Online application of large scale linear programming to pulp and paper mill by mini-computer

The paper has presented a practical application result of large scale linear programming to real-time optimal production scheduling in actual pulp and paper mill. Real-time application brings in several restrictions and requirements. The system based on a 32-bit minicomputer has been in operation since March 1986, providing optimal production schedules every 8 hours. The reduction in production cost is estimated to be more than 1% on the average. We believe that this is one of a few practical and successful real-time application cases of large scale linear programming realized on a mini-computer which also runs several hundreds real-time tasks.