Design and Planning Optimization of Multiplant Complexes in the Food Industry

Multiplant complexes are very common in food industry because residues from one plant become raw materials for others, or several plants can use the same raw material or power resource that comes from a plant inside the complex. The integration problem between several plants that produce different products and share diverse resources among them poses significant challenges. In this work, a detailed non linear programming (NLP) model for the design of a multiplant complex is developed considering the integration between plants simultaneously with the optimal operation and production planning of each plant of the multiplant complex. The simultaneous optimization establishes different trade-offs between design, operation, and production planning decisions which are analysed in this paper. In the food industry raw materials availability, product prices, demands and other seasonal matters can vary throughout the production time horizon. For this reason, a multiperiod model is presented in which design and planning decisions have to be adjusted to the posed seasonal scenario. Several cases are presented which correspond to different scenarios. For each case, a detailed analysis of each plant solution and their integration is made.