The loader problem: formulation, complexity and algorithms

G Tang, F Chen, T C E Cheng, C T Ng () and Chen Z-L
Additional contact information
G Tang: Shanghai Second Polytechnic University
F Chen: Shanghai Jiaotong University
T C E Cheng: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom
C T Ng: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom
Chen Z-L: University of Maryland, College Park

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2010, vol. 61, issue 5, 840-848

Abstract: Abstract In this paper we consider a new transportation model, called the loader problem, which is frequently encountered by third-party logistics service providers in practice. It is a tactical staff-planning problem with the objective of minimizing the total labour cost of staffing a sufficient number of loaders on a given fleet of trucks that serve a given set of customer sites. We formulate the problem as an integer program and show that it is strongly NP-hard. We then consider two special cases of the loader problem that occur in certain practical situations, and propose polynomial and pseudo-polynomial time algorithms for solving these cases. We also propose a linear programming relaxation-based random rounding algorithm for the general problem and report the computational results of the algorithm.

Keywords: loader problem; integer programming; logistics; NP-hard; algorithms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1057/jors.2009.55

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