Decision making in the Rioja wine production sector

Resumen

The global environment, where many companies compete for their survival, requires a continuous adaptation to changes in the market and to other environment variables. Food industry, agriculture in particular, is a field, where the companies are especially sensitive to modifications in regulations and market requirements. It is very convenient to provide the companies of this sector with a theoretical basis, as well as with practical tools for developing en efficient management that may guarantee not only their survival but also their success. In this area, decision support systems based on the simulation of models, developed by means of the paradigm of the Petri nets, can offer a significant help for improving the efficiency of the farming companies, based on the proper decision making. In this paper, a methodology for decision making, supported by artificial intelligence (and dispatching rules), is applied to the farming field and an application case is analysed for better understanding of the advantages and drawbacks of this approach. In particular, a decision making methodology for improving the management of traditional companies in the farming industry is applied to the wine sector in the region of La Rioja (Spain).