Introduction

Abstract

The 1980s are said to be an era of low economic growth, resource saving, and energy saving. Mass production and mass consumption, which had been considered to be a virtue in the 1960s and 1970s, have been changed. Moreover, the consumer’s sense of value has gained variety through the age of the affluent. Thus individuals’ desires to possess special goods have risen and the life cycle of products has decreased. These situations gradually have caused many firms to manufacture products in a specified, short time period, and the production volume for each product is very low. This type of production is called “multi-product, small-lot-sized production,” “batch-type production,” or “variety production,” and is mainly production-to-order. In multi-product, small-lot-sized production, the material flow for producing each of the products is dissimilar and complicated, unlike mass production. Characteristics of multi-product, small-lot-sized production are [1]:

• 1. variety of product items

• 2. variety of production processes

• 3. complexity of productive capacity

• 4. uncertainty of outside conditions

• 5. difficulty of production planning and scheduling

• 6. dynamic situation of implementation and control of production