Modelling and optimization of quality and costs on empirical data of hearth bread

Summary

Mathematical programming is an optimization technique, which can be used to simultaneously ensure several qualities of a product (cost, chemical composition, product characteristics, etc.). This requires mathematical models for the qualities, and especially different characteristics of a product may be challenging to model. One approach is to make empirical models based on data from experimental designs. In the present paper hearth breads are studied. The protein quality and protein content of the wheat flour have together with the mixing and proving time been found critical for hearth bread characteristics. By adjusting the process settings according to wheat flour properties, hearth breads within acceptable quality limits may be made from very different flours. A mixture-process design was constructed and 99 hearth bread batches were made. Models for hearth bread characteristics and production costs were estimated and optimized by mathematical programming. The study also considers how model uncertainty and different pricing systems of wheat flours and capacity costs influence the optimal solutions.