An Improved Fuzzy Knowledge-Based Model For Long Stay Container Yards

This paper considers the problem of allocating newly arrived containers to stacks of existing containers in a yard when the departure date/time for containers is unknown. Many factors and constraints need to be considered when modelling this storage allocation problem. These constraints include the size, type and weight of the containers. The factors are the number of containers in a stack and the duration of stay of the topmost container in the stack. This paper aims to develop an improved Fuzzy Knowledge-Based ‘FKB’ model for best allocation practice of long-stay containers in a yard. In this model, the duration of stay factor does not need to be considered in the allocation decision if the duration of stay for the topmost containers in a stack is similar; hence, a new ‘ON/OFF’ strategy is proposed within the Fuzzy Knowledge-Based model to activate/deactivate this factor in the stacking algorithm whenever is required. Discrete Event Simulation and Fuzzy Knowledge-Based techniques are used to develop the proposed model. The model’s behaviour is tested using three real-life scenarios, including allocating containers in busy, moderately busy and quiet yards. The total number of re-handlings, the number of re-handlings per stack, and the number of re-handlings for containers were considered KPIs in each scenario

AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM TO SUPPORT THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN THE RECYCLING SECTOR FOR END-OF-LIFE-VEHICLES

In recent years, legal and social pressure increasingly forces companies operating in the recycling sector to take into account environmental aspects. For automobile recyclers, especially statutory provisions such as recycling and reuse quotas, are a challenging factor and consequently compels them to include the arising ecological requirements into the decision-making. To support practitioners in the evaluation and selection of alternatives in the context of the recycling process of end-of-life vehicles (ELV), we design and evaluate an environmental management information system (EMIS). The development of the proposed system is based on an acknowledged design science approach. Therefore, we determined industry-specific requirements and source systems of information and embed them into the system architecture. Finally, we show the suitability of the proposed EMIS based on a real-world case study in the recycling sector of ELVs and point out its benefits with respect to economic and environmental aspects. To sum up, the proposed EMIS demonstrates the integration of internal and external data sources as well as legal requirements and voluntary ecological aspects to provide a basis for reasonable decision-making applications in the context of ELVs