Methodical decision support for dynamic allocation planning of product variants in global manufacturing networks

由于客户需求的地理变化，产品种类不断增加，同时竞争压力也在增加，这对制造公司在规划其全球制造网络时提出了挑战。因此，提出的研究建议旨在支持全球制造网络中的产品变体分配决策，同时在不断变化的生产环境中最优地利用生产结构和能力。由于产品变体需求的不稳定性，产品变体在生产阶段和生产地点的分配决策和制造网络的配置策略决策必须同时进行。只有这样，才能适当地考虑产品变体、生产要求与生产结构和能力之间的相互依赖关系。该提案所解决的主要挑战是，在考虑多个不断变化的产品变体、生产阶段和多个时间段的站点时，如何处理规划问题的复杂性。在规划制造网络时，这些变化与长期且往往不可逆转的决策形成对比。需要分别考虑制造网络配置的动态可重构性和柔性措施。当对产品变体的需求变化或生产环境的变化不能再通过灵活性措施来补偿时，制造网络的重新配置就变得至关重要。网络结构和能力限制的透明度，例如生产现场现有或潜在的员工，对于重新配置决策非常重要。在考虑柔性措施和动态可重构性的全局制造网络优化模型的基础上，提出了一种保证后优化方法求解结果的方法。这些方法允许分析确定的关于进一步优化潜力的最优解决方案，并说明网络配置策略对偏离需求趋势的灵活性。

Increasing product variety due to a geographical shift of customer demand and simultaneously increasing competitive pressure pose challenges for manufacturing companies when planning their global manufacturing networks.Therefore, the presented research proposal aims at supporting product variant allocation decisions in global manufacturing networks while optimally utilizing production structures and capacities in constantly changing production environments.Due to volatile product variant demand, decisions regarding product variant allocation to production stages and sites and configuration strategy decisions in manufacturing networks have to be made simultaneously. Only in this way, interdependencies between product variant production requirements and production structures and capacities can be considered appropriately.The main challenge addressed by this proposal is to cope with planning problem complexity when considering multiple and ever-changing product variants, production stages, and sites over multiple time periods. These changes contrast long-term and often irreversible decisions when planning manufacturing networks.Both, dynamic reconfigurability and flexibility measures of manufacturing network configurations need to be considered respectively. When demand changes for product variants or changes in the production environment cannot be compensated by flexibility measures any more, manufacturing network reconfiguration becomes essential. Transparency of restricting constrains for network structures and capacities, such as existing or potential staff at production sites, is significant for reconfiguration decisions. Based on an optimization model for global manufacturing networks considering flexibility measures and dynamic reconfigurability, an approach proposed to ensure the assurance of the solution found using post optimization methods. These methods allow for analysing the identified optimal solutions regarding further optimization potential and illustrating flexibility of the network configuration strategies to deviating demand trends.