Distributed feedback control algorithm for dynamic truck loading scheduling problem

Distributed arrival time control (DATC) is a highly distributed feedback control algorithm for scheduling problems in heterarchical operation systems [V.V. Prabhu, Performance of real-time distributed arrival time control in heterarchical manufacturing systems, IIE Transactions 32 (2000) 323–331]. Although DATC has presented outstanding performance for the real-time scheduling problems in dynamic operational environment, little evidence exists for its effectiveness where earliness and tardiness of jobs are penalized at different rates. This study proposes an adapted DATC algorithm, called weighted multi-scale DATC (wms-DATC), to handle a dynamic truck loading scheduling problem where each truck has different earliness and tardiness penalties during a loading operation in a shipment yard. To validate the performance of wms-DATC in the dynamic truck loading scheduling problem, computational experiments are conducted. The computational results reveal that wms-DATC provides promising results and outperforms existing dispatching rules.