A simulated annealing approach to explore temporal consolidation of healthcare courier services to reduce carbon emissions
A simulated annealing approach to explore temporal consolidation of healthcare courier services to reduce carbon emissions
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of temporal consolidation (the intentional delay) of hospital laboratory samples / equipment for couriering to people and healthcare institutions worldwide, using a hill climbing genetic algorithm with integrated travelling salesman optimization function to determine the optimal configuration of vehicles in which to consolidate items, and the optimal route for each vehicle. Current hospital and courier service providers' practices centre on collecting items as and when they arrive for outward journeys at the hospital. Using data from a major London hospital this study evaluates 5 different consolidation scenarios, varying the length of time an item is delayed (ranging between 30 minutes to 10 hours). Findings indicate that consolidated approaches yielded reductions in vehicle numbers, between 116 and 258, compared to the current model of operation, but that the current model of operation is actually more environmentally efficient, generating 0.45 to 0.83 fewer metric tonnes of CO2, than consolidated approaches.
260-265
Bailey, Gavin
b5be6ab7-45fa-4176-a9ea-84bef64ab631
Cherrett, Tom
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Waterson, Ben
60a59616-54f7-4c31-920d-975583953286
20 November 2014
Bailey, Gavin
b5be6ab7-45fa-4176-a9ea-84bef64ab631
Cherrett, Tom
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Waterson, Ben
60a59616-54f7-4c31-920d-975583953286
Bailey, Gavin, Cherrett, Tom and Waterson, Ben
(2014)
A simulated annealing approach to explore temporal consolidation of healthcare courier services to reduce carbon emissions.
In Proceedings of 2014 IEEE International Conference on Service Operations and Logistics, and Informatics.
IEEE.
.
(doi:10.1109/SOLI.2014.6960732).
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of temporal consolidation (the intentional delay) of hospital laboratory samples / equipment for couriering to people and healthcare institutions worldwide, using a hill climbing genetic algorithm with integrated travelling salesman optimization function to determine the optimal configuration of vehicles in which to consolidate items, and the optimal route for each vehicle. Current hospital and courier service providers' practices centre on collecting items as and when they arrive for outward journeys at the hospital. Using data from a major London hospital this study evaluates 5 different consolidation scenarios, varying the length of time an item is delayed (ranging between 30 minutes to 10 hours). Findings indicate that consolidated approaches yielded reductions in vehicle numbers, between 116 and 258, compared to the current model of operation, but that the current model of operation is actually more environmentally efficient, generating 0.45 to 0.83 fewer metric tonnes of CO2, than consolidated approaches.
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Published date: 20 November 2014
Venue - Dates:
IEEE International Conference on Service Operations and Logistics, and Informatics (SOLI), , Qingdao, China, 2014-10-08 - 2014-10-10
Organisations:
Transportation Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 372143
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/372143
PURE UUID: c9e1a78d-4b5b-46bd-8360-fae8fdf3c5f6
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Date deposited: 02 Dec 2014 16:46
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:59
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Author:
Gavin Bailey
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