Solving scheduling problems in a multi-stage multi-product batch pharmaceutical industry

G. KOPANOS; C.A. MÉNDEZ; L. PUIGJANER

Chemical Engineering Transactions

Chemical Engineering Transactions

Año: 2010 vol. 21 p. 511 - 516

1974-9791

An iterative two-stage decomposition solution strategy for solving real-worldscheduling problems in multi-stage multi-product batch plants is presented. Theproposed method has as a core a mixed integer mathematical model, and consists of aconstructive step, wherein a feasible and good solution is rapidly generated byfollowing some insertion criteria, and an improvement step, wherein the initial solutionis systematically enhanced by adopting several rescheduling techniques. The proposedstrategy performance is tested on a number of problem instances of a complicated realworldmulti-stage multi-product pharmaceuticals scheduling problem. High qualitysolutions are reported within reasonable computational time.