Outsourcing Optimization in Footwear Industry: The Case of a Portuguese Company
摘要
When market’s demand exceeds the company’s manufacturing capacity, subcontracting is generally considered an effective alternative. This work presents an empirical study with real data from a Portuguese company in the footwear industry. The aim is to propose an approach, based on mathematical programming, to support production planning decision-making. More precisely, it is expected to contribute to a working tool that can assist the company in planning the distribution of orders for internal or external production, while minimizing the total production costs. The results point to benefits in reducing the number of orders to produce externally. Further, no relevant differences were found for biweekly and monthly, and by article and by order planning.