Production management as a constraint satisfaction problem

Production management problems can be quite straightforwardly presented as constraint satisfaction problems, where values for some variables are searched for under a set of constraints. A combination of an operation and a resource is usually interpreted as the variable, and a time window is usually interpreted as the value to be searched for. This convention is challenged. A case is considered where the most appropriate interpretation treats the combination of a resource and a time window as the variable, and an operation as the value. A third possible interpretation is also briefly covered, where the combination of an operation and a time window is the variable, and the resource is the value.