ABSTRACT
Optimization is finding the best solution for the chosen objective or criterion. In the real world, decisions have to be made based on more than one objective, and it may not be possible or satisfactory to reduce the objectives into a single objective. For example, in a milk concentration plant, there are many aspects that can be used to measure the performance of the plant. These aspects could include economic measures such as payback period (PBP), net present worth or value (NPW or NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR). Noneconomic aspects could include energy efficiency, product yield, and product quality. It is not meaningful to combine economic and noneconomic measures. The optimization of this milk concentration plant is an example of a type of problem known as a multi-objective problem (MOP).
