TOWARDS OPTIMAL PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT IN THE PROCESS INDUSTRY

C.A. MÉNDEZ

Barcelona, España

Workshop; IN3-HAROSA WORKSHOP; 2009

IN3 -Universidad Abierta de Cataluña

The Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS) is a multidisciplinary group of the Research Institute INTEC located in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina. This group conduct multiple research and teaching activities for the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL). Researchers and PhD. Students are currently professors and lectures in the careers of Industrial and Information Systems Engineering in several courses such as Operations research, Discrete event simulation, Production management, Control, Artificial Intelligence, Flexible manufacturing systems and Optimization. Currently, the group is leaded by Jaime Cerdá and Carlos A. Méndez, both professors at UNL and research members of CONICET. Research lines are mainly focused on different topics related to complex decision-making processes mostly arising in chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies. The work is concerned with the development of novel discrete-continuous optimization and simulation models and methods for problems in process systems engineering. Main research lines address the development of advanced computer-aided tools to: (i) Process design, (ii) Planning and scheduling of complex batch, continuous and mixed processes, (iii) Pipeline operation and, (iv) Logistics management in complex supply chains. The proposed methods and tools are mostly based on mathematical optimization (MILP and MINLP), constraint programming and discrete event simulation models, using modern software packages such as GAMS, AIMMS, ILOG and ARENA. Both deterministic models as well as models with uncertainty are considered. This group is currently maintaining a close research collaboration with colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University, Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya, Universidad de Valladolid, Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Universidad de Cantabria and Universidad Oberta de Catalunya. We have been involved in several industrial-oriented research projects with the following companies: Monsanto, Arcor, British Petroleum (BP), Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Repsol/YPF and Praxair. We are also maintaining a research collaboration with the Center for Advanced Process Decision Making at Carnegie Mellon University. INTEC located in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina. This group conduct multiple research and teaching activities for the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL). Researchers and PhD. Students are currently professors and lectures in the careers of Industrial and Information Systems Engineering in several courses such as Operations research, Discrete event simulation, Production management, Control, Artificial Intelligence, Flexible manufacturing systems and Optimization. Currently, the group is leaded by Jaime Cerdá and Carlos A. Méndez, both professors at UNL and research members of CONICET. Research lines are mainly focused on different topics related to complex decision-making processes mostly arising in chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies. The work is concerned with the development of novel discrete-continuous optimization and simulation models and methods for problems in process systems engineering. Main research lines address the development of advanced computer-aided tools to: (i) Process design, (ii) Planning and scheduling of complex batch, continuous and mixed processes, (iii) Pipeline operation and, (iv) Logistics management in complex supply chains. The proposed methods and tools are mostly based on mathematical optimization (MILP and MINLP), constraint programming and discrete event simulation models, using modern software packages such as GAMS, AIMMS, ILOG and ARENA. Both deterministic models as well as models with uncertainty are considered. This group is currently maintaining a close research collaboration with colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University, Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya, Universidad de Valladolid, Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Universidad de Cantabria and Universidad Oberta de Catalunya. We have been involved in several industrial-oriented research projects with the following companies: Monsanto, Arcor, British Petroleum (BP), Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Repsol/YPF and Praxair. We are also maintaining a research collaboration with the Center for Advanced Process Decision Making at Carnegie Mellon University.