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Dynamic collection scheduling using remote asset monitoring: Case study in the UK charity sector

Dynamic collection scheduling using remote asset monitoring: Case study in the UK charity sector
Dynamic collection scheduling using remote asset monitoring: Case study in the UK charity sector
In the waste collection sector, remote sensing technology is now coming onto the market, allowing waste and recycling receptacles to report their fill levels at regular intervals. This enables collection schedules to be dynamically optimised to better meet true servicing needs, so reducing transport costs and ensuring that visits to clients are made in a timely fashion. This paper describes a real-life logistics problem faced by a leading UK charity in servicing its textile and book donation banks and its High Street stores using a common fleet of vehicles with varying carrying capacities. This gives rise to a vehicle routing problem whereby visits to stores are on fixed days of the week, with time window constraints, and visits to banks (fitted with remote fill monitoring technology) are made in a timely fashion to avoid them becoming full before collection. A tabu search algorithm was developed to provide vehicles routes for the next day of operation, based on maximising profit. A longer look-ahead period was not considered on the basis that donation rates to banks are highly variable. The algorithm included parameters specifying the minimum fill level (e.g. 50%) required to allow a visit to a bank and a penalty function used to encourage visits to banks that are becoming full. The results showed that the algorithm significantly reduced visits to banks and increased profit by up to 2.4% with best performance obtained the more variable the donation rates.
0361-1981
65-72
McLeod, F.N.
93da13ec-7f81-470f-8a01-9339e80abe98
Erdogan, Gunes
468310a1-5c36-4c3d-8b39-079bd621b34b
Cherrett, T.J.
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Bektas, T.
0db10084-e51c-41e5-a3c6-417e0d08dac9
Davies, N.
abd1ae3e-1857-4751-9bb7-5e3cb3a972d0
Speed, C.
d3269516-1a76-46a4-8c32-ab9dc8ce5e0a
Dickinson, J.
81ed54e5-6075-4ccd-981e-8465939271dd
Norgate, S.
04896c90-2330-4f0f-acf5-0bc06935c7fb
McLeod, F.N.
93da13ec-7f81-470f-8a01-9339e80abe98
Erdogan, Gunes
468310a1-5c36-4c3d-8b39-079bd621b34b
Cherrett, T.J.
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Bektas, T.
0db10084-e51c-41e5-a3c6-417e0d08dac9
Davies, N.
abd1ae3e-1857-4751-9bb7-5e3cb3a972d0
Speed, C.
d3269516-1a76-46a4-8c32-ab9dc8ce5e0a
Dickinson, J.
81ed54e5-6075-4ccd-981e-8465939271dd
Norgate, S.
04896c90-2330-4f0f-acf5-0bc06935c7fb

McLeod, F.N., Erdogan, Gunes, Cherrett, T.J., Bektas, T., Davies, N., Speed, C., Dickinson, J. and Norgate, S. (2013) Dynamic collection scheduling using remote asset monitoring: Case study in the UK charity sector. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2378, 65-72. (doi:10.3141/2378-07).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In the waste collection sector, remote sensing technology is now coming onto the market, allowing waste and recycling receptacles to report their fill levels at regular intervals. This enables collection schedules to be dynamically optimised to better meet true servicing needs, so reducing transport costs and ensuring that visits to clients are made in a timely fashion. This paper describes a real-life logistics problem faced by a leading UK charity in servicing its textile and book donation banks and its High Street stores using a common fleet of vehicles with varying carrying capacities. This gives rise to a vehicle routing problem whereby visits to stores are on fixed days of the week, with time window constraints, and visits to banks (fitted with remote fill monitoring technology) are made in a timely fashion to avoid them becoming full before collection. A tabu search algorithm was developed to provide vehicles routes for the next day of operation, based on maximising profit. A longer look-ahead period was not considered on the basis that donation rates to banks are highly variable. The algorithm included parameters specifying the minimum fill level (e.g. 50%) required to allow a visit to a bank and a penalty function used to encourage visits to banks that are becoming full. The results showed that the algorithm significantly reduced visits to banks and increased profit by up to 2.4% with best performance obtained the more variable the donation rates.

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More information

Published date: 2013
Organisations: Centre of Excellence for International Banking, Finance & Accounting, Transportation Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 360879
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/360879
ISSN: 0361-1981
PURE UUID: 7d102fcb-43b1-4310-a144-137ec8a68ef2
ORCID for F.N. McLeod: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5784-9342
ORCID for T.J. Cherrett: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0394-5459
ORCID for T. Bektas: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0634-144X

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Date deposited: 08 Jan 2014 12:19
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:48

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Contributors

Author: F.N. McLeod ORCID iD
Author: Gunes Erdogan
Author: T.J. Cherrett ORCID iD
Author: T. Bektas ORCID iD
Author: N. Davies
Author: C. Speed
Author: J. Dickinson
Author: S. Norgate

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