Distribution strategy on resource groups

The Tank Allocation Strategy field is used to select the strategy that is used during the create flow for distributing tank batches to the resource group. This field is enabled only if the category tank group is selected.

You can select one of these distribution strategies:

  • None: The standard quantities as defined on the process step is used.
  • Fill large, longest empty, tanks first
  • Fill small, longest empty, tanks first
    Note: 
    • The two options above can be used in case of several similar-sized tanks.
    • The tank that has not been used for the longest period of time is selected when you use one of these options.
  • Fill large tank first: The tanks with the largest capacity are filled first. The number of used tanks is minimized.
  • Fill small tank first: The tanks with the smallest capacity are filled first.

The following example shows the difference between the last two strategies.

This table shows the tanks, the maximum volumes, and the empty period for the example:

Tank Max. volume in liters Empty period in hours
T1 50.000 3x24
T2 50.000 5x24
T3 10.000 3x24
T4  10.000 5x24
T5 5.000 3x24
T6 5.000 5x24
T7 2.000 3x24
T8 2.000 5x24

The tables below shows the tanks to be allocated for both strategies for some sample quantities. This assumes that all tanks are available.

Expected result

  • Quantity: 9000

    a b c d e
    T1
    T2
    T3 X X
    T4 X
    T5 X
    T6 X
    T7 X X
    T8 X X

  • Quantity: 10000

    a b c d e
    T1
    T2
    T3 X X X
    T4 X X
    T5
    T6
    T7
    T8

  • Quantity: 12000

    a b c d e
    T1 X X
    T2 X
    T3 X
    T4 X
    T5
    T6
    T7 X
    T8 X

  • Quantity: 15000

    a b c d e
    T1 X X
    T2 X
    T3 X
    T4 X
    T5 X
    T6 X
    T7
    T8