1. Pilot purpose

Any company that makes products for customers faces the problem of having everything needed to manufacture these products and make them available for delivery as required... at the lowest possible cost.

The process which, starting with the decision to manufacture, obtains what is needed from suppliers, develops the product and makes it available, can be defined as a supply chain, managed in most companies by means of a computerized system often referred to as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning system) (see [AG 5 301] ).

This ERP and the logistics processes, normally designed to be as efficient as possible, define the flow of goods according to the objectives set for it. However, as with any process, we can't simply assume that it has been designed as well...