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Analysing trade‐offs in container loading: combining load plan construction heuristics with agent‐based simulation
Author(s) -
Mustafee Navonil,
Bischoff Eberhard E.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international transactions in operational research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.032
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1475-3995
pISSN - 0969-6016
DOI - 10.1111/itor.12017
Subject(s) - container (type theory) , heuristics , computer science , perishability , fragility , stability (learning theory) , plan (archaeology) , operations research , mathematical optimization , engineering , machine learning , mathematics , business , mechanical engineering , chemistry , archaeology , marketing , history , operating system
In this paper we describe two operations research techniques, cutting and packing optimisation (CPO) and simulation, and present a multi‐methodology approach for analysing the trade‐offs between loading efficiency and various important practical considerations in relation to the cargo, such as its stability, fragility or possible cross‐contamination between different types of items over time. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by considering a situation where the items to be loaded have differing degrees of perishability and where badly deteriorated items can affect those in their immediate vicinity (e.g. through the spread of mould). Our approach uses the output of the CPO algorithms to create agents that simulate the spread of mould through proximity‐based interactions between the agents. The results show the trade‐offs involved in container utilisation and the propagation of mould, without evidence of any correlation between them. The contribution of this research is the methodology and the feasibility study.