A spreadsheet-based decision support system for optimizing the schedule of ready-mix concrete

Sistema de apoio à decisão baseado em planilha eletrônica para otimização da programação de entrega de concreto pronto

This paper addresses a spreadsheet-based decision support system (DSS) for the problem of scheduling the delivery of ready mix concrete produced in concrete batch plants or centers taking into consideration the Brazilian reality. Such scheduling comprises decisions of what facility should serve each customer and what time each delivery vehicle should be loaded, so as to maximize the total marginal revenue of the system. Vehicle loading capacity constraints per center, fleet availability and ensuring that each client’s orders are fulfilled by a single plant are considered. In order to solve this optimization problem efficiently the authors propose a mathematical programming model based on a time-space network. The spreadsheet-based DSS, novel in the literature, allows a concrete company which operates several concrete batch plants company to schedule its daily operations in an easy and straightforward manner, by users with no background in operations research, thus making it especially suitable for companies that are not ready or whose size does not allow the investment in a corporate system to aid the scheduling.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1590/S2238-10312014000100007
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/22381031
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract used with permission of the Brazilian Transportation Planning Society (BTPS)
• Authors:
  • da Cunha, Claudio Barbieri
  • Cortes, Clicia Soriano
• Publication Date: 2014-1

Language

• English
• Portuguese

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 125-158
• Serial:
  • Journal of Transport Literature
  • Volume: 8
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Brazilian Transport Planning Society
  • ISSN: 2238-1031
  • Serial URL: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=2238-1031&lng=en&nrm=iso

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Concrete plants; Delivery service; Optimization; Ready mixed concrete; Scheduling; Spreadsheets
• Geographic Terms: Brazil
• Subject Areas: Highways; Materials; I32: Concrete;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01490754
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 30 2013 10:53AM