Abstract

DU PLESSIS, A.J.  and  BEKKER, J.. Determining tactical operational planning policies for an auto carrier - A case study. S. Afr. J. Ind. Eng. [online]. 2010, vol.21, n.2, pp.191-206. ISSN 2224-7890.

This study was done to assist a local auto carrier company with tactical operational planning. The objective of the planning process is to maximise the number of vehicles delivered while being on time and adhering to staff and maintenance schedule constraints. We investigated the feasibility of allowing part of the fleet to roam the closed spatial network, as opposed to the traditional assignment of the complete fleet to fixed routes. We developed decision-making rules for roaming and fixed-to-route auto carriers, and evaluated the quality of these proposed rules, in combination with different fleet compositions, using discrete event simulation and four performance measures. We found that the auto carrier company should adopt a tactical operations policy where at least 50% of the fleet is allowed to roam, while roaming auto carriers pick vehicles to transport according to specific rules.

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