A simplified steel plate stacking problem

Kim, Byung‐In; Koo, Jeongin; Sambhajirao, Hotkar Parshuram

doi:10.1080/00207543.2010.518998

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In the studies such as [27] and [29], a slab is not relocated to another stack but to a temporary stack and they are stacked again on the original stack immediately after the target slab is relocated or retrieved. In [28] and [30], the problem setting where such a slab blocks the target slab only once was considered as well.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Faster Branch-and-Bound Algorithm for the Block Relocation Problem

Tanaka

Takii

2016

IEEE Trans. Automat. Sci. Eng.

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The block relocation problem, which is also known as the container relocation problem, is an optimization problem to find an optimal sequence of operations for retrieving blocks (containers) from a container yard in a given order. The objective function to be minimized is the number of necessary relocations. In this study, we propose an efficient exact algorithm for two variants of the block relocation problem, those with distinct and duplicate retrieval priorities. In the former problem, the retrieval order of blocks is uniquely provided, whereas in the latter problem, it is given only among groups of blocks. The primary contribution of this study is a tighter lower bound of the number of relocations than existing ones. This enables us to construct a faster branch-and-bound algorithm. Its effectiveness is demonstrated by extensive numerical experiments. Note to Practitioners-A container terminal plays an important role in logistics chains by offering a temporary storage location for containers. Containers transported to a container terminal by vessels, trucks, or trains are stored in container yards. They are piled up vertically to form several stacks. A gantry crane is commonly used to move containers in a container yard, which can access only the topmost containers.When the container that we want to retrieve next from the yard is not on the top of a stack, those stacked above it should be relocated to other stacks. The reduction of such undesirable relocation operations is crucial in container operational decisions because the throughput of cranes is one of the key factors that affect the overall efficiency of container terminals. The algorithm proposed in this paper enables us to obtain an optimal relocation plan that minimizes the number of required relocations in a shorter computation time. When the number of stacks is not large, we can solve the problem to optimality without resorting to heuristic or metaheuristic approaches that only search for near-optimal solutions. Index Terms-Block relocation problem, branch-and-bound algorithm, container terminal, lower bound.Manuscript

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Faster Branch-and-Bound Algorithm for the Block Relocation Problem

Tanaka

Takii

2016

IEEE Trans. Automat. Sci. Eng.

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“…• In the iron and steel industry, heavy steel plates or coils are frequently moved by overhead cranes to and from intermediate storage areas between successive production steps (see [33,36]). A deterministic loading problem of successively arriving steel plates has been introduced by Kim et al [25]. Their parallel stacks, however, have no capacity limits, which may be a pardonable relaxation in the steel industry where only thin plates are stacked, but limits the transferability to other applications such as seat containers.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main difference to our QRP is that due to their size and vulnerability car bodies cannot simply be put into some overflow area (but have to remain on the conveyor), so that an alternative objective function is required, which minimizes the deviation between realized and initially planned sequence. In the iron and steel industry , heavy steel plates or coils are frequently moved by overhead cranes to and from intermediate storage areas between successive production steps (see ). A deterministic loading problem of successively arriving steel plates has been introduced by Kim et al . Their parallel stacks, however, have no capacity limits, which may be a pardonable relaxation in the steel industry where only thin plates are stacked, but limits the transferability to other applications such as seat containers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resequencing with parallel queues to minimize the maximum number of items in the overflow area

Boywitz

Boysen

Briskorn

2016

Naval Research Logistics

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This article treats an elementary optimization problem, where an inbound stream of successive items is to be resequenced with the help of multiple parallel queues in order to restore an intended target sequence. Whenever early items block the one item to be currently released into the target sequence, they are withdrawn from their queue and intermediately stored in an overflow area until their actual release is reached. We aim to minimize the maximum number of items simultaneously stored in the overflow area during the complete resequencing process. We met this problem in industry practice at a large German automobile producer, who has to resequence containers with car seats prior to the assembly process. We formalize the resulting resequencing problem and provide suited exact and heuristic solution algorithms. In our computational study, we also address managerial aspects such as how to properly avoid the negative effects of sequence alterations. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 401–415, 2016

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“…Such a problem is also relevant in other industries International Journal of Production Research 2595 including steel manufacturing companies. Kim, Koo, and Sambhajirao (2011) propose several mixed integer programming models to make a storage plan for thick steel plates with the objective of minimising the number of reshuffles in the delivery stage.…”

Section: Introduction and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A decision-tree stacking heuristic minimising the expected number of reshuffles at a container terminal

Gharehgozli

Koster

et al. 2013

International Journal of Production Research

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Reshuffling containers, one of the daily operations at a container terminal, is time consuming and increases a ship's berthing time. We propose a decision-tree heuristic to minimise the expected number of reshuffles when arriving containers should be stacked in a block of containers with an arbitrary number of piles. The heuristic algorithm uses the optimal solutions of a stochastic dynamic programming model. Since the total number of states of the dynamic programming model increases exponentially, the model can only solve small-scale problems in a reasonable time. To solve large-scale problems, the heuristic uses the results of the exact model for small-scale problems to generate generalised decision trees. These trees can be used to solve problems with a realistic number of piles. The numerical experiments show the effectiveness of the algorithm. For small-scale problems, the trees can quickly make optimal decisions. For large-scale problems, the decision-tree heuristic significantly outperforms stacking policies commonly used in practice. Using the decision trees, we can compare the performance of a shared-stacking policy, which allows containers of multiple ships to be stacked on top of each other, with a dedicated-stacking policy. Shared-stacking appears to outperform dedicated-stacking.

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A simplified steel plate stacking problem

Cited by 32 publications

References 22 publications

A Faster Branch-and-Bound Algorithm for the Block Relocation Problem

A Faster Branch-and-Bound Algorithm for the Block Relocation Problem

Resequencing with parallel queues to minimize the maximum number of items in the overflow area

A decision-tree stacking heuristic minimising the expected number of reshuffles at a container terminal

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