Scenario analysis-based decision and coordination in supply chain management with production and transportation scheduling (Q2310974)

Summary: The production and rail transportation coordinating problem aims to determine a pre-operational timetable for a set of orders. The orders need to be manufactured on a dedicated production line and be delivered to their destination by the pre-planned trains considering traveling routes and time. The connecting trains are an important and even unique chance for orders to reach their final destinations, and earliness and tardiness penalties in the connection and delivery process are closely related to the symmetry and harmony between production procedure decision and train-allocated choice. A scenario analysis method is adopted to reveal the relationships between production collection connecting time (PCCT) and production collection waiting time (PCWT) in the production process. In the delivery process, the relationships between production delivery connecting time (PDCT) and production delivery waiting time (PDWT) are mainly considered. An integrated scheduling coordination model is established to maximize the production connecting time (PCT) and production delivery time (PDT). The GA genetic algorithm is employed to solve this problem. The numerical results show that the coordinated schedule in our method can significantly reduce the number of missed connections when compared with considering delivery timeliness only through a delivery time window. Additionally, it is revealed that the quantitative performances of the delivery timeliness improved by the connecting quality (PCT) are much better than those from the view of the delivery time window (PDT).