Optimal Production and Inventory Policy in a Multiproduct Bakery Unit

The problem of finding optimal production and inventory policies is crucial for companies of the food industry, especially those processing multiple products. Since companies are required to adopt the most efficient solutions to prosper, the operation at these optimal conditions can have an extensive impact on profit, resource allocation and product quality. We address the problem of finding the optimal production and inventory policy in a multiproduct bakery unit for two contexts: (i) deterministic consumption without inventory control; and (ii) stochastic consumption combined with delayed inventory control. A formulation is proposed for each of these two setups. The restrictions considered in the model framework are related to workforce availability, and the cost structure includes four components: (i) production cost; (ii) inventory cost; (iii) setup cost; and (iv) the cost due to the degradation of perceived quality. The problem is formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming one and solved with a branch and cut algorithm-based solver. The formulation is applied to a real bakery unit producing a mix of eight products. Distinct demand and inventory lower levels are used for building scenarios to test both models and characterize the economic performance of the multiproduct bakery unit.