Title

Minimizing the completion time of the transfer operations in a central parcel consolidation terminal with unequal-batch-size inbound trailers

Authors

Authors

D. L. McWilliams; P. M. Stanfield;C. D. Geiger

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

Comput. Ind. Eng.

Keywords

parcel; distribution; consolidation terminals; genetic algorithms; simulation-based scheduling; Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications; Engineering, ; Industrial

Abstract

This paper addresses the scheduling of inbound trailers to unload docks at central parcel consolidation terminals in the parcel delivery industry, ail industry that operates in a time-critical environment. The scheduling function can have a significant impact oil the amount of time required to unload the inbound trailers and sort and load the parcels to the outbound trailers. This problem is known as the parcel hub scheduling problem (PHSP). To solve the PHSP, a simulation-based scheduling approach with an embedded genetic algorithm is proposed. The results show that the proposed scheduling approach is able to reduce the amount of time required to unload the inbound trailers by approximately 3.5 percent compared to a previously developed algorithm and about 16.1 percent compared to ail approach that is representative of current industry practice, (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Computers & Industrial Engineering

Volume

54

Issue/Number

4

Publication Date

1-1-2008

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

709

Last Page

720

WOS Identifier

WOS:000255538000001

ISSN

0360-8352

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