OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESS OPERATIONS

IN THE LEATHER INDUSTRY

M. Graells, A. Espufiaand L. Puigjaner
Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Chemical Engineering Dpt,
E.T.S.E.I.B., Diagonal 647, 08028 BARCELONA
ABSTRACT
In this work, the solution to the optimization of process operations in the leather industry is
studied in its full complexity. The interest of this study is twofold: for one thing, it shows how
scheduling optimization problems can be solved at the industrial scale level, and on the other
hand it represents an step forward in creating a general framework to deal with resource
constrained acyclic production scheduling problems for practically sized problems. The
optimization procedure uses hierarchical decomposition of the global MINLP problem into
subproblems, that take into account the acyclic problem present in the short-term periods, which
implies eventual task rescheduling in order to minimize loses in resources resulting from the
desired uniform production loads. Results from several case studies are discussed. In all cases
validation of the results obtained has been made through the extensive use of actual plant data and
the experience provided by leather manufacturing experts.
KEYWORDS
Batch process; optimization; scheduling; flexible manufacturing.
INTRODUCTION
Process industry is highly oriented towards specialities manufacturing, with special emphasis in
such industrial sectors that allow for product diversification from limited shared resources. This
calls for flexible manufacturing structures and discontinuous or semicontinuous mode of
operation. The low efficiency of this kind of processes can be enhanced through planning and
integration of all available resources (resources logistics) in already existing plants, and flexible
design (process logistics) in grass-roots installations. The efficient design and operation of such
plants results in a complex optimization problem due to market fluctuations that affect demand
and consequently the right product combination to be manufactured by the equipment units at any
time interval.
For one thing computer-aided scheduling is gaining adepts as far as traditional industries
employing batch and semicontinuous operation see it as an extension of current practice. In
response to these needs a number of firms are marketing commercial scheduling systems which
assist in the management of scheduling information (Musier and Evans, 1990). Surprisingly
enough, scheduling optimization is not usually contemplated in commercial packages, the main
reason being the difficulty in providing a general purpose simulator able to model a broad range
of process industries and thereby making it (in terms of hardware and software) too costly to the
small/medium enterprise due to the variety and specificity of these types of production facilities.
However, it should be understood that optimization requires that one way or the other, plant
modeling must be done at the highest possible level of accuracy. This is a hard reality that
requires further investigation, since it is not clear, neither in economical nor in technical grounds,
that a more powerful interface incorporating object oriented structures capable of representing
8221
S222
European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering-I
SOAKING
UNHA\KING
UMING
Pl.ESHING
DWMlNG
BATING
PICKUNG
TCmpV'lyrc lAd hymldlty cQOkg1cd .tgre
C TANNING
STORE: TANNED SKINScu.SSII'IED fOR DIFfERENTUSAGES
Rl!TANNING
DYEING
f ATUQUORlNG
IAIRHANGINGI, I HOTAIRTUNNEl.DRYER). ORTING
WNATEUSsE
TRIMMING
DRY SHAVING
IMANUALTACKING!' IAlTl'OMA11CTACKl NG !.
SPRAYING
G
DRYMlU1HG
POUSJUNG
ANIFlEX
(*) Productdependent optionaloperation
Fig. 1. General Plant Scheme
Table 1. Product 2 recipe
PRODUCT2: 'GLOVING' BATCH: 3200SKINS
TIMING
Operation Equipment Productivity Man-power Prep. Load. Oller. Unload. Clean.
Sammying 2 200 x 2 1 x 2 0.1 (0) 8 0.2
Initial shaving 3 150+210 1+ 1 0.15 8.9 0.3
RDF 4 3200ISh. 1 0.5 0.5 (2) 8 0.5 (2) 0.3
Horsingup 5 400 1 .- 8 0.2
Sammving 6 200x2 1x2 O.! S 0.2
Air drvine 9 4200124h. 0
..
7.1 (I) 24 3.6 (I) 0.2
Molissa 11 400x2 2x2
..
4 0.1
Schaedel 12 120 1 0.2 26.7 1
Trimmin2 14 l00x4 Ix4
..
S 0.3
Polishinz 23 150 I 0.2 21.3 0.8
Finiflex 24 200 1 0.2 16 0.6
(0) Extra man-powerneeded.
Productivity is given in number of skins per hour and specifying the productivities of the different
suitableequipmentworking inphase.Operationtimeis specifiedwhenit is independent of batchsize.
Man-poweris alsogivenin workersper equipmentfor all suitable equipment.
European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering-l S223
any plant configuration should be a better alternative to specialized process engineering houses
making specific plant applications of standard low cost scheduling optimizers ready for
interfacing with the specific applications.
It is our feeling that, while most academic work focus in finding exact methods resulting in
optimal solutions to the general resource constrained scheduling problem hoping that cheaper and
faster hardware will make them capable and attractive to solve industrial size problems, parallel
effort should be devoted to build the adequate methodology to find the best solutions for specific
scheduling problems associated to specialities manufacturing. We are convinced, that a number
of specialized sectors will benefit more from this specific approach that may prove to be unique
in many cases, while the academic exercise should also take profit of the rigourosity and detail
that the specific problems convey, by incorporating the same philosophy into higher levels of
abstraction (Puigjaner, 1992).
In this work, the leather industry has been chosen to illustrate the kind of scheduling problem
posed by the specialities manufacturing. The leather industry falls under the category of "jobshop
network" production facility with specific connotations. That means in fact that most of the
equipment can be shared by different final products although their individual recipes may vary
from product to product, and that the production lines for each one may follow different paths
