A study on crate sizing problems

Shih Jia Lee, Ek Peng Chew, Loo Hay Lee and Julius Thio

International Journal of Production Research, 2015, vol. 53, issue 11, 3341-3353

Abstract: This paper studies the crate sizing problem to predetermine optimal standard packaging crate sizes for a demand of assorted sizes of products to minimise space and costs. The crate sizing problem is a real world logistics scenario faced by an existing multinational corporation in the applied chemistry industry. Customer demands come in a mix of rolls to be packaged in individual crates and then shipped in shipping containers from plants to customers. Firstly, a linear crate length optimisation model is introduced with the objective to minimise the total loss of extra space inside the crates for a given distribution of customer demands. In order to take inventory costs of crates into consideration, a second problem is introduced to both find the optimal number of crate types and the corresponding lengths such that the total costs of packaging and inventory are minimised. The latter problem is first formulated as a non-linear optimisation model and then solved using dynamic programming approach to balance the trade-off between the number of crate types and the penalty cost for space wastage inside the crates.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2014.980453

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