An effective short-term scheduling model for mutiproduct batch plants with parallel lines

The paper presents a novel MILP model for batch plants with parallel lines based on the continuous time domain representation and the notation of time slot. When the model is built, the allocation of batches of products and units to time slots is formulated as two sets of binary variables respectively. This model has less binary variables than any other model based on the idea of time slot, and can accommodate sequence-dependent setup times. The computational examples show that the optimal scheduling can be obtained by solving the MILP model in a reasonably short time, especially when the scheduling problem involving a product with several batches is considered