Traffic flow routing and scheduling in a food supply network
| Published date | 16 October 2017 |
| Pages | 1972-1994 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-10-2016-0457 |
| Date | 16 October 2017 |
| Author | Grzegorz Bocewicz,Mukund Nilakantan Janardhanan,Damian Krenczyk,Zbigniew Banaszak |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
Traffic flow routing and scheduling
in a food supply network
Grzegorz Bocewicz
Department of Electronics and Computer Science,
Koszalin University of Technology, Koszalin, Poland
Mukund Nilakantan Janardhanan
Department of Materials and Production, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Damian Krenczyk
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Silesian University of Technology,
Gliwice, Poland, and
Zbigniew Banaszak
Department of Electronics and Computer Science,
Koszalin University of Technology, Koszalin, Poland
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to focus on the reference model of a grid-like supply network
that enables formulation of delivery routing and scheduling problems in the context of the periodic vehicle
routing problem.
Design/methodology/approach –The conditions for seamless (collision-free) synchronization of
periodically executed local transport processes presented in this paper guarantee cyclic execution of
supply processes, thereby preventing traffic flow congestion.
Findings –Systems that satisfy this characteristic, cyclic deliveries executed along supply chains are given
and what is sought is the number of vehiclesneeded to operate the local transport processes in order to ensure
delivery from and to specific loading/unloading points on given dates. Determination of sufficient conditions
guaranteeing the existence of feasible solutions that satisfy these constraints makes it possible to solve the
considered class of problems online.
Practical implications –The computer experiments reported in this paper show the possibilities of
practical application of the proposed approach in the construction of decision support systems for food
supply chain management.
Originality/value –The aim of the present work is to develop a methodology for the synthesis of regularly
structured supply networks that would ensure fixed cyclic execution of local transport processes.
The proposed methodology, which implements sufficient conditions for the synchronization of local cyclic
processes, allows one to develop a method for rapid prototyping of supply processes that satisfies the time
windows constraints given.
Keywords Declarative model, Discrete event dynamic system, Grid-like structure,
Periodic vehicle routing problem, Traffic flow
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The rapid development of goods, energy, and data-distribution systems, as well as systems
of passenger transport fosters economic development and the associated development of
the global market for industrial goods and services. Assuming a supply system has a
structure and behaviour (Bocewicz and Banaszak, 2013), one can distinguish elements of the
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 117 No. 9, 2017
pp. 1972-1994
Emerald Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-10-2016-0457
Received 31 October 2016
Revised 22 February 2017
Accepted 15 March 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
© Grzegorz Bocewicz, Mukund Nilakantan Janardhanan, Damian Krenczyk and Zbigniew Banaszak.
Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons
Attribution(CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce,distribute, translate and createderivative works
of this article( for both commercial & non-commercial purposes),subject to full attribution to the original
publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/
licences/by/4.0/legalcode
1972
IMDS
117,9
structure of such a system (including transport roads, goods transfer facilities, etc.) and
processes which determine its behaviour (e.g. the frequency and timeliness of deliveries,
costs, etc.). This distinction is reflected in the perspective scientists take on supply systems,
with some of them accentuating the context of analysis of behaviour reachable in systems
with arbitrarily given structures, and others focussing on the synthesis of structures that
enable the processes executed in those structures to run in a desired way.
From the perspective of such a division, it is easy to see that most of the work in the field
of logistics of goods supply is devoted to the analysis of potential modes of organising
transport processes. The main drawback of this approach is that it does not guarantee
the existence of a feasible solution, or the solution is obtained within a time limit by which
the decisions become outdated. An example of the former situation is the control of traffic
lights in urban traffic management systems. The only type of structure that guarantees a
green wave in each direction of each two-way road is a Manhattan-type road network
(Bocewicz et al., 2009).
A similar shortcoming characterises the approach that consists of searching for a system
structure which guarantees the execution of the given behaviour. It is obvious that not every
vehicle fleet operating in the available transport road structures will ensure timely service to
and from the given goods transfer facilities. Both approaches lead to the class of NP-hard
problems. The approach proposed in this paper assumes the possibility of decomposing the
above-discussed problems of synthesis and analysis. Such decomposition would entail
separate treatment of flow of means of transport and flow of materials transported by those
means. An analogy to the case considered can be found when one considers examples of
planning a trip in a public transport network or expanding (e.g. modernising) a transport
network to meet the needs of passenger transport. In the first case, the problem boils down
to answering the question of whether within a given public transport structure in which
vehicles run to a given timetable, there is a route which ensures the passage between
designated stops within the given time horizon? The relevant question in the second case is:
Can one change the timetables of the public means of transport so that travel time along the
given route between two selected stops does not exceed the given time horizon?
In addition to the paradigm of “layered decomposition”of supply problems, this work
also adopts the paradigm of “regularity of route structure”, which assumes that routes
together with the local transport processes executed along those routes have a regular
grid-like or fractal-like topology. Such an assumption facilitates the design of supply
structures composed of repeating fragments (grids). It also provides the possibility of
predicting certain behaviours of the system (e.g. cyclic, collision-free, etc.) based on an
analysis of the behaviour of a repeating part of its structure. The paradigm of regularity of a
supply system’s structure meets the expectations associated with the simplification of
design procedures as it entails that it is better to design regular structures than to look for
this kind of behaviour in arbitrarily given structures, running the risk of failing to find a
feasible solution.
The problem being considered is simultaneous supply of different deliveries/goods from
suppliers to recipients, who are all located at various points of the transport network.
Knowing the parameters of the local transport companies, one looks for delivery routes that,
for example, would minimise transport time or satisfy the constraints regarding the number
of vehicles that can be simultaneously loaded/unloaded at a transhipment point.
On the other hand, in solving a synthesis problem subject to the same assumptions and
constraints, one builds on knowledge of routes and transport times to find the parameters
of local transport companies which would guarantee the delivery of goods within a
given time window.
The aim of the present work is to develop a methodology for the synthesis of regularly
structured supply networks that would ensure fixed cyclic execution of local transport processes.
1973
Traffic flow
routing
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