Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

One of the major planning issues in large scale automated transportation systems is so-called , the timely supply of vehicles to terminals in order to reduce cargo waiting times. Motivated by a Dutch pilot project on an underground cargo transportation system using Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), we developed several rules and algorithms for empty vehicle management, varying from trivial First-Come, First-Served (FCFS) via look-ahead rules to integral planning. For our application, we focus on attaining customer service levels in the presence of varying order priorities, taking into account resource capacities and the relation to other planning decisions, such as terminal management. We show how the various rules are embedded in a framework for logistics control of automated transportation networks. Using simulation, the planning options are evaluated on their performance in terms of customer service levels, AGV requirements and empty travel distances. Based on our experiments, we conclude that look-ahead rules have significant advantages above FCFS. A more advanced so-called outperforms the look-ahead rules if the peak demand quickly moves amongst routes in the system.

Motivated by a planned automated cargo transportation network, we consider transportation problems in which the finite capacity of resources (such as vehicles, docks, parking places) has to be taken into account. For such problems, it is often even difficult to construct a good feasible solution. We present a flexible modeling methodology which allows to construct, evaluate, and improve feasible solutions. This new modeling approach is evaluated on instances stemming from a simulation model of the planned cargo transportation system.

The convergence of European states can be expected to lead to an increase in the trading of goods within the next few years and thus to a growing demand for transport. Overland intermodal transport is an important development, because it combines the advantages of rail for long distance transportation with the effective area cover offered by road. Different terminal concepts and production forms have been developed to increase the flexibility of intermodal transport and to make it more attractive for the customer. The intermodal terminal concept investigated in this paper is called Mega Hub.

The configuration and the control of the terminal is a complex and challenging task. Here, the terminal is modeled as a multi-stage transshipment problem. In this approach, sequence-dependent duration of empty moves, alternative assignments (of containers to cranes) and a sequence-dependent number of operations have to be handled. An optimization model based on Constraint Satisfaction is formulated and heuristics for the search procedure, especially value and variable ordering are developed.

A dispatching method is suggested for automated guided vehicles by using an auction algorithm. The dispatching method in this study is different from traditional dispatching rules in that it looks into the future for an efficient assignment of delivery tasks to vehicles and also in that multiple tasks are matched with multiple vehicles. The dispatching method in this study is distributed in the sense that the dispatching decisions are made through communication among related vehicles and machines. The theoretical rationale behind the distributed dispatching method is also discussed. Through a simulation study, the performance of the method is compared with that of a popular dispatching rule.

We consider the problem of rescheduling trains in the case where one track of a railway section consisting of two tracks in opposing directions is closed due to construction activities. After presenting an appropriate model for this situation we derive a polynomial algorithm for the subproblem of finding an optimal schedule with minimal latenesss if the subsequences of trains for both directions outside the construction site are fixed. Based on this algorithm we propose a local search procedure for the general problem of finding good schedules and report test results for some real world instances.

The container loading problem addresses the question of how to store several three dimensional, rectangular items (e.g. boxes) in one or more containers in such a way that maximum use is made of the container space. The multiple container problem concentrates on the situation where the consignment to be loaded cannot be accommodated in a single container. To minimize the number of required containers the repeated application of a single container approach is often suggested in the literature. In contrast, in this paper an approach based on a set partitioning formulation of the problem is presented. Within this approach a single container algorithm is used to produce alternative loading patterns. This approach easily allows introducing additional aspects, e.g. separation of boxes or complete shipment of boxes.