Optimal Production Planning for the Virgin Olive Oil Elaboration Process

Abstract

Abstract The quality and obtained quantity of Virgin Olive Oil is bounded by the characteristics of the olives to be processed, and further determined by the influence of the process variables during the actual elaboration. Since the quality of the olives evolves during the harvesting season, it is relevant to consider when to harvest the olives in order to maximize the profit over the whole season. This work proposes a method to determine an optimal production plan for the whole harvesting season and presents the results obtained in its application to four different scenarios.