Efficiency management of discrete production systems under the dynamics of project portfolio

Computers & Industrial Engineering. 2022. Vol. 163. Article 107807.

Mylnikov L.

The problem investigated in the paper is very timely due to the necessity to increase planning and management efficiency of production systems as new innovation products come to the market on a regular basis. This task may be achieved if we upgrade the formalization level by the description of processes which a production system performs to create a production portfolio. Thus, in the paper, schedule and volume planning problem is tackled, incl. the specification of requirements to the projects’ flow and their characteristics for an efficient performance of a production system in the situation of uncertain environments. In the paper, project requirements are suggested in order to eliminate cost-inefficient project combinations. They are based on market, production system and projects’ relationships. The gained knowledge about the projects’ flow and projects helped specify the requirements for projects and activities involved by the discovery and development of new products. The study is of great significance because its outcomes demonstrate that the selection of projects and the specification of target indexes cannot be solely based on expert evaluations. The evaluations become more reliable if formal methods are applied. As for practical significance of the paper, the study outcomes allow to reduce the time taken to plan and implement a project, elevate the number (ratio) of successfully implemented projects, make it more cost-efficient by the orientation to an open market with an uncertain demand, and increase revenues raised by production systems.

Keywords: scheduling, model, Poisson flow, portfolio of projects, production system, project scheduling, project management