A decision aid for milk tanker run allocation

This paper reports on a decision aid that recommends solutions to a particular vehicle allocation problem occurring in the New Zealand dairy industry. The decision aid has been developed for use by New Zealand milk tanker schedulers. It is designed to aid them in the allocation of tankers to milk collection routes in order to alleviate pumping bay congestion, which occurs when the tankers return to unload milk at a processing plant. It enables its users to remain in control of the tanker allocation process, while using their own experience and preferences. The paper describes the issues involved and the type of help that the schedulers need. It introduces a typical allocation problem and describes some heuristics for its solution, which are incorporated in the decision aid.