Abstract:
A method and apparatus are disclosed for coordinating two consecutive production steps of a production process including: a) devising a production schedule of a first manufacturing stage according to a first optimization target based on one or more first optimization parameters, in order to obtain a first optimization result; b) devising a production schedule of a second manufacturing stage according to a second optimization target based on one or more second optimization parameters, in order to obtain a second optimization result; c) assessing the optimization results with regard to an overall optimization target; d) modifying the first and second optimization parameters; and e) repeating the process of devising the production schedules of the first and second manufacturing stages according to the respective optimization target based on the modified first and/or second optimization parameters.