Efficient mixed-integer linear programming model for integrated management of ready-mixed concrete production and distribution

Abstract

The ready-mixed concrete industry plays a key role in the construction sector. Tight integration between different actors is required for developing a successful project. In this context, this paper presents a contribution to optimal daily planning of production and distribution operations in the concrete industry to meet the requirements of construction sites. Customized products must be produced and delivered satisfying the specific time windows proposed by customers. To solve this problem, traditional models often resort to approaches based on decomposition techniques or approximate methods, which may provide poor quality solutions that deviate significantly from optimal planning. In contrast, this article presents an integrated and exact approach to solve the problems of ready-mixed concrete batching, production and distribution, reaching the optimal global solution in good computational times. Several examples are solved to assess the capability and performance of the proposed formulation and its applicability to a real case in this industry.