Book excerpt: Striking a balance between state-of-the-art research and practical applications, this book provides a forum for contributions that cover the main research challenges in the cyclic modeling, development, and validation of concurrently acting distributed production systems: systems that employ multi-assortment production in large quantities, are characterized by gradual changes in their product mix, and exclusively manufacture products in a cyclic manner. Similar issues also arise in computer systems, e.g., embedded systems. Cyclic optimization problems that occur in them are unique and under-researched, but are attracting new interest primarily due to their great practical importance and the difficulty involved in obtaining efficient algorithms for solving specific cases with real constraints arising from manufacturing practice. Addressing these and other topics, the book will be of great interest to researchers in computer science, operations management, and production control, as well as practicing managers and engineers.