Efficiently Solving Dispatching Process Problems in Nurseries by Heuristic Techniques

A more comprehensive analytical framework for examining the relative merits of alternative dispatching process policies for nurseries is developed in this paper. The efficiency of the dispatch process of plants in a nursery is analysed using a vehicle routing model. The problem then involves determining in what order each vehicle should visit its locations. The problem is NP-hard. Several heuristic techniques are used to solve a real life nursery sequencing problem. The results obtained by these heuristic techniques are compared with each other and the current sequencing of orders. The model with some minor alterations can be also used to minimise the dispatching and collecting process in different agricultural plants.