Column Generation Method For Scheduling Problem With Renewable Resources

Automotive inbound logistics use special containers for transportation.Containers are limited renewable resources, and the insufficiency of themwould lead to low loading rate and extends transportation time. Therefore,how to utilize these key resources effectively is of great importance for themanagement and operation of automotive inbound logistics. This paperstudies column generation method for scheduling problem with renewableresources.First we show how a mixed integer linear programming model can beused to describe the problem. As the problem is NP hard, we propose columngeneration method to solve the problem. During the process, concepts ofvirtual parts are introduced. Set partitioning model is set up for the masterproblem and the model for the sub problem is built based on test numbersolving. Moreover, we propose to use dynamic method to solve the subproblem and study Branch and Bound technique. Finally, we propose thewhole column generation method that suit for solving this problem and verifythe effectiveness of proposed algorithm by the numerical experiments.The algorithm of this paper has strong theoretical value for columngeneration method, and it contributes to the third-party logistics companies inimproving operational efficiency of inbound parts distribution system.