Infield routing network and reducing transportation costs on a sugar mill in Colombia

Abstract

Globalization and free trade agreements are factors that affect the world¿s economy. For some industries they can be beneficial and for others not so much. Additionally customers are ever more and more demanding, they want better products, with better quality and at a lower price. To stay competitive in the market it is necessary to give the customers everything they want and to supply all the client¿s needs. Being competitive is hard work to maintain and also expensive if the costs are not taken into consideration. Sugar mills are gigantic industries in Colombia and have been around for long time, generating thousands of jobs and social benefits to the community. However, no matter how large a company is, it cannot disregard cost structure and cost reducing. One of the biggest costs sugar industry has, is transportation cost. They have to transport cane from the fields to the factory, to process sugar and derivatives every day. Some mills do not have a schedule on reducing this transportation time and spend lots of resources on labor, maintenance and fuel for trucks. Creating a specific route with measured times and a specific process will allow a mill to reduce this cost and gain more benefits for the entire company.