Digital twin-driven real-time planning, monitoring, and controlling in food supply chains

There needs to be more clarity about when and how the digital twin approach could benefit the food supply chains. In this study, we develop and solve an integrated problem of procurement, production, and distribution strategies (PPDs) in a medium-scale food processing company. Using the digital twin approach, the model considers the industrial symbiosis opportunities between the supplier, manufacturer, and customer using interval and sequence variables operating in a constrained environment using mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) and agent-based simulation (ABS) methodology. The study optimizes the make-span and lead time, simultaneously achieving a higher level of digitalization. The analysis demonstrates how digital twin accelerates supply chain productivity by improving makespan time, data redundancy (DR), optimal scheduling plan (OSP), overall operations effectiveness (OOE), overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and capacity utilization. Our findings provide compelling evidence that the seamless integration PPDs enormously enhance production flexibility, resulting in an excellent service level of 94 %. Managers leverage real-time simulation to accurately estimate the replenishment point with minimal lead time, ensuring optimized operations. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that implementing PPDs has yielded considerable benefits. Specifically, we observed a remarkable 65 % utilization of the pasteurizer and aging vessel and an impressive 97 % utilization of the freezer. Moreover, by applying the DT model, the present model found a notable 6 % reduction in backlog, further streamlining operations and enhancing efficiency.