Abstract:
Studies reported in extant literature confirm the importance of the considering learning curve effect in a project
context. However, a study that incorporates the learning curve effect in an integrated procurement and project
schedule has not been yet reported in the literature. The primary contribution of the present study is to address
this research gap. It develops a learning curve based integrated procurement and project scheduling Mixed
Integer Programming (MIP) model for a shipbuilding project involved in manufacturing of multiple sister ships.
The present study makes its second contribution in the MIP model. It provides an innovative way to model
decision variables corresponding to order quantity by defining order batching scenarios. This approach reduces
the size of search space, thereby reducing the computational complexity of solution approach. Its third contri
bution is conceptualization of two new parameters, schedule compression percentage and batching degree, to
analyze the effect of the learning curve on project schedule and the tradeoff between transportation cost and
inventory holding cost.