Example Applications of Stochastic Programming

In this chapter, we preview a variety of example applications of stochastic programming (SP). These applications include flexible manufacturing production planning, facility location, supply chain planning, fuel treatment planning, healthcare appointment scheduling, airport time slot allocation, air traffic flow management, satellite constellation scheduling, wildfire response planning, and vaccine allocation for epidemics. These applications span different classes of SP, i.e., stochastic linear programming (SLP), stochastic mixed-integer programming (SMIP), and probabilistically constrained stochastic programming (PC-SP). We provide simplified problem formulations with a focus on how to model the key elements of the problem.