Browsing by Author "Chin, Cheng-Lin"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Distribution planning for perishable foods in cold chains with quality concerns: Formulation and solution procedure
(2017-03-01)
Hsiao, Yu-Hsiang
;
Chen, Mu-Chen
;
Chin, Cheng-Lin
;
運輸與物流管理系註：原交通所+運管所
;
Department of Transportation and Logistics Management
Background: Food safety and quality management is attracting more and more attention. Fresh foods are characterized by their perishable and temperature-sensitive nature. Thus, there is a need for cold chain management. In order to ensure delivery, of safe, fresh, high-quality foods to customers, strict time and temperature control are special requirements which must be incorporated during distribution planning. Scope and approach: This study modeled a cold chain food distribution planning problem, aiming to generate a distribution plan for fulfilling customer requirements for various foods with pre-appointed quality levels at the lowest distribution cost. The quality level was defined based on the estimated shelf life, which varies by food type and storage temperature, and is characterized by a stepped decrease as time goes on. Upward substitution of quality levels is implemented in the shipment of customer orders to ensure customers receiving the foods with ordered quality levels. The optimization of temperature setting for food storage in multi-item-multi-temperature vehicles was also involved in distribution planning. To solve the problem, an algorithm based on adapting Biogeography-based Optimization (BBO) was developed. The genetic algorithm was employed as a benchmarking method. Two designed examples regarding chilled meat distribution are illustrated. Key findings and conclusions: The results indicate that the generated distribution plan can ensure the fulfillment of customer requirements for various foods and food quality levels at the lowest cost. The superiority of the proposed adaptive BBO in both the solution quality and stability was also demonstrated. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Last-mile distribution planning for fruit-and-vegetable cold chains
(2018-01-01)
Hsiao, Yu-Hsiang
;
Chen, Mu-Chen
;
Lu, Kuan-Yu
;
Chin, Cheng-Lin
;
運輸與物流管理系註：原交通所+運管所
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to formulate and solve a last-mile distribution plan problem with concern for the quality of fruits and vegetables in cold chains. Design/methodology/approach - The vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) is extended based on the characteristics of fruit-and-vegetable cold chains. The properties of multiple perishable foods, continuing decline in quality, various requirements for quality levels and optimal temperature settings during vehicle transportation are considered in the VRPTW. The product quality level is defined by the estimation of residual shelf life, which changes with temperature, and is characterized by a stepped decrease during the transportation process as time goes on. A genetic algorithm (GA) is adapted to solve the problem because of its convincing ability to solve VRPTW-related problems. For this purpose, solution encoding, a fitness function and evolution operators are designed to deal with the complicated problem herein. Findings - A distribution plan including required fleet size, vehicle routing sequence and what quality level should be shipped out to account for the quality degradation during vehicle transportation is generated. The results indicate that the fulfillment of various requirements of different customers for various fruits and vegetables and quality levels can be ensured with cost considerations. Originality/value - This study presents a problem for last-mile delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables which considers multiple practical scenarios not studied previously. A solution algorithm based on a GA is developed to address this problem. The proposed model is easily applied to other types of perishable products.