A mathematical model for scheduling and assignment of customers in hospital waste collection routes

Rodrigo Linfati, Gustavo Gatica, John Willmer Escobar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The collection, transport, and final disposal of hospital waste may cause contamination and disease if improperly handled. Therefore, such residues are hazardous to the health of waste collectors. These wastes are generated by public agencies, such as hospitals, family health centers, dialysis centers, and private healthcare providers. In this study, a mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed for monthly customer scheduling and route assignment. The proposed approach was fulfilled according to customers’ collection frequency, truck capacity, and customer geographical location. The proposed mathematical model successfully balanced the number of customers and the workload during each day. The effectiveness of the proposed model was tested on data obtained from a waste collection company. The model has been implemented in AMPL language, and the performance of commercial solvers, GUROBI and CPLEX, to obtain an optimal solution were tested. The results show the efficiency of the proposed approach to balance the workload concerning previous scheduling is done ad hoc at the company. The use of the formulated model provides an automatic procedure that was previously performed manually. The methodology can be adapted to other companies with similar requirements.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10557
JournalApplied Sciences (Switzerland)
Volume11
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2021

Keywords

  • Customers frequency
  • Customers scheduling
  • Geographic clustering
  • Hospital waste collection
  • Mixed-integer linear programming model

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Instrumentation
  • General Engineering
  • Process Chemistry and Technology
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

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