Coordinated planning and scheduling in supply chains with feedback mechanism

The paper presents such mechanisms for practical coordination in supply chains that were developed in response to real industrial needs. The methods that make use of a supplier's feedback on its intentions - let these refer to the medium or the short term - coordinate supply in the weak sense, without warranting systems-wide optimality. While cost related objective is tackled on the level of planning with sufficient foresight for optimization, delivery performance is handled by scheduling where feasibility is a must. The methods can be implemented with standard planner systems using well-established communication channels. The paper reports also shortly on results of simulation studies and experiences with deployed industrial systems.