Heterogeneous Staff Scheduling in Logistic Platforms

Abstract

In this chapter, we analyze the problems arising in logistic parks management related to the operational resource scheduling problem motivated by the need to get the platform to operate according to the time and due dates of the distribution processes and balancing this objective with workers’ shifts. In particular, we face a heterogeneous version of resource scheduling, where the term heterogeneous is referred to the existence of a pre-specified number of facilities qualifications that allow resources to be distinguished according to their capabilities (technical capabilities and operators skills). Roughly speaking, one is involved in assigning working shifts to a set of facilities and workers in a given planning horizon. The main difficulty lies clearly on the number of constraints that such shifts must obey. We devise an algorithm based on the paradigm of simulated annealing providing a large experimental analysis.