Title: Auction-based algorithm for solving scheduling problem in cross-docking centres

Authors: Eldho Paul; Brijesh Paul

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mar Athanasius College of Engineering, Kothamangalam 686666, Ernakulam District, Kerala, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mar Athanasius College of Engineering, Kothamangalam 686666, Ernakulam District, Kerala, India

Abstract: A cross-docking centre reduces the amount of storage and transportation in a distribution system compared to an ordinary warehouse. This paper proposes an auction-based mechanism for optimum scheduling of inbound trucks in cross-docking centres, thereby reducing the storage and transportation costs. Auction mechanisms are commonly used in different real life applications for better allocation of limited resources. Here, an effort is made to integrate the auction mechanism with the functioning of cross-docking centres. A mathematical model is developed for the optimal scheduling of inbound trucks. As expected, the determination of exact schedule for problems involving large number of variables was found to be computationally complex, and hence a heuristic methodology is also proposed in this study. In our computational experiments, we found that the proposed heuristic method is capable of producing good schedules in minimal time.

Keywords: auction mechanism; cross-docking centre; heuristics; mathematical modelling; optimisation; resource allocation; combinatorial auction; scheduling of trucks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2020.110579

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2020 Vol.37 No.2, pp.225 - 238

Received: 09 May 2018
Accepted: 02 Jan 2019
Published online: 26 Oct 2020 *

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