Integrated shelf-life rules for multi-level pharmaceutical tablets manufacturing processes

This paper discusses the multi-level capacitated lot-sizing problem with linked lot sizes and backorders (MLCLSP-L-B) considering deterministic product shelf-life applied to pharmaceutical tablets manufacturing processes. This paper’s motivation, essential concepts, and conclusions for the pharmaceutical industry were already presented and discussed in the International Workshop on LotSizing (IWLS), see Simonis and Nickel (2023a. International Workshop on Lot-Sizing-IWLS’2023, Vol. 13, 30–33). Material’s shelf-life depends on the remaining shelf-life of issued ingredients in tablets
manufacturing processes. This particular shelf-life behaviour is named integrated shelf-life rules. The MLCLSP-L-B is extended by integrated shelf-life rules (MLCLSP-L-B-SL). Moreover, an exact mathematical problem formulation is provided. First In-First Out (FIFO) and First Expire-First Out (FEFO) heuristics are developed for the MLCLSP-L-B. The MLCLSP-L-B-SL, FIFO, and FEFO heuristics are evaluated based on anonymised real-world data of five multi-level tablets manufacturing problem
instances. Additionally, proposed solutions regarding manufacturing costs and shelf-life conflicts are compared. ... mehrFinally, planning rules and managerial insights are derived for tablets manufacturing processes.