along the network depending on the availability of the resources required at the right time.
A specific characteristic of this type of industry is the shared use of limited resources at discrete
levels. Such is the case of labor; that several operations may share different tasks at different
times. As a consequence, the production scheduling problem becomes acyclic (aperiodic)
originating in an increased source of bottlenecking situations. Production planning becomes also
specially complex due to the multi-site characteristics of the production facilities that require the
adequate management of utilities at a particular site, the allocation of production to tasks, and the
inter-site transportation requirements.
The solutions offered to the optimization of process operations in the leather industry are indeed
specific to this type of industry but the philosophy used can be the logically transferred to other
industrial sectors. Toward this end, several case studies have been analyzed and some of the
results obtained are commented looking for a broader application of the strategies presented here.
PROBLEM DEFINITION
The leather industry constitutes a trade-union manufacturing sector where production quality is at
a premium and is strongly influenced at every production step by product to product specific
requirements and available raw materials characteristics. Even in highly automated plants, skilled
labour is required, that may be critical at some production stages. Therefore, sharing labour
resources along the production chain becomes of paramount importance to reduce manufacturing
costs and constitutes a complex constraint in the scheduling optimization process.
This can be better understood by taking a look to the process operations (Fig. 1). In general,
pickled skin is the actual raw material which is externally acquired and stored at controlled
temperature and humidity conditions, since pickling and other preliminary operations (soaking,
unhairing, liming, fleshing, deliming and bathing) are not carried in the plant, but are specific of
the external supplier origin. Tanning is the first stage common to all product recipes, which is
followed by the classification stage.
However these stages are not taken into account in the making of the actual production planning;
production rate of both stages together is large enough to assume that they do not cause
bottlenecking problems, and so tanned and sorted skins are always available from its intermediate
storage. As it is indicated in Fig. 1, most of the following process operations are product
dependent optional steps. Under such circumstances, batch size cannot be specified before
deciding each skin destination as well. Actually the batch size of each product is defined by the
lowest capacity of the equipment or groups of equipment amongst those used in the subsequent
operations established in the recipes of each product.
S224 European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering-I
In this work, detailed plant simulation has been carried out that cover the different manufacturing
stages from pickled skins to "finiflex'' operation, totalling 25 steps that are differently shared or
by passed according to the individual recipes of the final products. The following working
hypotheses have been assumed, based on industrial practice:
Every production step is carried out in a batch/semicontinuous equipment.
Set-up and clean-up times are considered for each unit.
Task transfer mixed policy, zero wait (ZW)/no intermediate storage (NIS), is permitted.
Sharing manpower is the main constrained resource.
The jobshop network configuration is considered.
Batch processing advancement or postponement is allowed.
Then, the optimization of process operations is attempted by minimizing the total elapsed time
required to produce all products in the required quantities (makespan) for a specified time horizon
and under particular demand and utilities constraints. While the time horizon contemplates a
continuous period of time, flexible stop and starting production times can be introduced,
according to manufacturing needs.
Problem Formulation
(2)
D
< _1+ 1
B
1
The problemof optimum production scheduling in the specific case of the leather industry can be
formulated as an MILP problem for minimizing the makespan with the no intermediate storage
and ZW policies and other appropriate constraints mentioned earlier. In order to derive the
corresponding models, mixed product campaigns will be considered with sequences of n = 1, 2,
... , N batches of i = 1, ... , I different products. The assignment of batches consisting of only
product i to the production sequence can be denoted by a binary variable Yin and the constraints:
I
Yin E {O,l} V i,n L Yin = 1 V n (1)
i = 1
The number of batches of each product i, with batch size B], has to meet the demand D]:
N N
N
i
= LY
in
~ ~ ~ Vi N
i
= LY
in
n=1 1 n=1
Also, let us define the total number of batches N:
1
(3)
Now, let us consider every task carried out at stage j, j=l, , M, constituted by five subtasks
s, s=l, ...... , S (S=5) which may include (Fig. 2) waiting time (TW) only after the operation
subtask.
5=1 8=2
Set-up load
8=3
operation TW
s=4
unload
T I jn T F
jn
Fig.2.Set of substasks considered in every task starting at time TIjn and finishing at TFjn
Given the set of processing times tijs and the stability of intermediate product i at stage j, Xij,
both are related by the equation:
I S=5
TFjn=Tljn+ LYin { Ltijs+TWjnXij} Vj,n
i=1 8=1
(4)
European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering- I
5225
where:
rw; D vj ,n ; xij E {D, 1} V i,j (5)
Time relationship between stages of successive slots is obviously:
j = 1, .... , M; n=l, ...., N-1 (6)
and the time relation betweenconsecutivestagesof the same slot is givenby:
I
Tl
j+1,n
= L Yin (Yij TI;+I,n + ( 1 - Yij ) TF
j+1
,n-l) j = 1,...., M; n=l,.... , N
i =)
(7)
which takes into account the possibilityof recipes carried out along Ji stages with Ji $ M:
Y
.. E {D,l}
1J
V i,j
M
r, =I Yij s M
j = )
(8)
The batch or semicontinuous operationof the unit contemplated can be describedby (see Fig. 3):
z.. E{D1}
1J '
a)
z ij= 1
V i,j
F
TI .
In
(9)

