Tanker loading at a chemical park: bays, products and tank levels
Which tanker loads when, at which bay — with the product that is actually in the tank?
Drag to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom. The schedule below plays the plan; hover a bar for details. Illustrative day plan from an optimizing heuristic; the Timefold model is built in a project.
The planning question
At the road-tanker loading station of a chemical park, 56 tankers have booked slots for the day. Six bays have lines for different products; changing a bay to another product needs a 25-minute flush. The product tanks are refilled by the plant continuously — a tanker can only load when there is enough product in the tank.
How we plan it
The plan links bays, products and tank levels over time — the tank-level curves in the schedule show why a tanker waits or not.
What the plan shows
| KPI | Optimized plan | Comparison: first come, first served |
|---|---|---|
| time on site | 66 min −4 | 70 min |
| longest wait | 78 min −5 | 83 min |
| bay flushes | 14 −7 | 21 |
| late vs. slot | 17 −2 | 19 |
| bays blocked (tank low) | 0 min −88 | 88 min |
Decisions
- bay and start time per tanker
- which product each bay runs, and when to flush
Constraints
- a bay only loads products it has lines for
- product change = 25 min flush
- the product tank must hold the tanker’s volume
- one tanker per bay, check-in and weighbridge times
Objective
short time on site for drivers, loading close to the booked slot, few flushes, no bay blocked by a tanker waiting for product
Questions
Is this a Timefold model?
The demo plan comes from an optimizing heuristic in the same format; the Timefold model is what we build in projects.
Can production plans be included?
Yes. Tank inflow from production is an input; the same model can also feed back demand to production planning.
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