Production planning in fresh food industries is a challenging task. Although modern Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) systems could provide significant support, APS implementation numbers in these industries remain low. Therefore, based on an in-depth analysis of three sample fresh food industries (dairy, fresh and processed meat), the author evaluates what APS systems should offer in order to effectively support production planning and how the leading systems currently handle the most distinguishing characteristic of fresh food industries, the short product shelf life. Starting from the identified weaknesses, customized software solutions for each of the sample industries are proposed that allow to optimize the production of fresh foods with respect to shelf life. The book thereby offers valuable insights not only to researchers but also to software providers of APS systems and professionals from fresh food industries.

Production planning in fresh food industries is a challenging task. Although modern Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) systems could provide significant support, APS implementation numbers in these industries remain low. Therefore, based on an in-depth analysis of three sample fresh food industries (dairy, fresh and processed meat), the author evaluates what APS systems should offer in order to effectively support production planning and how the leading systems currently handle the most distinguishing characteristic of fresh food industries, the short product shelf life. Starting from the identified weaknesses, customized software solutions for each of the sample industries are proposed that allow to optimize the production of fresh foods with respect to shelf life. The book thereby offers valuable insights not only to researchers but also to software providers of APS systems and professionals from fresh food industries.

This book deals with current food trends. These case studies were compiled and presented by Master's students at Trier University of Applied Sciences in the Department of Food Technology.

While mathematically sophisticated methods can be used to better understand and improve processes, the nonlinear nature of food processing models can make their dynamic optimization a daunting task. With contributions from a virtual who's who in the food processing industry, Optimization in Food Engineering evaluates the potential uses and limitati

The field of intelligent decision technologies is interdisciplinary in nature, bridging computer science with its development of artificial intelligence, information systems with its development of decision support systems, and engineering with its development of systems. This book presents the 45 papers accepted for presentation at the 5th KES International Conference on Intelligent Decision Technologies (KES-IDT 2013), held in Sesimbra, Portugal, in June 2013. The conference consists of keynote talks, oral and poster presentations, invited sessions and workshops on the applications and theory of intelligent decision systems and related areas. The conference provides an opportunity for the presentation and discussion of interesting new research results, promoting knowledge transfer and the generation of new ideas. The book will be of interest to all those whose work involves the development and application of intelligent decision systems.

Increasingly, cruise operators are utilising information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve service-effectiveness and process efficiency, both on- and off-board. Therefore, it is worth initiating a discussion on the potential and challenges ICTs entail for both cruise operators’ back-offices and for cruisers’ consumption experiences. This book documents the proceedings of the 1st e-Cruising Conference (Bremerhaven, Germany), which was aimed at discussing the possibilities and applicability of ICTs and mobile services in various aspects of cruise operations. Following a rigorous double-blind review, the best papers were chosen to be incorporated in this volume.

The stability and shelf-life of a food product are critical to its success in the market place, yet companies experience considerable difficulties in defining and understanding the factors that influence stability over a desired storage period. This book is the most comprehensive guide to understanding and controlling the factors that determine the shelf-life of food products.