Simulation modeling and analysis issues for high-speed combined continuous and discrete food industry manufacturing processes

Many high-speed, minute component, flow oriented manufacturing processes are found in the food industry. These types of operations typically involve the transformation of a product from a fluid state into distinct packages. This transformation requires that these systems be modeled both continuously and discretely with respect to time in order to develop valid models. The complexity associated with these types of combined continuous and discrete simulation models, limits the availability of food processing industry related literature. This paper examines those issues in the context of a typical high-speed food processing facility.