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An interactive optimization system for bulk‐cargo ship scheduling
Author(s) -
Fisher Marshall L.,
Rosenwein Moshe B.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
naval research logistics (nrl)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1520-6750
pISSN - 0894-069X
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6750(198902)36:1<27::aid-nav3220360103>3.0.co;2-0
Subject(s) - computer science , scheduling (production processes) , schedule , navy , mathematical optimization , job shop scheduling , operations research , set (abstract data type) , graphics , engineering , mathematics , computer graphics (images) , operating system , archaeology , history , programming language
This article considers the efficient scheduling of a fleet of ships engaged in pickup and delivery of bulk cargoes. Our optimization system begins by generating a menu of candidate schedules for each ship. This menu can contain all feasible solutions, which guarantees we will find an optimal solution or can be heuristically limited to contain only those schedules likely to be in an optimal solution. The problem of choosing from this menu an optimal schedule for the fleet is formulated as a set‐packing problem and solved with a dual algorithm. Computational experience is presented based on real data obtained from the Military Sealift Command of the U. S. Navy. Run times for this data were reasonable and solutions were generated with the potential of saving up to about $30 million per year over the manual system currently in place. We also describe a color‐graphics interface developed to facilitate interaction with the optimization system.