Energy consumption optimization in a printing company

Abstract In this study, an integer linear programming model is proposed to support the Production Planning, Scheduling and Control sector of a printing company. The model considers two objective functions to deal with the problem, the first is to minimize the costs with electric energy consumption and the second is to minimize the machine operating time. Both objectives are related to the assignment to different sets of printing and finishing machines for the manufacture of the ordered items. Operating constraints at the factory are considered, such as the setup time limits, how the machine is operated, the types of printed item, the production capacity and the demand. In addition, a heuristic was developed to support the production schedule, allowing adjustments in the different production shifts but respecting the assignments obtained using the mathematical model. Computational tests were performed with a set of data provided by a printing company located in the state of São Paulo.