Interactive Optimization of Bulk Sugar Deliveries

An interactive optimization system for planning bulk deliveries was implemented by Suiker Unie, a farming cooperative that processes about 60 percent of the Dutch sugar beet crop. The bulk delivery problem differs in several aspects from the standard multi-depot vehicle-routing problem: trucks deliv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Interfaces (Providence) 1992-05, Vol.22 (3), p.4-14
Main Authors: van Vliet, Andre, Boender, C. Guus E, Rinnooy Kan, Alexander H. G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural cooperatives
Case studies
Delivery vehicles
Factories
industries: agriculture/food
Interactive
Loading facilities
Operations research
Optimization
Overtime
Routing
Scheduling
Sugar
Sugar industry
Sugars
Transport
transportation: route selection
Truck facilities
Truck routes
Vehicle fleets
Vehicles
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Summary:An interactive optimization system for planning bulk deliveries was implemented by Suiker Unie, a farming cooperative that processes about 60 percent of the Dutch sugar beet crop. The bulk delivery problem differs in several aspects from the standard multi-depot vehicle-routing problem: trucks deliver full loads to each customer and can reload at any one of five factories. Loading the trucks is very time consuming, and at each factory trucks can only be loaded one at a time, so that the problem includes both scheduling and routing. Since September 1991, the planners of Suiker Unie use the system to interactively determine and adjust daily schedules. In addition to the improvement of the efficiency and quality of the planning process, the use of the system turned out to yield about seven percent savings in operating costs.
ISSN:0092-2102
2644-0865
1526-551X
2644-0873
DOI:10.1287/inte.22.3.4