COAL BANK SCHEDULING USING A MATHEMATICAL-PROGRAMMING MODEL

Coals are extracted from mines and upgraded on the surface for custome rs. The upgraded coals must be aged at least four weeks in a bank befo re being supplied to customers. Different sizes of banks are required for different lengths of time at different points in time. Bigger bank s increase the floor space capacity and reduce handling costs. The pro per location of banks reduces the total space requirement and bank mov ement after building. In this paper, we address the bank size and loca tion problem and solve it by using a mathematical programming approach .