Scatter search-based strategy algorithm for Logistics Equipment Scheduling problem of raw material yard in iron and steel industry

Logistics Equipment Scheduling (LES) problem in iron and steel industry is to select appropriate raw material piles and equipments for logistics equipment schedule with the objective of minimizing the operation cost of raw material yard, maximizing the utilization and the equilibrium ratio of reclaimers in the production process. Different from previous literatures, according to the characteristics of raw material yard, the LES problem is divided into two phases: the first one is how to select raw material piles, the other one is a reclaimer scheduling problem. The LES problem is formulated as a multi-targets mixed integer programming model by considering the practical requirements. The complexity of the model motivates us to develop a scatter search-based strategy algorithm to solve the problem approximately. Problem-oriented coding scheme and solution combination method are proposed in scatter search. The computational results on real data show that the cost is decreased by 25.85% in average compared with manual schedule.