Revisiting the shelf life constrained multi-product manufacturing problem

A multi-product manufacturing problem generally consists of the total cost minimization. In case where the shelf life constraint is imposed, various options to deal with the situation are widely discussed in the literature. These options include a reduction in the production rate and cycle time separately, and the simultaneous reduction of production rate and cycle time. When the production rate is decreased, the unit manufacturing cost increases and because of this the inventory holding costs need modification. In the existing literature, this has been ignored in the computation of cost and therefore a revisit to the problem has been justified. The present paper modifies the holding cost and this problem has been reformulated for the basic case. This has also been extended for an inclusion of shortages that are backordered completely or partially.