Evaluating dispatching rules for traditional market waste collection scheduling using discrete-event simulation

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to consider the problem of scheduling of waste collection between aisles in traditional markets with different processing times, due dates, and priority in order to develop a rule that will give better performance. Four priority rules including Shortest Processing Time (SPT), Earliest Due Date (EDD), Priority, and Longest Processing Time (LPT) were examined using discrete-event simulation software Arena 16.0. The simulation was carried out for 5- and 10-aisle configurations with 20 replications each. The rules were compared using waiting time, queue length, and total completion time. The three performance indicators were normalized and combined using equal weights to develop an Overall Performance Score (OPS). The results of the simulation showed that for both configurations, SPT had the lowest value for the three performance indicators. For instance, for 5 aisles, the waiting time, queue length, and total completion time were 38.3, 2.4, and 52.3 minutes respectively. On the other hand, for 10 aisles, the waiting time, queue length, and total completion time were 29.5, 1.9, and 43.0 minutes respectively. SPT recorded an OPS of 1.000 followed by EDD, Priority, and LPT. Therefore, SPT was the best rule among the four rules considered because it had the lowest waiting time, queue length, and completion time