(531f) Scheduling Considerations in Process and Package Operations

A number of food preparation processes follow a simple sequence of blend, process and package. While simple from a processing perspective, such processes can pose scheduling challenges. The products of these processes are generally defined by material type and packaging size. The blending  is often done in batches, while the packaging is semi-continuous. Equipment cleaning times depend on the product type sequence, e.g. chocolate to vanilla  requires more cleaning than vanilla to chocolate, and equipment setup-times and changeover times generally depend on the packaging size, e.g. 16 oz. bottles to 32 oz. bottles. This presentation shows how organizing the products into type families and packaging sizes can keep the sequence-dependent durations manageable.  Further, it is sometimes convenient to partially decouple blending and processing from the packaging.  These concepts are illustrated through the following three examples: ice-cream manufacture, yogurt production, and bottled beverage manufacture. Finally some aspects of managing real-time schedule upkeep are addressed.