Management of Demand-Driven Production Systems.

Control-synthesis techniques are developed for demand-driven production systems. The resulting policies are time- optimal for a deterministic model, and approximately time-optimal for a stochastic model. Moreover, they are easily adapted to take into account a range of issues that arise in a realistic, dynamic environment. In particular, control synthesis techniques are developed for models in which resources are temporarily unavailable. This may be due to failure, maintenance, or an unanticipated change in demand. These conclusions are based upon the following development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]