Using AI to Solve Inspection Scheduling Problem for a Buying Office

This paper presents a project awarded by MGB HK to handle their inspection scheduling problem. MGB HK is the buying office of one of the largest retailers in the world, Metro Group. MGB HK handles all product procurement of Metro Group out of Europe. The inspection process is one of their critical processes along their entire procurement exercise. The objective of this project is to provide an effective scheduling engine so that in-house inspectors can handle as many inspections as possible using the least amount of time and costs. Meanwhile, we also help the company overcome their difficulties of data collection and maintenance as a result of the system we developed. Our engine will be deployed and integrated into the company’s IMS. The engine recorded an improvement in the scheduling of their inspections and initial prognosis indicates that delayed inspections have been greatly reduced by compared with previous schedule. The system can effectively schedule inspections by urgency, shipment value, and supplier’s historical performance. Other than the schedule, the AI engine can also generate solutions based on different strategies and criteria, which facilitate the decision-making process for the scheduling team and management at MGB HK.