ABSTRACT
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Food production is one of the oldest process industries. In the beginning of the previous century, it leaped from the small, rural scale to the industrialized national and later international level. This change scaled up production levels from some hundred kilos to millions of tons per year, which are produced using special equipment. At first, companies sought only to raise their profit by expanding their market share, giving limited attention to costs within the factory. Over the years, increased competition narrowed profitability, making cost reduction, flexible production, and prompt reaction an urgent necessity (Tahmassebi, 1996). The benefits offered by scheduling tools (cost reduction, improved management of equipment, time, and
manpower) made it possible to continue meeting production targets and at the same time achieve significant cost improvements through more efficient planning and scheduling of actions. The role of the first scheduling tools used by the food industry was to implement some simple heuristic rules. The increase in computing power and the evolution of mathematical methodologies facilitated tackling more complicated formulations and including more detailed characteristics of the process.
