Optimal design of capacitated production networks

In this work we present a mixed-integer model for the optimal design of production/transportation systems. In contrast to standard design problems, our model is originally based on a coupled system of differential equations capturing the dynamics of manufacturing processes and stocks. The problem is to select an optimal parameter configuration from a predefined set such that respective constraints are fulfilled. We focus on single commodity flows over large time scales as well as highly interconnected networks and propose a suitable start heuristic to ensure feasibility and to speed up the solution procedure.