Scheduling of internal materials supply operations in a pre-milling type concentrate food plant

Abstract

Introduction. This research addresses the problem of internal materials supply operations in a pre-milling type concentrate food plant. The required amount of raw materials for production in the internal supply chain is determined by minimizing the total relevant operational cost, made up by the setup cost and the stock maintenance cost, which maximizes efficiency of the resources used in the process. This study takes into account such factors as capacity of the hoppers, the time-dependent setup sequence, routes of supply hoppers, filling rates and supply times, based on a model of mixed-integer linear programming. Objective: Provide a strategy that allows efficient use of resources in the production process, subjected to the demand of materials from the material requirements planning (MRP) of the company under study. Materials and methods. The short-term multi-period model defines the scheduling of elevators and conveyors for each time period, and the amount of raw materials that is sent to each hopper and bins. Results. This research determines the amount of initial stock required to operate, as well as the operations strategy that the company under study must follow, so that it meets the demand for raw materials, making efficient use of the resources used in the production process. Conclusion. In the analysis of results and presentation of scenarios, the most representative cost, the one related to stock maintenance, could be observed. Since this is a critical factor for companies belonging to this sector, we present an innovative proposal, both in practice and in the literature, to contribute to minimizing the total setup cost and the cost of maintenance of raw material stock in hoppers through a rational use of resources.