DOI: 10.4018/IJSDS.2017100105
International Journal of Strategic Decision Sciences
Volume 8 • Issue 4 • October-December 2017
Copyright © 2017, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Lean Policies in Route Planning
and Scheduling of Waste
Collection with Fuzzy Demand
Masoud Rabbani, School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran
Shadi Sadri, Department of Industrial Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT
This study addresses a household waste collection routing problem with a heterogeneous fleet. The
collection fleet includes hand carts and vehicles to transport wastes from houses to disposal sites. The
authors attempt to enhance the system efficiency considering lean policies, which leads to minimizing
the fleet size and the collection time concurrently. In reality, uncertainty of some parameters stems
from environmental and living conditions. Hence, a bi-objective fuzzy possibilistic mixed integer
linear programming model is developed to design an optimal collection network. To solve the model,
a hybrid solution approach is applied, which combines fuzzy possibilistic programming and fuzzy
multi-objective programming. Finally, several numerical examples are tested to illustrate validation
of the proposed model and applicability of the applied solution approach.
KeyWoRDS
Fuzzy Possibilistic Programming, Lean Policies, Vehicle Routing Problem, Waste Management
1. INTRoDUCTIoN
In recent years, the importance of a healthy environment necessitates municipalities to assess
applicability of the associated waste collection system. Logistics system is a major compartment in
waste management involves high cost. Optimal routing is a challenge in designing a transportation
system with the aim of reducing traffic and travel time, while maximizing the efficiency of the
transportation system. According to waste type, collection activities are divided into three major
areas: Commercial, Residential and Roll-on-roll-off (Wy et al., 2013). Each category has different
characteristics related to waste volume, required collection frequency, and traveling distance.
Commercial waste collection includes servicing restaurants, big malls and office buildings, while
the residential waste collection serves the households. Roll-on-Roll-off waste collection activities
are noticeably different from the other two areas. This type of wastes consists chemical and
industrial remains derived from industrial activities. Collection activities are one of the major and
costly operational services that growing environmental concerns gradually enforce municipalities
to schedule properly.
The advent of the lean concept in both production and service made a great evolution in customer
expectations related to when and how receive the product or service. The major approach in the
application of the lean policies is enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the system through
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