1 Mathematical Model

In order to find a schedule, which fulfills all restrictions from previous chapter, a mathematical model
is formulated. The process of using mathematical models to help find good solutions to business
problems is called mathematical programming. Its key feature is that the mathematical model is
optimized. Mathematical programming has its roots in Operations Research back in the 1940s. It is
one of the most successful and widely used methods to improve operations in real-world applications
in a number of industries for scheduling, such as manufacturing or transportation. It is a very powerful
technique to help solving certain types of management problems. The advantage of a mathematical
model is that it is easy to understand.
A mathematical model represents the maximization or minimization of an objective function,
subjected to constraints. An objective function is the function of one or more variables that one is
interested in. The function can for example represent the cost or profit of some manufacturing
process. Constraints are equalities or inequalities that describe restrictions involved with the
minimization or maximization of the objective function and it defines the relationships between the
decision variables.
This chapter will present a mathematical model for the shutdown scheduling problem, which is
described in previous chapter.

1.1

Introduction

Before the actual mathematical model will be formulated it has to be determined which aspects have
to be taken into account. Since this problem concerns a scheduling problem some information is
known from the planning phase, which is done by Planstar and will be discussed in this section. So,
the mathematical model will be simplified due to reasonable assumptions and due to the fact that
some decisions are already made in the tactical planning process. In Error: Reference source not
found the interaction and differences between planning and scheduling will be discussed.
In this thesis the problem is modeled as a deterministic problem. Since it concerns maintenance, it is
very well possible that some stochastics can be used. Error: Reference source not found will give
some more information about maintenance, and several approaches to model maintenance problems.
First the context of the problem will be summarized and next the information from Planstar will be
clarified.

1.1.1

Processes at the refinery

In chapter Error: Reference source not found most of the important processes at the refinery are
discussed. In this section they are recapitulated in order to find out which decisions have to be made
in the mathematical model.
In a refinery the independent units have to process feeds into components. This can be done by
running the unit in some mode. The possible modes dependent on the component that is used as feed.
Each mode and feed combination has a different yield table. Hence some modes give components
with a higher quality, but they produce at a lower productivity rate for instance. Besides the units, a
refinery has several storage tanks. In a tank only one kind of component type can be stored one at a
time. Another important aspect is the importation and exportation of components.

1.2

Solving the mathematical model

There are no appropriate maintenance algorithms that can solve the shutdown scheduling problem. In
Error: Reference source not found some well known maintenance models are discussed (Pintelon et
al., 1997). They do not fit the mathematical model at all. Hence, it is not possible to make any

adjustments to accomplish this. The next step in finding an appropriate solution technique is a
literature study to more general scheduling algorithms.