Due Date Quotation Models and Algorithms

When firms operate in a make-to-order environment, they must set due dates (or lead times) which are both relatively soon in the future and can be met reliably in order to compete effectively. This can be a difficult task, since there is clearly an inherent tradeoff between short due dates, and due dates that can be easily met. Nevertheless, the vast majority of due date scheduling research assumes that due dates for individual jobs are exogenously determined. Typically, scheduling models which involve due dates focus on sequencing jobs at various stations in order to optimize some measure of the ability to meet the given due dates. However, in practice, firms need an effective approach for quoting due dates, and for sequencing jobs to meet these due dates. In this chapter, we consider a variety of models that contain elements of this important and practical problem, which is often known as the due date quotation and scheduling problem, or the due date management problem.