Integrated production scheduling and process control: A systematic review

Production scheduling and process control have the common aim of identifying (economically) optimal operational decisions, and it is reasonable to expect that significant economic benefits can be derived from their integration. Yet, the scheduling and control fields have evolved quite independently of each other, and efforts aimed at integrating these two decision-making activities are quite recent. In this paper, we review progress made thus far in this direction. We identify key elements of control and scheduling, and carry out a systematic investigation of their use as building blocks for the formulation and solution of the integrated scheduling/control problem. On the basis of our review, we define several necessary directions for future development as well as a complement of promising applications.