Sponsor:

E&J Gallo

Research Team:

Scott J. Mason, Eray Cakici, Jun Jia, Abraham J. Lachowsky, C. Richard Cassady, Tish Pohl

Universities Involved:

University of Arkansas

Start Date:

01/01/05

End Date:

12/31/05

Summary:

This project’s objective is to model and analyze the current Cellar Tank Piping Network at Gallo, research optimal pipe routing path algorith, and develop approach for segmenting winery operations into “subwineries” to improve optimization model tractability.
Researchers in the Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Arkansas (“UA”), through the Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution (CELDi), will partner with E&J Gallo to model and analyze the current Cellar Tank Piping Network, specifically investigating the Winery within a Winery Concept wherein different internal wineries are created as subsets of the full E & J network. This concept is important to address, considering the overall size and complexity of E & J’s cellar tank piping network. The UA proposes this research partnership begin on January 1, 2005, with the final project deliverables (see below) being presented to E&J Gallo on or before December 31, 2005. The proposed research will involve an evaluation by the UA of the current Cellar Tank Piping Network to assess the feasibility of the Winery within a Winery concept, to examine any existing resource dedication constraints, and to uncover capacity issues with this new approach.
The researchers formulated and developed a heuristic solution procedures for routing flows through an extensive network of tanks and pipes.