Lot-Sizing and Scheduling for Flexible Flow Lines

Das schonste GlUck des denkenden M ens chen ist, das Erforschliche erforscht zu haben und das Unerforschliche ruhig zu verehren JOHANN WOLFGANG VON Gm~THE In the sense of Goethe, I hope this book helps to shift the fine line between the inaccessible and the explorable a little bit in the direction of the latter. It has been accepted as a doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Business Admin- istration and Economics of the Catholic University of Eichstatt-Ingolstadt, Germany, and has been a great pleasure to write~at least most of the time. At the other times, the following people helped me to get around the moun- tains that seemed too high to climb: First of all, these were my parents, whom I thank for their continuing support. This 'thank you' is extended to my brothers Marcel and Dominik and of course to Angelika, who has strengthened me with love through the sometimes arduous campaign. Further, I thank my academic advisor Prof. Dr. Heinrich Kuhn and my colleagues Dr. Georg N. Krieg and Florian Defregger for many fruitful discussions and helpful thoughts. I also thank Prof. Dr. Klaus D. Wilde for refereeing the thesis.