Simultaneous optimization of production planning and inventory management of polyurethane foam plant

Abstract

In this work, the management of a polyurethane foam plant is tackled through a mixed integer linear programming model that simultaneously solves production and inventory planning problems. The production process considers the foaming stage where large polyurethane blocks are produced as well as the curing step where the blocks are dried. The proposed formulation takes into account several tradeoffs involved in the overall production process. The daily production planning is tightly related to production requirements, available space for the curing and stored elements. Moreover, the required time to dry blocks introduces a delay that must be appropriately considered in order to allow an adequate operation of downstream operations. Thus, an integrated approach where all these problems are jointly addressed is proposed using a mathematical programming model. Several study cases provided by a local company are tested to demonstrate the model performance.