Logistics in the slaughter industry

Purpose and goal

The aim of the project was to develop and evaluate an optimization model for route planning of animal transport with the objective to increase the efficiency of transport, reduce CO2 emissions and at the same time improve animal welfare and enhance the industry´s competitiveness. Based on all conditions concerning the transport of animals an optimization model and its solution method have been developed. Evaluations of the model with industrial data from HKScan shows very promising results, even if the implementation of such advanced system takes time.

Expected results and effects

The results show a great potential for more efficient transport of animals if a route planning model is used for operational planning. Compared to today´s transport, mileage is reduced resulting in lower CO2 emissions, increased animal welfare and lower costs. The model can also be used to evaluate new strategies for transport control and transport fees, something that in reality is impossible otherwise. This means that the model can identify other changes in transport conditions that further increase the positive effects.

Planned approach and implementation

Initially, a survey of HKScan´s transport and transport planning was conducted. From this a route planning model was developed and tested in several case studies with data from HKScan. An application for visualization and analysis of model results were developed: Together with the personnel of HKScan route suggestions were evaluated. The project also developed models to find, from a welfare perspective, the best route to the slaughterhouses. The effect of distance and fuel consumption of these models compared with conventional methods of routing was then analyzed.