Tl j+1,n Ff----
b)
z = 0
1J
TI
In wm
Tl j+l ,n W- .... '-----
Fig.3. Unit operation: a) semicontinuous operation; b) batch operation
I 1
TI;+I ,n =L Yin ( 1-z
jj
) { ri, + LtijS - ti ,j+l,l } +
i=l s=1
I
y . . t. : {
L.J In 1J
i = 1
3
rr, + Lt ijs + rw., ij - ti ,j+l,l }
s = 1
j =1,.... , M-1; n =1, .... , N
(10)
Initial times are calculated by considering the preparation times of all stagesof first slot:
I j . i
TIll = max {LY
i1
(tijl -L(t ir2+ tir3) - till) } (11)
J i=1 r=l
Hence, the makespan evaluationis given by :
T t = max {TFjn}
j,n
(12)
that will be minimizedunder the utilitiesconstraints.
S226 European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering-l
N-l N
stage
j = 1 L__
j = 21--
"- 3
J - 1--
j=4
FigA. Makespan minimization effects on scheduling when Tt > TFMN
This formulation contemplates such cases as those shown in Fig. 4, where last scheduled
product may not be necessarily the last produced, or the last production stage may not cover the
end of the time slot.
The calculation of utilities is made as follows. The contribution of consumption njsk to general
utility u pattern can be expressed by equations:
I
W njsku (t) = Yin' CO ijsku {8( t - ) - 8( t - ) } 'tI n,j,s,k,U
1 =1
(13)
s . 1
= rr, +Lt
ijr
+ rw, .8(s-4) + OtijkSU
r=l
s - 1
= rr; +Ltijr + TW
jn
.8(s-4) + Otijksu
r= 1
(14)
(15)
where:
8Ct) = { ?
0
t> 0
Kijsu = times utility u is used during subtask ijs; k = 1, ... , Kijsu
COijsku = utility u power used the k!h time during subtask ijs
OtOijsku = starting time, related to subtask start, of consumption Wijsku
Otijsku =finishing time, related to subtask start, of consumption Wijsku
and utilities demand patterns are described and bounded by:
M N S = 5 Kijsu
w, (t) = L L L L Wnjsku(t) s W:
ax
j=l n=l s=l k=l
_00 < t < 00 'tIu
(16)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Plant simulation and scheduling optimization has been carried out in a leather manufacturing
industry located nearby Barcelona. Several studies have been realized to demonstrate and validate
the potential of the algorithm and tools presented in this paper. Here, a demonstration case study
is summarized that illustrates some of the relevant features of this study, and the results obtained
are discussed.
Batch size of each product is defined by the lowest capacity of the equipment or groups of
equipment among those used in the subsequent operations established in the recipes of each
product. That means a batch size of 3200 skins for each of the three given products which
corresponds to the retanning tank maximum capacity.
European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering-l 5227
A sample recipe for one of the products is given in Table 1.
Once provided the data supplied by each product recipe, the problem to be solved consists in
finding the best production scheduling strategy to satisfy the expected demand, taking into
account the limited available resources in the existing plant. In this case the otherwise typical
restraints imposed by the use of general utilities such as electricity, water and steam are unlikely
to cause overlapping problems. Therefore they will not be taken into account. However, this
assumption cannot be extended to manpower, which is restricted to 19 workers and imposes a
serious limitation in the overall process operation optimization.
Demand estimation in number of skins is the following for each of the three products:
DO) = 180000 D(2) = 160000 D(3) = 125000
and a time horizon of 4000 hours (approximately half a year) is available to satisfy such demands
at a working rate of 24 h./day.
Initial simulation of operations under the restrictions imposed for all products and sequences of
products leads to campaign generation, evaluation and selection of the best ones to be scheduled
at the production planning stage.
Simulation of campaign [1,3,3] after satisfying different manpower restrictions is shown in Fig.
6. The campaign notation means a sequence of a batch of product 1 and two batches of product
3, and 20[1,3,3] means twenty times such a campaign as it is plotted in fig.6.
ICAMPAIGN ELABORATION
Fig. 5 Flowchart of the modified algorithm
As it can be seen, harder constraints
(reduction of manpower from 23 to 18
workers) mean the loss of batch sequence
periodicity which is needed to evaluate
accurate changeover times and make
proper scheduling. This situation is likely
to arise whenever batch processing times
grow larger, leading to eventual collapse
between batches in terms of utilities
required or batch schedule advancement.
The algorithm has been conveniently
modified, including heuristic procedures,
to cover these situations and to achieve
optimum scheduling (Fig.5).
The resulting production plan based on this
campaign elaboration and selection is the
following:
1[3] + 13[2] + 19[1,3,3] + 37[1,2]
As a consequence of this production plan a
surplus time of 32 hours is obtained with
the present demand satisfied.
These results show how the aperiodic
constrained scheduling problem, caused by
shared limited resources can be
conveniently solved by an efficient
scheduling system that minimizes
makespan under NIS and ZW policies in
mixed product campaigns.
S228 European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering-l
a)
b)
c)
c

