Time Minimizing Transportation Problems with Partial Limitations of Transported Amount for Transport Participants.

In the field of transportation problems the most common optimization criterion is transportation costs minimization. However, there are situations where it is necessary to transport the materials quickly. This is especially in the case of transportation of perishable materials. In case the material is transported in time, i.e. before it expires, it may further be used which brings economic profit. Otherwise, there is degradation with all ensuing consequences. This paper seeks to find out how to minimize the time of transportation from collection points to places of processing. Emphasis was placed on minimizing the transportation time, because the transported material is a perishable fruit. Each of the transport points has its own daily limitations regarding the number of material sent and number of material received and also its total limitations per whole transport campaign. When the total limitation is met, the transport point does not participate in the process any more. For solving the problem it was not possible to use the known methods of transportation problems. Therefore, the author proposed a new method, leading to the optimal solution of the described problem. This method is expantiated in the study below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]