Vehicle-Mounted Task Control System in Container Yard based on Workflow Engine

Zhao, N.; Shen, Y.; Mi, C.; Wang, J., and Xia, M., 2015. Vehicle-mounted task control system in container yard based on workflow engine.

Owing that the container terminals increasingly occupy a crucial position in today's container transportation, the advanced and cost-effective operational management gradually attracts the attention of terminal operators. The relevant research survey in this paper is carried out on various operational task flows in a container yard. In terms of operational features of vehicle-mounted tasks in storage yard, such as complexity, instantaneity, derivatization and flexibility, a two-layer workflow engine framework is proposed to support dynamic scheduling. ECA rules and the features of a directed graph are combined to formulate a bottom-layer workflow model, which enables the model to implement dynamic assignment. And the upper-layer workflow drive is composed of three parts, the task generation, processing and mutation. It regulates the generation, mutation and elimination of operational tasks in a container yard. On the basis of long-term practical experience and application in multiple yards of Tianjin Port in China, the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed workflow engine is verified. The application of the technical framework provides a practical reference for operational control and management in logistics enterprises.