REAL-TIME CANE TRANSPORT SCHEDULING

REAL-TIME SCHEDULING addresses the operational (as opposed to the planning) scheduling problem. The most significant difference between operational and planning scheduling is that operational scheduling must handle disruptions to the system, such as mill and harvester stoppages and locomotive delays, as they occur throughout the day. The real-time scheduling system (RTSS) introduced in this paper addresses the question asked by traffic officers repeatedly throughout the day: "There are this many bins in the mill yard and this many at the harvesters, what should I do with the locomotive that's now in the mill yard?’RTSS then combines these purpose-built locomotive runs to produce a complete, efficient cane transport schedule. RTSS models both the harvest and transport of cane. Its runs are designed to keep the mill crushing, keep the harvesters working, and complete the daily collections and deliveries.