Dr J Li, Dr N Zhang
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Pharmaceutical industries have great contribution to the UK economy, which adds a gross value of GBP 9 billion to the UK economy. In Singapore, pharmaceutical manufacturing industry currently contributes over 3 percent of the country’s GDP. As most processes in the pharmaceutical plants are batchwise, hence optimal planning and scheduling are critical for improving the operational efficiency, reducing the operating cost and increasing the profit margin. Basic operations in pharmaceutical plants include production, cleaning, and maintenance. However, planning and scheduling of production operations in the pharmaceutical plants are often done separately from planning and scheduling of their cleaning and maintenance operations. This can lead to suboptimal operations including increased operating cost and off-specification products.
Therefore, integration of planning and scheduling operations is a problem of great importance to pharmaceutical plants. In this project, we propose to apply advanced mathematical optimization approach especially mixed-integer programming method to develop reliable and efficient mathematical models for integrated planning and scheduling. A novel solution will be developed to solve the optimization model. Finally, several uncertainties such as processing time variation, cleaning and maintenance duration, demand fluctuation, and product quality variation will be considered simultaneously using the advanced robust optimisation methods to generate plans and schedules that are robust and agile for handling those uncertainties.
Funding Notes
This project is available to UK/EU candidates. Funding covers fees (UK/EU rate) and stipend for four years. Overseas candidates can apply providing they can pay the difference in fees and are from an eligible country. Candidates will be required to split their time between Manchester and Singapore, as outlined on www.manchester.ac.uk/singaporeastar.
Applications should be submitted online and candidates should make direct contact with the Manchester supervisor to discuss their application directly. Applicants must have obtained, or be about to obtain, at least an upper second class honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject.
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