Optimal Production Planning of Concentrated Apple and Pear Juice Plants

CALATA, LUIS P.; MORENO, M. SUSANA; DURAND GUILLERMO A.; BLANCO ANÍBAL M.; BANDONI J. ALBERTO

Cordoba

Simposio; 42 JAIIO - SII 2013; 2013

SADIO

This paper presents a mathematical model aimed at optimizing the yearly profit of a concentrated apple and pear juice plant through the appropri- ate design of its production plan. This study assumes a business scenario where the products are devoted to the international market and therefore the produc- tion schedule is dictated by a fluctuating prices scenario due to the worldwide supply/demand tradeoff. Moreover, raw fruit is available only during the rela- tively short harvest season and suffers juice yield reduction during storage. In this context, decisions related to the manufacturing of each juice variety to ex- ploit favorable prices, while minimizing juice yield loss due to fruit aging are not intuitive. Scenario studies, together with sensitivity analysis on some model parameters are developed to illustrate the performance of the proposed ap- proach