Estimating analytically the capacity of batch plants with shared equipment: a yoghurt plant case study

摘要

Estimates of maximum production capacity in food plants are required when planning, scheduling,debottlenecking or optimizing manufacturing efficiency. With the exception of very simple plants andprocess routings, analytical methods for calculating a plant’s capacity are, in general, lacking. In this paper, anovel algorithm is presented for calculating analytically the minimum cycle time and capacity of batchprocesses with equipment shared across overlapping process steps. The algorithm explores alternativeconfigurations with respect to the use of shared equipment across batches and selects the one that minimizesthe cycle time. The implementation of the algorithm is demonstrated with the use of a yoghurt productionprocess whereby the same vessels are used both for the fermentation step as well as the storage of the finalproduct before feeding the filling machines. The optimal cycle time of the yoghurt process is determined bythe algorithm and the corresponding maximum capacity is calculated.