Optimal Design for Production Facilities

Abstract A practical integer programming procedure is presented which can be useful to designers of production facilities. Specifically, the version of the procedure given here can be used to determine optimal or near optimal design configurations for the unloading portion of a high speed, mixed product production line. The model is validated with actual industrial data and several examples and results are given. Tests of the design methodology indicate that least cost answers are obtained. A discussion to aid the would-be industrial user of the procedure is given.