Basically five problems areas are addressed by operationsresearch specialists in the manufacturing domain: theore-tical and practical aspectsin production planning, facilitylayout, inventory control, tool management and scheduling.Some of these problems can be solved off-line, while othersmust be treated as real-time problems impacted by thechanging state of the system. Additionally, all of theseproblems have to be dealt with in an integrated systemsframework. Several new topics have recently appeared in thescientific literature which now attract the interest ofoperations researchers. These include distributed real-timescheduling, hierarchical and heterarchical control systems,integrated algorithms for design, process planning, andequipment level programming, material handling in a finitecapacity resource environment, and designing andimplementing distributed data management systems. Thecontributions of these proceedings represent new anduniquetheoretical developments and applications related to thesenew topics. They deal with modelling production structuresand applying expert systems or neural networks to productionsystems. Mathematical programming, control theory,simulation, genetic algorithms, tabu search, and simulatedannealing are applied as solutiton techniques.

Basically five problems areas are addressed by operationsresearch specialists in the manufacturing domain: theore-tical and practical aspectsin production planning, facilitylayout, inventory control, tool management and scheduling.Some of these problems can be solved off-line, while othersmust be treated as real-time problems impacted by thechanging state of the system. Additionally, all of theseproblems have to be dealt with in an integrated systemsframework. Several new topics have recently appeared in thescientific literature which now attract the interest ofoperations researchers. These include distributed real-timescheduling, hierarchical and heterarchical control systems,integrated algorithms for design, process planning, andequipment level programming, material handling in a finitecapacity resource environment, and designing andimplementing distributed data management systems. Thecontributions of these proceedings represent new anduniquetheoretical developments and applications related to thesenew topics. They deal with modelling production structuresand applying expert systems or neural networks to productionsystems. Mathematical programming, control theory,simulation, genetic algorithms, tabu search, and simulatedannealing are applied as solutiton techniques.

This proceedings volume contains selected and refereed contributions that were presented at the conference on "Recent Developments and New Perspectives of Operations Research in the Area of Production Planning and Control" in Hagen/Germany, 25. - 26. June 1992. This conference was organized with the cooperation of the FernuniversiHit Hagen and was jointly hosted by the "Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Operations Research (DGOR)" and the "Manufacturing Special Interest Group of the Operations Research Society of America (ORSA-SIGMA)". For the organization of the conference we received generous financial support from the sponsors listed at the end of this volume. We wish to express our appreciation to all supporters for their contributions. This conference was the successor of the JOInt ORSA/DGOR-conference in Gaithersburg/Maryland, USA, on the 30. and 31. July 1991. Both OR-societies committed themselves in 1989 to host joint conferences on special topics of interest from the field of operations research. This goal has been successfully realized in the area of production management; and it should be an incentive to conduct similar joint conferences on other topics of operations research in the years to come. The 36 contributions in this proceedings volume deal with general and special problems in production planning as well as approaches and algorithms for their solution. They cover a wide range of operations research within product management and will therefore address a wide circle of interested readers among OR-scientists and professionals alike.

Basically five problems areas are addressed by operationsresearch specialists in the manufacturing domain: theore-tical and practical aspectsin production planning, facilitylayout, inventory control, tool management and scheduling.Some of these problems can be solved off-line, while othersmust be treated as real-time problems impacted by thechanging state of the system. Additionally, all of theseproblems have to be dealt with in an integrated systemsframework. Several new topics have recently appeared in thescientific literature which now attract the interest ofoperations researchers. These include distributed real-timescheduling, hierarchical and heterarchical control systems,integrated algorithms for design, process planning, andequipment level programming, material handling in a finitecapacity resource environment, and designing andimplementing distributed data management systems. Thecontributions of these proceedings represent new anduniquetheoretical developments and applications related to thesenew topics. They deal with modelling production structuresand applying expert systems or neural networks to productionsystems. Mathematical programming, control theory,simulation, genetic algorithms, tabu search, and simulatedannealing are applied as solutiton techniques.

Basically five problems areas are addressed by operationsresearch specialists in the manufacturing domain: theore-tical and practical aspectsin production planning, facilitylayout, inventory control, tool management and scheduling.Some of these problems can be solved off-line, while othersmust be treated as real-time problems impacted by thechanging state of the system. Additionally, all of theseproblems have to be dealt with in an integrated systemsframework. Several new topics have recently appeared in thescientific literature which now attract the interest ofoperations researchers. These include distributed real-timescheduling, hierarchical and heterarchical control systems,integrated algorithms for design, process planning, andequipment level programming, material handling in a finitecapacity resource environment, and designing andimplementing distributed data management systems. Thecontributions of these proceedings represent new anduniquetheoretical developments and applications related to thesenew topics. They deal with modelling production structuresand applying expert systems or neural networks to productionsystems. Mathematical programming, control theory,simulation, genetic algorithms, tabu search, and simulatedannealing are applied as solutiton techniques.

This proceedings volume contains selected and refereed contributions that were presented at the conference on "Recent Developments and New Perspectives of Operations Research in the Area of Production Planning and Control" in Hagen/Germany, 25. - 26. June 1992. This conference was organized with the cooperation of the FernuniversiHit Hagen and was jointly hosted by the "Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Operations Research (DGOR)" and the "Manufacturing Special Interest Group of the Operations Research Society of America (ORSA-SIGMA)". For the organization of the conference we received generous financial support from the sponsors listed at the end of this volume. We wish to express our appreciation to all supporters for their contributions. This conference was the successor of the JOInt ORSA/DGOR-conference in Gaithersburg/Maryland, USA, on the 30. and 31. July 1991. Both OR-societies committed themselves in 1989 to host joint conferences on special topics of interest from the field of operations research. This goal has been successfully realized in the area of production management; and it should be an incentive to conduct similar joint conferences on other topics of operations research in the years to come. The 36 contributions in this proceedings volume deal with general and special problems in production planning as well as approaches and algorithms for their solution. They cover a wide range of operations research within product management and will therefore address a wide circle of interested readers among OR-scientists and professionals alike.