Neural networks and production planning

Because of the combination of classification, association, adaptation, and pattern recognition capabilities, neural networks are shown to be suitable for solving problems in production planning with uncertain and non-stationary demand. We demonstrate that a properly designed and trained multi-layered perceptron outperforms traditional algorithms for the rolling horizon version of the dynamic lotsizing problem. Formal arguments are supported by numerical experiments. Keywords: Lotsizing, Multi-Layered Perceptrons, Neural Networks, Pattern Recognition, Production Planning, Uncertainty.