Robust production planning at DIPP with re-scheduling after disruptions

This research analysed and optimised the production planning at DIPP, a Demcon sub-company specialising in machine production. Due to unforeseen disruptions, such as increased labour demand from design changes and material lead time delays, previous projects needed a labour-hour increase. A proactive-reactive approach based on the RCPSP was developed to address these challenges. The proactive part focuses on minimising the makespan and balancing resources, while the reactive part reduces overtime and the effect of disruptions. Robustness was achieved by incorporating slack time, by planning extra hours or delaying production starts. Three slack allocation strategies were tested: equal weekly distribution, allocation based on average extra hour demand, and placing slack at a project's end. Experiments on two DIPP projects resulted in recommendations and a tool for DIPP to apply these models in future production planning