The mission of logistics is basically to get the right goods or services to the right place, at the right time, and in the desired conditions, while making the greatest contribution to the company [1]. Everyday a distribution company has to decide how to put goods onto pallets according to the customers’ orders and then how to efficiently distribute these pallets among the number of trucks so a...

This paper presents a study on the complexity of cargo arrangements in pallet loading problem. Due to diversity perspectives that have been presented literature, is one least studied practical constraints. In this work, we aim refine and propose new set metrics measure an arrangement pallet. The parameters are validated using statistical methods, such as principal component analysis multiple li...

I n the production line of many industries there exists the procedure of palletizing/depalletizing sacks of raw or finished materials. The plastics industry, for example, uses polyethylene for the production of a series of products, including polyethylene pipes for irrigation, plastic sheets for greenhouse coverings, and other agricultural uses. The usual production procedure is as follows. Pal...

Service routes optimization (SRO) of pallet service center should meet customers' demand firstly and then, through the reasonable method of lines organization, realize the shortest path of vehicle driving. The routes optimization of pallet service center is similar to the distribution problems of vehicle routing problem (VRP) and Chinese postman problem (CPP), but it has its own characteristics...

This paper is concerned with upper bounds for the well-known Pallet Loading Problem (PLP), which is the problem of packing identical boxes into a rectangular pallet so as to maximize the number of boxes ®tted. After giving a comprehensive review of the known upper bounds in the literature, we conduct a detailed analysis to determine which bounds dominate which others. The result is a ranking of...

The packing layout for loading boxes of identical format on a pallet can be determined algorithmically. This is important when performing automated packing by a robot. The well-known four-block heuristics and G4heuristics produce very efficient loading patters in most practical cases. In addition to the number of boxes on the pallet, one has to maximize the stability of the loading. This paper ...

Data are presented on cathode temperature profiles, electron emission profiles under no-flow conditions, and timed starting tests with gas flow. Correlations between the temporal behavior of the noflow emission current and the starting time are made, and a model is presented of the barium/bariumoxide generation and surface diffusion processes that describe the electron emission profile and star...

HARDWOOD MARKET REPORT is pleased to present “Changes and Trends in the Pallet Industry” in this issue, the final of a three-part series. This paper was produced by Robert J. Bush, Associate Professor and Director, Center for Forest Products Marketing and Management, Department of Wood Science and Forest Products, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia; Philip A. Araman, Project Leader, USDA Fores...