On Modelling Approaches for Planning and Scheduling in Food Processing Industry

We consider developments in lot-sizing and scheduling, particularly relevant for problem settings arising in food processing industry. Food processing industry (FPI) reveals several specific characteristics which make integrated production planning and scheduling a challenge. First of all, setups are usually sequence-dependent and may include the so-called non-triangular setup conditions. Secondly, planning problems in FPI have to deal with product decay due to deterioration of inventory. We give an overview of lot-sizing and scheduling models, and assess their suitability for addressing sequence-dependent setups, non-triangular setups and product decay. We show that a trend exists towards so-called big bucket models. However, the advantage of these approaches may become a major obstacle in addressing the identified characteristics in FPI.