Scheduling cross-docking operations : Integration of operational uncertainties and resource capacities

Overview & Synopsis

In a cross-docking platform, goods are unloaded from inbound trucks,sorted and directly reloaded in outbound trucks – each product typicallystays less than 24 hours in the platform.By analyzing the gaps between the literature and on-field observations,we highlight two research directions: accounting for operational uncertainties,and for the human resource capacity in the platform.A truck scheduling problem with time windows for the inbound andoutbound trucks is modeled with an integer program and solved withthree different heuristics. The robustness of the schedules obtained is thentested with a discrete-event simulation model, which enables to evaluateseveral robust reformulations of the initial model.The employee timetabling and rostering problem in the platform is addressedwith three mixed integer linear problems solved sequentially. Thetwo models can be combined to serve as a decision-support tool for across-docking platform.