A constraint satisfaction approach to coordinating multi-site manufacturing supply chains

The dispersed manufacturing environment entails the coordination of product, process, and supply chain (PPSC) decisions. This paper formulates PPSC coordination as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) involving product fulfillment knowledge of multiple domains. Based on a domain-based reference model, the multi-site manufacturing supply chain is constructed, considering network structures, product characteristics, decision variables, along with various constraints. A decision propagation structure (DPS) is developed based on the concept of constraint heuristic search to facilitate the exploration of solution spaces. A case study of truck manufacture in a multi-national company is presented to illustrate the framework for PPSC coordination.