ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the aggregate production planning problem has been, and still is, a practical problem that generates intense academic interest. It begins by emphasizing its importance for operations and then reviews its academic development, from its genesis in the 1950s. However, if aggregate plans are to have practical usefulness, they must produce feasible decisions for the key resources covered by the plan that can be used by the more detailed operational plans that follow. The chapter reviews the "disaggregation" problem and provides a discussion of aggregate production planning in practice. In the term aggregate production plan, "production" refers to the production of goods or services. The aggregate production plan shows how operations will support the operations strategy and the business plan over an extended time frame without getting bogged down in details. The chapter concludes with some thoughts on the future research directions of this important topic and its implications for practitioners.
