Tracking the dynamics of the supply chain for enhanced production sustainability

Abstract

One of the key components of enterprise-wide optimization (EWO) is decision-making coordination and integration at all decision levels. In this paper, a supply chain design-planning model, which translates a recipe representation to the supply chain environment, is coupled with a scheduling formulation so that decision levels integration is achieved. This approach enabled us to assess the impact of considering scheduling aspects of process operations in the design of a supply chain network. A comparison of the proposed scheme and the traditional hierarchical approach shows the significance of such integration. Moreover, the scheduling details enable the dynamics of the supply chain to be tracked. We show the degree to which a holistic decisionmaking model within a model predictive control framework is able to react to incidents occurring in the supply chain components, including disturbances arising from local monitoring, control, and diagnosis of incidents in real time. Finally, a decomposition technique is applied to reduce the computational burden associated with the monolithic model solution. Validation of the proposed approach and the resulting potential benefits are highlighted by a case study. Moreover, the results obtained from this particular case study are examined and discussed with respect to future work. © 2009 American Chemical Society.