Software system "ASC: Loading"

Key facts

Kondopoga pulp-and-paper mill is one of 10 largest mills in Russia. The produced paper rolls are shipped to customers in train carriages, trucks, and ships. The transportation vehicle must be loaded with paper rolls according to certain rules, the violation of which results in quality degradation and customer complaints. The inefficient loading of paper rolls into a vehicle results in inefficient use of vehicle volume or capacity.

The challenge

As the number of different types of rolls grows, and vehicle internal geometry becomes complicated, the efficiency of using the vehicle capacity decreases – the vehicle carries less paper rolls than it could. The order of loading of rolls into a vehicle depends on vehicle geometry (the center of the roof of a railroad carriage is always higher than the walls), size and location of the gates (front or side), load balancing, etc. The number of possible combinations of rolls is inconceivable.

The solution

The automation system for managing the loading of paper rolls into transportation vehicles solves these problems with the use of different combinatorial, linear, dynamic and integer optimization methods. The system functions include:

• Generation of all feasible loading schemes according to specified number and types of rolls, and transportation vehicles
• Visualization of different loading schemes
• Optimization of loading schemes
• Generation of an optimal set of transportation vehicles for a specified set of paper rolls
• Detailed documentation per each vehicle – total weight, center of gravity, specifications of paper rolls, cargo geometry, etc.

Results to date

The use of the automation system in many cases enables to increase by 5-10% the total weight of paper rolls loaded in a transportation vehicle. This enables to use less number of railroad carriages, trucks and containers.

Customers

The software system had been successfully installed at the following enterprises:

1. OJS "Bratsk pulp-and-board mill"
2. OJS "Kondopoga pulp-and-paper mill"
3. OJS "Kotlas pulp-and-paper mill"

Pdf version of this page

"ASC: Loading" demo

Download "ASC: Loading" demo (in Russian): ftp://pmasc.karelia.ru/pub/ASUP/Shipment/setup.exe

Certificate of the Foundation of algorithms and software of the Russian Federal Agency for Education

For the software system ASC has Certificate of the Foundation of algorithms and software of the Russian Federal Agency for Education: