La Planificación Jerárquica y su Aplicación a la Cosecha de la Caña de Azúcar en Colombia

Abstract

The present work introduces the general concepts of hierarchal planning, used to develop complex decision processes. We apply hierarchical planning to the Colombian sugar industry and its most complex subsystem: the sugar cane harvesting. We propose a hierarchical planning model for the sugar cane harvest that considers a strategic, tactic and operative level and integration between levels. For each level we specify the planning objectives and horizons and the quantitative models to support decisions. Constructing a simulation model, representative for the sugar production system, we validate the efficiency of the proposed decision process and the compatibility between the models in different decision levels. The simulation results permit to conclude that the application of the proposed model augments the productivity of the Colombian sugar industry.