A combined approach to solve truck dispatching problems

Truck dispatching systems offer the potential for significant improvements in productivity and these systems will be extensively used in the future bv mine operators as a means of optimizing equipment utilization. This paper describes a model designed to study the feasibility of continuously dispatching trucks in open-pit mines based on different operating procedures. The system developed is semi-automated and is composed of two stages. The first stage deals with a mathematical programming module that can indicate average desirable shovel coverage while the second stage is concerned with the simulation of the system to assess operating dispatching policies. The mining industry is frequently faced with an undercapacity of the operating shovels. Literature concerning the use of mathematical programming to solve the scheduling problem, taking into account grade requirement, is abundant. However, these techniques have been proved inefficient to solve the entire dispatching problem in order to allow the dispatcher to take the necessary decision at the right time given the computing time involved. Computer simulation models are designed to study the performance of mining operations and they can be conveniently structured to assess sets of rules relating the interactions between the components of the system. The proposed system performs an active role by suggesting to the dispatcher the optimal truck allocation based on heuristic techniques, usually used to obtain solutions at the right time.