Abstract
A manufacturing system consists of operating units which convert their input materials into their output materials. In the problem of designing a process network, we have to find a suitable network of operating units which produces the desired products from the given raw materials. If we consider this process network design problem from a structural point of view, then we obtain a combinatorial optimization problem called the Process Network Synthesis or (PNS) problem. It is known that the PNS problem is NP-complete. Here, a new method is presented to reduce the solution of some more difficult PNS problems to the solution of simpler ones, and using this method, a new well-solvable class of PNS problems is established.
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Received February 12, 1999; revised October 24, 2000
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Imreh, C. A New Well-Solvable Class of PNS Problems. Computing 66, 289–296 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s006070170026
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s006070170026