M P I N I C I 0 7
;;
WET-BLUe:
w
SAMMYING
"
SHAVINC

LOAD
"
RD"
0
UNLOAD
W I-IQRSINO
SAMMYINO
SET. OUT
TUN.DRY.
I-OAO
.,R DRY.
CONDIT.
UNLOAQ
MOLISSA
SCHOEDEL
LUNATEU.
TRIMMING
8UFFING
SHAVING
MAN.TAC.

AUT.TAC.
SPRAYING
GLAZING
CONTILUX
LOAD
MIl-UNO
UNLOAD
I""INIFLEX
0 '00 200 '00 400 500 600 7CO 900
'"
mm
W
24.0

-_..
16.0
; 12.0
I
0.0

0.0
0 '00 200 '00 400 500 600 700 aoo
T I ... E ( H , )
C

M P M E J 0 R .7

z WET-BLUE
W
SAMMYING
"
SHAVING

LOAD
"
RO'
0
UNLOAD
W "'ORSINO
SAM'-"YINC
s c-r. OUT
TUN.DRY.
LOAD
AIR DRY.
CONDIT.
I.JNLOAO
MOUSSA
SC"'OEOEL
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SHAVING
MAN.TAC.
F"OLISH.
AUT.TAC.
SF>RAYING
GLAZING
CONTILUX
LOA.D
MIl-UNO
UNLOAD
nNIFLEx
0 '00 200 '00
400 500 600 700 800
I
'"

I
W
24.0
I
-
'6.0
.. _--.-----_.
I
"
12.':J
I
6.0
I
:J.O
i
0 '00 200 '00
400 500 600 700 '300
T I ... E ( H )
C

M P M E J 0 R .7
;;
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W
SAMMYING
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LOAD
"
RO'
0
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L.OAD
MILL.ING
UNL.OAD
Il'INIF'L.E:X
0 '00 200 '00 400 500 600 700 aoo
24.0
I 'I!!.O
.. -----...
_..
'2.0
0.0 "K I' I
0.0
0 '00 200 400 500 000 700 aoo
T I ... E ( H r )
Acknowledgements
Part of this work was
performed under the
auspices of the
CIRIT-CICYT
(Project n? QFN89-
4006). Also JOULE
support (Contract n
Q
43) is thankfully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Musier, R.F.H. and
L.B. Evans (1990).
Batch Process
Management,
Chemical Engineering
Progress. 86, 66-77.
Puigjaner, L. (1992).
Improving the Design
and Management of
Production Chains. In
Multi Supplier
Operations. (in
press).
Fig. 6.
a) Unrestricted case.
b) Restricted case
resulting in
undefined cycle
time.
c) Aperiodic
scheduling.