A production capacity analysis considering market demand and raw materials is very important to design a new plant. However, in the food processing industry, the supply uncertainty of raw materials is very high, depending on the production site and the harvest season, and further, it is not straightforward to analyze too complex food production systems by using an analytical optimization model. For these reasons, this study presents a simulation-based decision support model to select the right location for a new food processing plant. We first define three supply vulnerability factors from the standpoint of regional as well as seasonal instability and present an assessment method for supply vulnerability based on fuzzy quantification. The evaluated vulnerability scores are then converted into raw material supply variations for food production simulation to predict the quarterly production volume of a new food processing plant. The proposed selection procedure is illustrated using a case study of semiprocessed kimchi production. The best plant location is proposed where we can reduce and mitigate risks when supplying raw material, thereby producing a target production volume steadily.
In the past decade, experts have conducted parasitological research on archaeological specimens in Korea to collect historical parasite infection data. In these studies, parasitologists successfully described the infection pattern of each parasite species in history. However, in the first half of the 20th century, archaeoparasitological reports have been scant. In 2021, we conducted a parasitological examination of a toilet-like structure that emerged in the early 20th century. This structure was built by stacking 2 wooden barrels; and in the study samples, we found ancient Trichuris trichiura, Ascaris lumbricoides (unfertilized), and Taenia spp. eggs and therefore proposed a higher possibility that the barrels could have been used as a toilet at the time. To understand how the antihelminthic campaign since the 1960s helped reduce parasite infection rates in Korea, more research should focus on early-20th-century toilet ruins.
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