Rainer Leisten – författare

The book is devoted to the problem of manufacturing scheduling, which is the efficient allocation of jobs (orders) over machines (resources) in a manufacturing facility. It offers a comprehensive and integrated perspective on the different aspects required to design and implement systems to efficiently and effectively support manufacturing scheduling decisions. Obtaining economic and reliable schedules constitutes the core of excellence in customer service and efficiency in manufacturing operations. Therefore, scheduling forms an area of vital importance for competition in manufacturing companies. However, only a fraction of scheduling research has been translated into practice, due to several reasons. First, the inherent complexity of scheduling has led to an excessively fragmented field in which different sub problems and issues are treated in an independent manner as goals themselves, therefore lacking a unifying view of the scheduling problem. Furthermore, mathematical brilliance and elegance has sometimes taken preference over practical, general purpose, hands-on approaches when dealing with these problems. Moreover, the paucity of research on implementation issues in scheduling has restricted translation of valuable research insights into industry.

"Manufacturing Scheduling Systems: An Integrated View on Models, Methods and Tools" presents the different elements constituting a scheduling system, along with an analysis the manufacturing context in which the scheduling system is to be developed. Examples and case studies from real implementations of scheduling systems are presented in order to drive the presentation of the theoretical insights. The book is intended for an ample readership including industrial engineering/operations post-graduate students and researchers, business managers, and readers seeking an introduction to the field.

Das vorliegende Buch liefert eine Einführung in das Gebiet des Operations Research und ist primär für Studenten nicht-mathematischer Fachrichtungen, insbesondere für Wirtschaftswissenschaftler gedacht. Es werden jedoch auch Mathematiker angesprochen, die sich einen einführenden methodischen Überblick über das Gesamtgebiet verschaffen wollen. Dem Praktiker werden die Ausführungen helfen, Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des praktischen Einsatzes von OR-Verfahren zu beurteilen. Durch die anschauliche, leicht verständliche und durch viele Grafiken unterstützte Darstellung soll der mathematisch weniger geübte Leser angesprochen werden. Dabei wird nicht nur die Lineare Optimierung (einschließlich der Sensitivitätsanalyse und der Ganzzahligen Optimierung) behandelt. Es wird ebenfalls eine Einführung in die Nichtlineare Optimierung und in die Dynamische Optimierung gegeben. Die dargestellten Verfahren werden ausführlich in jedem Schritt erläutert.