Improvement of Inbound Logistics Management by Using Logistics Information System Case Study: Sugar Cane Factory

Pongchai Athikomrattanakul; Norarat Saklertwilai

Authors

Pongchai Athikomrattanakul Graduate School of Management and Innovation, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand
Norarat Saklertwilai Graduate School of Management and Innovation, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand

Keywords:

Inbound Logistics, Heuristic, Information Technology System

Abstract

Since the current inbound logistics of a case-study sugar factory do not well respond to the actual operation and since the factory’s input data do not have adequate accuracy and coherence, resulting in sugarcane shortage, inefficient productivity and transportation, the present research aimed to enhance the efficiency of the inbound logistics by focusing on planning the process of sugarcane supply via the implementation of information and communication technology systems.Planning process was also improved to align with the capability of sugarcane harvesters. A heuristics method was implemented through the use of Visual Basic for Applications in Microsoft Excel. The results illustrated that the duration from harvesting to feeding to factory could be reduced from 40 hours to only 8 hours. CCS increased by 0.43, purity was enhanced by 3.84%, raw sugar cane volume, yield of sugar/sugarcane ton increased by 10%; as a result, the vehicle waiting time for delivery decreased by 85.76%. The system helps reduce human errors and increase the capability of sugarcane harvester as well as the productivity of the production process.

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