THE OPTIMAL OPERATION OF MIXED PRODUCTION FACILITIES - EXTENSIONS ANDIMPROVEMENTS

In an earlier paper (Zhang and Sargent, 1994), a unified formulation w as given for the problem of determining the optimal operation of a mix ed production facility, involving both batch and continuous operations . This paper presents some extensions and improvements, dealing with o perational constraints and plants involving continuous operations. The concept of Unit Usability is introduced to give a unified formulation for a variety of operational constraints. A modified task model for c ontinuous operations enables us to linearize cross-products of one int eger variable and two continuous variables. These ideas are illustrate d by application to a realistic case study. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.