An heuristic model, based upon Performance Indicators, for multicriteria programming of equipment working in parallel. A real application

By taking into consideration the users consumption curve, the daily/weekly/monthly scheduling, requested in many applications, is performed according to many management criteria involving equipment working in parallel and dedicated to carry out a defined service. After the study of the general aspects of the problem, the operation hypotheses and the typical management criteria this paper analyses a real case involving the scheduling of equipment used for the production of compressed-air in an industrial plant. The proposed heuristic solution is based on the use of a multicriteria analysis technique (Borda’s method) and on opportune Performance Indicators of the objectives, providing following advantages: (i)availability of an easy-to-use tool apt to carry out ‘good’ medium-term scheduling; (ii)avoiding to previously establish hierarchies of importance among the evaluation criteria. A numerical example, developed for a real plant, is illustrated in order to focus the various aspects associated to the use of the proposed method. Finally, the MESPI code is presented as the simulation instrument used to carry out the experimental tests.