The Identification of Utility Constraints in a Batch Manufacturing Facility

Batch manufacturing is an appropriate production technique in the case of high-value added and low volume products such as specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Although batch manufacturing can easily utilise the available utilities, i.e. heating and cooling resources, having shared heating and cooling utilities can introduce constraints in the scheduling of batch manufacturing processes. Such constraints result from the limited heating or cooling resources available at the manufacturing time of a batch. Utility constraints can lead to longer manufacturing time. In addition, the constraints in the utility system can lead to excessive fuel gas consumption or higher electrical loads especially, in case of having high production orders. In this work, the identification of constraints in the utility system of a healthcare batch production facility is performed. Heating and cooling demands for products are quantified based on the digitized batch manufacturing records and the production schedules for the studied period. The total heating and cooling energy rates are compared against normal and maximum duties of heating and cooling supply systems to identify the cases of excessive utility demand.