The current situation and evaluating scenarios and solutions to improve sugarcane transportation to the sugar factory

This research presents a model for the analysis of sugarcane basket emptying operations. Traffic of sugarcane carrying baskets in front of the factory door will cause a long waiting line to form. Factors influencing the formation of queues include shift changes, accidents due to tractor crowding, tractor breakdowns, and factory shutdowns, which will lead to an increase in the time intervals between harvesting the crop and emptying the canes. Using queuing theory, the relevant system was simulated as a based model and the effect of each of the existing factors on the amount of time wastage and queue formation was evaluated. Based on the three scenarios (the investigation of queuing order, improve the bottleneck by deploying existing or non-existing discharge sources) proposed and the analysis of the system, based on the realization of each of the scenarios, the costs and queue conditions were investigated. According to the investigated cases, it was concluded that both sources in the factory should be used to empty the canes during the peak harvest time. The waiting time of the baskets in the system in the first, second and third scenario has decreased by 2%, 30%, and 59%, respectively, and the exit rate of the baskets has increased by 1.56%, 100%, and 198%, respectively. Comparing the efficiency of the scenarios using TOPSIS method according to the criteria of waiting time and cost showed that the second scenario has the highest rank.