An Ant Based Algorithm for the Cross Docking Scheduling Problem

• Main Authors: Hsieh, Chi-Yu, 謝季佑
• Other Authors: Huang, Kuan-Cheng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/29204923163930521708

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 運輸科技與管理學系 === 100 === The Cross-Docking Scheduling Problem (CDSP) determines the schedule of the inbound (supplier) and outbound (customer) vehicles for a distribution center under the cross-docking operation, in which only sorting and consolidating (but no storage) is involved to improve the customer service by minimizing the time waste. As for the manufacturing industry, the two-staged flowshop scheduling problem with the precedence requirement can be formulated as a CDSP, too. Owing to the nature of the sequencing decision problem associated with the CDSP, this study chooses the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), which has some inherited advantages over other meta-heuristics due to its sequential framework for the searching process and the solution building procedure. This study designs an ant-based algorithm to generate the outbound sequence under the condition of one single vehicle. Based on this ant-generated sequence, several heuristic steps are used to make the scheduling decision of both inbound and outbound vehicles under the multiple-vehicle situation. In the numerical experiment, the developed algorithm is compared with a solution algorithm based on the classic Johnson’s Rule in the literature. It is found that the developed ant-based algorithm is promising for solving the CDSP.