2270. The Stochastic 3D Bin Selection Problem: Branch-and-Repair for Multi-stage Stochastic Programs
Invited abstract in session TA-10: Fulfillment Operations I, stream Supply Chain Management and Production.
Thursday, 8:45-10:15Room: H16
Authors (first author is the speaker)
| 1. | Pirmin Fontaine
|
| Ingolstadt School of Management, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt |
Abstract
E-commerce is continuously growing, resulting in an increasing number of parcels every year that is shipped around the globe. One major challenge is the poor utilization of resources resulting from not well-packed trucks, containers, and wrong-sized parcels. Decreasing the unused space in parcels would allow to pack goods more efficiently and reduce the number of needed vehicles. Therefore, also the portfolio of parcel types on stock is important for e-commerce retailers.
We want to address this problem in a dynamic setting with stochastic demand over longer planning horizons. The problem is formulated as a multi-stage stochastic program where the design of the portfolio has to be fixed in the beginning, but the ordering and inventory of parcels can be adjusted at each stage. Then, three-dimensional bin packing problems must be solved in each stage and scenario. We develop a branch-and-repair method to solve the problem efficiently.
Specifically, we develop a fast approximated and a slow but optimal repair strategy and show how to combine both.
The numerical results based on real-world data show that branch-and-repair scales well and can solve large multi-stage stochastic programs to optimality.
Keywords
- Stochastic Programming
- Logistics
Status: accepted
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