Energy-Aware Production Scheduling of Continuous Slurry Ball Mills in Tile Industries with Stirring Time Consideration

In this paper a bi-objective mixed-integer model for energy-aware production scheduling of continuous slurry ball mills is proposed. Slurry ball mills are considered as the main consumer of electrical energy and they impose high energy costs on tile factories. Thus, minimizing the energy costs associated withproduction through implementation of peak-load minimization strategy and optimal assignment of orders to ball mills is the main goal which is considered in this study. On the other hand, the quality of slurry has a significant effect on the quality of produced tiles. An increase in time which slurry has leftin rotating slip tanks, i.e., stirring time, helps improve its quality. Thus, the second goal which is pursued in the scheduling is compliance with the stirring time standards. The effectiveness of the proposed model is illustrated on a small-scaled case study with a saving of above 15% in energy cost

Keywords:

Ceramic tile industry , Slurry ball mills , Energy-aware scheduling , Stirring time