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Optimisation of BMW Group Standardised Load Units via the Pallet Loading Problem

<p>The BMW Group uses load units for the transportation of assembly parts from the suppliers to the plants and for the internal material flow. This thesis analyses the advantageousness of introducing a load unit with a new size. There are three reasons why the current choice of containers is not sufficient. Firstly, there is a certain range of assembly parts that does not fit very well into the existing standard load units. Secondly, the average measurements of the parts have grown in the last years and thirdly, several of the existing containers leave unused space in the transportation vehicles.</p><p>For this the relevant costs and other, more qualitative aspects like the placing at the assembly line are considered. A container size is identified that offers a significant savings potential. For this potential the handling and transportation costs are identified as the relevant leverages. These costs are found to depend mainly on the utilisation degree of the load units.</p><p>To calculate the different utilisation degrees, a packing-algorithm in form of a four-block heuristic is applied and its results are extrapolated on the basis of existing BMW packing information. Thus, several assembly parts are identified that fit better into the suggested load unit than in the existing ones. These results are assessed using BMW’s expense ratios for handling and transportation. 80 parts are determined for which the migration to the new size would result in savings of more than 5,000 EUR for each per year in Dingolfing. Together, these parts offer a savings potential of about 0.9 million Euro.</p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:liu-5804
Date January 2006
CreatorsHeinze, Anja
PublisherLinköping University, Department of Management and Economics, Ekonomiska institutionen
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, text

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