Constrained Supply Chain Scheduling Model Using Sequential Quadratic Programming Algorithm

Challenges such as advances in technology, demands of the global market, and limited warehouse spaces resort manufacturing industries to subcontracting. Subcontracting has been a considerable alternative in the manufacturing industries and is utilized as a strategic tool to diminish operation costs primarily to address the problem of scarcity when the firm faces a large demand on the commodity it supplies. The present study employed a mathematical model among firms engaging in subcontracting in search of an optimal schedule in the manufacture of the product and distribution of production time involved with an objective of obtaining a maximum profit. The constraints in the mathematical formulation included the total demand, processing capacity, available supply, processing rate, and time. The plausibility and the possible utility of the mathematical model has been explored employing sequential quadratic programming algorithm in the search of the optimal solutions.