Optimization of the operation of a foundry

A system that determines how much to produce in a foundry, during a certain period, is presented. The problem lies in the fact that the firm has two concentrators for copper, and its products can either be sold directly as they are, or they can be processed at the foundry for sale as blister copper. A mathematical model of the problem was developed, and it was non-linear. In order to solve it a specialized algorithm was designed and implemented using a fourth generation programming language. The validation of the proposed method was made by comparing past real decisions with the solutions found by the model. The results show that the method produces better solutions and can be used as a valuable decision support tool.