0000000000246713
AUTHOR
Maria Teresa Alonso
showing 8 related works from this author
Determining the best shipper sizes for sending products to customers
2014
A distribution company has to send products, packed into shippers, from the warehouse to retail shops. The number of different shipper types is regarded as a parameter given by the user, who is looking for a balance between transportation costs and stock and procurement costs. The problem is to decide the sizes of the shipper types to keep at the warehouse so as to minimize the cost of meeting the forecasted demand over the planning horizon. In this paper, we describe an integer linear programming formulation for the problem and obtaining feasible solutions. Other models, based on multiknapsack and p-median and facility location models, are for obtaining lower bounds. We study several ways …
Solving a large cutting problem in the glass manufacturing industry
2020
Abstract The glass cutting problem proposed by Saint Gobain for the 2018 ROADEF challenge includes some specific constraints that prevent the direct application of procedures developed for the standard cutting problem. On the one hand, the sheets to be cut have defects that make them unique and they must be used in a given order. On the other hand, pieces are grouped in stacks and the pieces in each stack must be cut in order. There are also some additional characteristics due to the technology being used, especially the requirement for a three-stage guillotine cutting process. Taking into account the sequencing constraints on sheets and pieces, we have developed a beam search algorithm, us…
A reactive GRASP algorithm for the container loading problem with load-bearing constraints
2014
The container loading problem consists in packing a set of boxes of different dimensions into a large container of fixed dimensions, usually with the objective of maximising the container load. In practical problems, besides the geometric constraints of not exceeding the container dimensions and ensuring the non-overlapping of boxes, other requirements may appear, such as total weight, weight balance or support. In this paper we address the problem of maximising container volume utilisation while respecting a set of practical constraints: full support of boxes, allowed orientations and load-bearing capacity. We have developed different heuristics for solving the problem and we have combined…
Nuclear calcium signaling by inositol trisphosphate in GH3 pituitary cells
2008
It has been proposed that nuclear and cytosolic Ca2+ ([Ca2+]N and [Ca2+]C) may be regulated independently. We address here the issue of whether inositol trisphosphate (IP3) can, bypassing changes of [Ca2+]C, produce direct release of Ca2+ into the nucleoplasm. We have used targeted aequorins to selectively measure and compare the changes in [Ca2+]C and [Ca2+]N induced by IP3 in GH3 pituitary cells. Heparin, an IP3 inhibitor that does not permeate the nuclear pores, abolished the [Ca2+]C peaks but inhibited only partly the [Ca2+]N peaks. The permeant inhibitor 2-aminoethoxy-diphenyl-borate (2-APB) blocked both responses. Removal of ATP also inhibited more strongly the [Ca2+]C than [Ca2+]N pe…
Mathematical models for Multi Container Loading Problems with practical constraints
2019
Abstract We address the multi container loading problem of a company that serves its customers’ orders by building pallets with the required products and loading them into trucks. The problem is solved by using integer linear models. To be useful in practice, our models consider three types of constraints: geometric constraints, so that pallets lie completely inside the trucks and do not overlap; weight constraints, defining the maximum weights supported by a truck and by each axle, as well as the position of the centre of gravity of the cargo; and dynamic stability constraints. These last constraints forbid empty spaces between pallets to avoid cargo displacement when the truck is moving, …
Solving a large multicontainer loading problem in the car manufacturing industry
2017
Abstract Renault, a large car manufacturer with factories all over the world, has a production system in which not every factory produces all the parts required to assemble a vehicle. Every day, large quantities of car parts are sent from one factory to another, defining very large truck/container transportation problems. The main challenge faced by the Renault logistics platforms is to load the items into trucks and containers as efficiently as possible so as to minimize the number of vehicles sent. Therefore, the problem to be solved is a multicontainer loading problem in which, besides the usual geometric constraints preventing items from overlapping and exceeding the dimensions of the c…
Algorithms for Pallet Building and Truck Loading in an Interdepot Transportation Problem
2016
This paper deals with the problem of a logistics company that has to serve its customers by first putting the products on pallets and then loading the pallets into trucks. Besides the standard geometric constraints of products not overlapping each other and not exceeding the dimensions of pallets and trucks, in this real problem, there are many other constraints, related to the total weight of the load, the maximum weight supported by each axle, and the distribution of the load inside the truck. Although the problem can be decomposed into two phases, pallet loading and truck loading, we have taken a combined approach, building and placing pallets at the same time. For each position in the t…
Mathematical models for multicontainer loading problems
2017
Abstract This paper deals with the problem of a distribution company that has to serve its customers by putting first the products on pallets and then loading the pallets onto trucks. We approach the problem by developing and solving integer linear models. We start with basic models, that include the essential features of the problem, such as respecting the dimensions of the truck, and not exceeding the total weight capacity and the maximum weigh capacity on each axle. Then, we add progressively new conditions to consider the weight and volume of pallet bases and to include other desirable features for the solutions to be useful in practice, such as the position of the center of gravity and…