Production planning is an important task in manufacturing systems. We consider a real-world capacitated lot-sizing problem (CLSP) from the process industry. Because the problem requires discrete lot-sizes, domain-specific methods from the literature are not directly applicable. We therefore approach the problem with WSAT (OIP), a new domainindependent heuristic for integer optimization which ge...

This paper proposes an inverse lot-sizing model for eliciting the cost parameters (the setup, holding, and backlog costs) of a supplier from earlier demand vs. optimal lot-size pairs. It is assumed that the supplier solves a single-item, multi-period, uncapacitated lot-sizing problem with backlogs to optimality to calculate its lot-sizes, and the buyer is aware of this fact. The inverse optimiz...

Given multiple products with unique lumpy demand patterns, this paper explores the determination of both the lot size for each product and the resource allocation among the products, given an investment budget for production rate improvements. Each product’s optimal production policy takes on only one of two forms: either continuous production or lot-for-lot production. A heuristic procedure de...

Objective Antidepressants outperform placebo with an effect size of around 0.30. It has been suggested that sizes as high 0.875 are necessary for a minimal clinically important difference. Whether such achievable in placebo-controlled trials is unknown. Therefore, we aimed to assess what theoretically antidepressants. Methods Patient-level analyses comparing Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HD...

It is now widely accepted that both large and small lot sizes can cause long lead times and consequently bad customer service in terms of late deliveries. The impact of the lot size on the lead time consists of a convex relationship, implying an optimal lot size minimising average lead time. In order to educate people with this undoubtedly correct, but yet controversial issue, we developed an e...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of a rural clinical placement on students' self-perceived clinical skills and work location choice post-graduation. METHODS A one month rural placement program was introduced in 2008-2009 for 4(th) year dental undergraduates. Student's views on the rural exercise were collected by pre and post self-completion questionnaires, which were distributed to ru...

Strategic planning is a vital management tool for projecting the long-range business goals and is not only for big businesses, but also applicable to small businesses in spite of their limited resources. To do this effectively, organizations should determine their strengths and weaknesses. Organizations have to produce appropriate action plans to overcome these weaknesses and it is very importa...