Constraint optimization production planning problem. A note on theory, selected approaches and computational experiments

Abstract

This paper presents an interesting discrete optimization problem which was stated as a challenge at the 2014 Bologna Summer School of Constraint Programming. The problem is given in two versions: A tractable one of a small size, for training, and a large one for the competition. A formalization of the problem is proposed, and its theoretical properties are analyzed. Several approaches for solving the problem are presented in detail. Namely, formalizations in Answer Set Programming, Prolog, and Julia are presented, and the obtained results are discussed and compared. The experiments show that different tools allow to handle different aspects of constraint programming.