Strategic planning and design using MILP: an industrial application from the tissue manufacturing industry

Abstract Due to rising costs of energy, transportation and raw materials, the tissue market situation in Western Europe is increasingly challenging. In the quest for a competitive advantage in this tough environment, efficient production planning and design tools play a key role. While the production may be more or less optimised from everyday experience, a more systematic method must be used to help corporate level strategic decision-making, more specifically in deciding on how to achieve an optimised production scheme. This paper presents a strategic design and operation study performed at one of Metsa Tissues Mills in Europe.