Optimization of a truck loading problem in a real-world context

JUAN IGNACIO RAMELLO; GERMÁN MATÍAS MONTESANO; RODRIGUEZ, MARIA ANALIA

Ciudad de México

Congreso; International Congress on Logistics and Supply Chain, CILOG 2018; 2018

UNAM

The truck loading problem is a relevantoptimization challenge due to the impact of logistic costs insupply chain and the difficulty to solve the combinatorymodels involved in such cases. In this article a real-worldcontext is considered to solve a truck loading for one ofmajor Coca Cola bottlers in Argentina. A two stepsoptimization project has been implemented in thecompany. In the first step, the previous manual procedureto define the truck loading plan is improved by developinga Mixed Integer Linear Programming model. In this firststage, the process is automatized and given that there isflexibility to load products in the trucks, a better use oftheir capacities is obtained. However, given the complexityof the operation, a second step is needed in order to avoidfee penalties when trucks are on road. For this purpose theweight distribution of loads in the trucks is included. Thenew formulation is a Mixed Integer Non-LinearProgramming problem which is transformed into a MixedInteger Linear Programming model in order to guaranteea global optimum. In addition, the objective functionprovides a balance between a proper capacity occupationand the minimization of the labor work for loading thetrucks. A set of examples shows the performance of theproposed approach considering data from the company.