Comparison Discrete vs Continuous Approaches

The computational results for the case studies allow the comparison and study of the efficiency and limitations of specific modeling approaches. However, it is worth mentioning that problem data involves only integer processing times, which represents a fortunate situation for discrete time models since no special provisions 

Process topology Equipment assignment Equipment connectivity Inventory storage policies Material transfer Batch size 

Batch processing time Demand patterns Changeovers Resource constraints Time Constraints Costs 

Although the usefulness and performance of continuous and discrete time models strongly depends on the particular problem and solution characteristics, our 

Case Event representation study (time intervals or points) Binary vars, cont. vars, constraints LP relaxation Objective function CPU timea Relative gap 

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