Technology Updating Decisions for Improving the Environmental Performance of an Operating Supply Chain: A Multiobjective Optimization Model for the Cement Industry

The
obsolescence and related energy inefficiency of many industrial
processes are currently an obstacle in the transition toward a more
sustainable manufacturing sector. The objective of this work is to
exploit the advantages of technology updating for improving the economic
and environmental performance of the cement industry. To this end,
we have developed a mathematical approach to optimize technological
updating decisions of existing cement supply chains. Our approach
is based on a multiobjective mixed-integer linear programming formulation
that determines whether technological updating projects should be
undertaken at a given manufacturing stage, such that both environmental
and financial goals are best met. A test instance based on a cement
supply chain is solved to illustrate how significant benefits can
be attained by applying our systematic approach.