HPPSS allows explicit examination of the effects of different information exchanges between the levels of a hierarchical model. Second, the HPPSS allows examination of the problems for which a given feedback-and-control mechanism performs well. Finally, the HPPSS allows the effects of a rolling horizon implementation on the hierarchical models of the production planning problem to be investigated. The significance is that a more thorough understanding of the costs and benefits of various mechanisms for information exchange between the levels of hierarchical models of planning problems over time will lead to improved hierarchical decision-making techniques that may influence organizational design. (Received in May 2011, accepted in October 2011. This paper was with the author 1 month for 1 revision.)